What happens to translations when upstream is brought in

[Matthew East]

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* Matthias Urlichs:
> Hi,
> 
> Matthew East:
>> Rosetta does not allow Ubuntu translator teams to disturb KDE
>> translations, or any other translations except for Ubuntu translations.
> 
> But they can "disturb" the KDE translations *in*Ubuntu*.
> 
> So, Joe may be a very good translator, he may be active in the Gnome
> translator team and be an active member of the $LANG-translators in
> Rosetta, or whatever -- but that does *not* mean that, when Joe sees the
> occasional untranslated string in the occasional KDE program he uses,
> Joe's attempt at translating the thing will be any better than that of
> any other random user.

Well, it does (Joe's experience in the Ubuntu and Gnome translator teams
will make him much better equipped to translate the string than a random
user). But I see the point.

This is still something that can be solved in the Ubuntu team. First of
all, team members should be asked to be familiar with both Gnome, KDE
and general upstream translation project guidelines (so, if Gnome and
KDE use the words "folder" and "directory" differently, the team members
should be aware of that). Secondly, the team members should be
responsible enough to concentrate on what they are experienced with.

Again, this is not a translation specific issue - it applies to code
too: Ubuntu core-devs can touch all of the Ubuntu repository, not just
Gnome, or KDE, the kernel, or acpi-support. This is handled, as I
understand it, by a combination of good control over who gets to be a
core-dev, and sensible use of those powers by those who do.

> As soon as Joe does that, Ubuntu's translation for that KDE program
> contains a few non-reviewed strings (remember that Joe is a full member)
> with Gnome-ish vocabulary that will confuse users.

As a sidenote, it would be nice for KDE and Gnome to work together on
vocabulary and style. I'm sure this will happen in the future.

Matt
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