Translations Advocacy

[David Planella]

Hi translators,

On this cycle I'd like to work towards raising awareness on the work
that we do inside the Ubuntu community, and I'd like to ask for your
help on this.

http://davidplanella.wordpress.com/2010/06/30/translations-advocacy/

= Why translations =

Translations are a key part of the Ubuntu community, with deep roots in
our Ubuntu philosophy [1]. For many users having an operating system in
their language is the only way they’ll be able to use it, so it is just
natural that we support this and provide tools to lower the barrier to
community translations. Others might be proficient in English and be
able to use Ubuntu without natural language support, but still choose to
work with it in their language.

Languages are not only a vehicle for communication, but can mean a lot
of things: identity, culture, evolution, creativity…  there is a long
list of values that drive translators to do their work and users to have
Ubuntu speak their own language, other than just the accessibility
aspect.

Ubuntu translators and those from other projects it includes bring a
localized system to millions, and that’s easily said than done. Release
after release, a tireless community of volunteer enthusiasts set upon
translating the thousands of strings that are part of the operating
system and deliver Ubuntu localized in their language [2].

= We want more! =

I think this work is just awesome, and I think everyone should get to
know about this effort, which does not only enable more people to use
Ubuntu, but also makes possible such other amazing stories as keeping an
indigenous language alive in our digital age [3] or being the only
operating system available in a particular language [4].

In short, I’d like to hear more about translation teams and the work
that they do. I know that many translators blog regularly about their
work in their local languages, and I think it would be awesome to
translate part of these posts and blog them on Planet Ubuntu to let our
global community to know more about translations. It’s not only about
raising awareness, but also growing and building a strong and active
community.

We’ve already kicked off a series of Translations Interviews [5], but
I’d like to ask translators to blog [6] more on the Planet, tweet/dent
[8] about what you and your team is doing and basically spread the word.
Translation jams [9], translation status, areas where help is needed,
what you like or don’t like about working with Launchpad Translations,
or even explaining a bit more about your language… there is a whole
range of interesting topics to talk about.

So, who wants to be the first? 

[1] http://www.ubuntu.com/project/about-ubuntu/our-philosophy
[2] http://people.ubuntu.com/~dpm/ubuntu-10.04-translation-stats.html
[3] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuSecwepemcTranslators
[4] http://fridge.ubuntu.com/node/2022
[5] http://fridge.ubuntu.com/node/2064
[6] http://adi.roiban.ro/2010/01/14/we-are-doing-fine-overall-i-think/
[7] http://identi.ca/group/ubuntutranslators
[8] http://blogs.fsfe.org/rcarreras/?p=97

-- 
David Planella
Ubuntu Translations Coordinator
www.ubuntu.com / www.davidplanella.wordpress.com
www.identi.ca/dplanella / www.twitter.com/dplanella
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