Proposal: Improve peer review and team work in Rosetta

David Nielsen david at lovesunix.net
Sat Aug 6 17:35:59 CDT 2005


As outlined on the Ubuntu user forums:
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=54680

I see quite a few problems with the way Rosetta currently works. The
implementation doesn't rely on peer review to ensure a uniform
translation that is in compliance with national guidelines. This causes
serious issues, e.g. in Denmark if you do not comply with the
guidelines, your software cannot be used in schools. We've run into this
problem with software like OpenOffice in the past caused by
decentralized translation efforts.

I see Rosetta as a great project in that it would allow for a greater
centralization and cooperation, sadly that is not the state of affairs
as we speak.

I propose the following additions:

* All strings must be reviewed.
* At least 2 people vote yes on a given string for it to be verified.
* Any team member can veto a string or term (thus labeling it
unverified).
* Rosetta must supply a translation list (a la gtranslators
autotranslate feature) this list can contain both recommended
translations and illegal translations (so it warns the translator when
he uses a big no no word and can suggest words and frases, or even
autotranslate many strings).

As for Ubuntu (and other distros that uses Rosetta technology)

It would be nice to see timebased translation updates must be issued to
ensure maximum compliance and coverage in Ubuntu. Jeff Waugh himself
stated the importance of translations to hit markets like Africa, we
should ensure that stable releases are in as good a state as we can.

It would also be nice to see the bugtracking system tie into Rosetta, so
that translators could get notification of translation bugs, string
changes and inform upstream about poorly worded strings. All within the
Rosetta web interface.

Kind regards
David Nielsen

I'll be out of the country from the 8th till the 18th, and I will not be
able to check my mail. 
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