Getting key languages over the 80% translated level

[Jono Bacon]

Hi All,

One of the most wonderful, and often underrated parts of the Ubuntu 
community are our tremendous translators. It is these awesome 
individuals that re-enforce the ethos that everyone should be able to 
enjoy Ubuntu in the locale and language that is comfortable to them. Not 
only that, but it is these folks that are breaking down cultural 
barriers to Ubuntu adoption across the world. In many cases, when a 
region or government is exploring Open Source and Free Software, the 
first assessment is if it is available in their locale and language(s).

Ubuntu is already available in an impressive collection of languages 
that we consider complete enough for general use. This includes 
*Spanish, French, Brazilian Portuguese, Italian, Swedish, German, 
English, Hungarian, Traditional Chinese, British English, Russian, 
Dutch, Japanese, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Catalan, Korean, Polish, 
Portuguese, Basque, Greek, Simplified Chinese, Slovenian, Galician* and 
*Asturian*.

A good target for completeness is 80% of the distribution being fully 
translated, with a particular focus on primary and visible packages. 
Many of these languages are rib-ticklingly close and I would love to 
encourage those of you who speak the language to help get them over the 
80% barrier. These include:

  * Serbian - 79%
  * Vietnamese - 78%
  * Estonian - 75%
  * Hebrew - 73%
  * Bengali - 73%
  * Gujarati - 72%
  * Hindi - 71%
  * Turkish - 70%
  * Tamil - 69%
  * Telugu - 69%
  * Bokmål, Norwegian - 67%
  * Slovak - 66%
  * Macedonian - 64%
  * Nepali - 63%
  * Arabic - 63%
  * Dzongkha - 62%
  * Finnish - 61%
  * Breton - 60%
  * Ukrainian - 57%
  * Esperanto - 56%
  * Central Khmer - 56%
  * Norwegian Nynorsk - 55%
  * Thai - 52%
  * Panjabi - 52%
  * Lithuanian - 51%
  * Romanian - 50%

This is an awesome opportunity for the Ubuntu Global Jam 
(https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuGlobalJam) in which Ubuntu contributors 
are getting together around the world to work together on Ubuntu in a 
variety of ways - documentation, packaging, advocacy, bug triage, 
translations and more. If you would like to help one of the above 
languages (or any other language, for that matter), why not organize a 
small gathering at someone's house, at a pub/restaurant, university room 
or anywhere else? These jams are easy to put together, tonnes of fun and 
a great way to meet other awesome Ubuntu people.

Are there any LoCo teams who can focus on this ready for Karmic?

     Jono

-- 
Jono Bacon
Ubuntu Community Manager
www.ubuntu.com / www.jonobacon.org
www.identi.ca/jonobacon www.twitter.com/jonobacon