[Ubuntu-l10n-eng] [Bug 66158] Edgy Eft Beta - About Me dialog in Preferences

[Sridhar Dhanapalan]

On Monday 30 October 2006 19:31, Malcolm <malcolm.parsons at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 10/30/06, Sridhar Dhanapalan <sridhar at dhanapalan.com> wrote:
> > This is a difficult one to decide upon. To pick only three Commonwealth
> > countries as an example:
> >
> >   * the UK uses 'county'
> >   * Australia uses 'state'
> >   * Canada uses 'province'
>
> So why not use 'county' for en_GB, 'state' for en_AU and 'province' for
> en_CA?

Malcolm raises an important point: the concern that we are watering-down the 
en_GB translation for the sake of the rest of the Commonwealth. Let me go on 
record as saying that this is definitely not what I desire.

The aim of this Project, as I see it, is to have a central en_GB translation 
which can feed derivatives such as en_AU and en_CA. Our main obstacle in this 
endeavour is Rosetta. There is a Feature Specification to enable 'similar 
languages'[1], but the Rosetta developers are treating it as a low priority.

Thus, I believe a two-phase strategy is appropriate. The first phase involves 
us focusing on a complete en_GB translation. Thanks to the community we have 
built up from around the Commonwealth, this has been largely achieved. 
Because Similar Languages support has not yet been implemented, and because 
the en_GB translation has become such a success due to international 
participation, I believe that some minor concessions should be made to 
internationalise the translation for the wider Commonwealth.

This is only a temporary position, however. Unfortunately, Rosetta is closed 
source at present. We should be lobbying the Rosetta developers so that they 
realise the importance of our project, and hence implement Similar Languages 
support. Perhaps we can get Rosetta to be finally opened so that we can work 
on it ourselves? :)

Once implemented, the floodgates are open. This brings us to Phase Two. Our 
newfound capabilities in Rosetta will finally enable us to create 
translations based on en_GB (en_AU, en_ZA, en_CA, ...). Getting back to 
Malcolm's comment, this will allow the en_GB translation to 
de-internationalise itself and become more specifically British. 
Region-specific language will be moved to the sub-translations.

Once again, this is my own personal idea at the moment, and not an official 
plan. I would like to hear what people here think about this proposal.


[1] https://features.launchpad.net/products/rosetta/+spec/similar-languages/


-- 
Sridhar Dhanapalan
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"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president or that we are 
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			- US President Theodore Roosevelt
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