Phone translations policy proposal

[David Planella]

On Thu, Apr 23, 2015 at 7:40 PM, Fòram na Gàidhlig <fios at foramnagaidhlig.net
> wrote:

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> > The benefit with opening translations in advance here would be that
> > they would be done by Ubuntu Translators and would be consistent
> > with each team's guidelines, which might not be the case for a
> > translations agency. However, in any case for the projects
> > eventually open-sourced, translators would be able to fix strings
> > after release if required, fixes which would be then probably be
> > shipped in an OTA update. My personal suggestion here would be to
> > enable Ubuntu Translators to modify or complete the translations
> > once the code is available. I know it's not a perfect solution, but
> > I think it's the easiest in term of managing the logistics and
> > working with manufacturers.
>
> How will selecting translation agencies work?
>

As I mentioned on my original e-mail, it's not something that _will_
happen. This is the method that's already been used over the years to
translate OEM projects, some of which are private at the time of release,
and generally with critical deadlines, which often cannot be demanded from
volunteers. Some translators, especially those who attended the physical
UDSs back in the day, are already aware of how it worked, but it's
generally not quite visible, as it's really a minority of projects that's
translated this way.

With the phone becoming another Ubuntu product, it's essentially the same
as the desktop, where Ubuntu is always free and open source, and from that
public code there are images created for manufacturers (think Dell on the
desktop, or bq on the phone). But the release model for the phone is quite
a bit different in the sense that it's a rolling release as explained on
another reply on this thread, and that due to the nature of the devices,
it's quite tied to the schedule of the manufacturers. That is why, I think,
important to explain this, and discuss this policy.

With this preamble, to answer the question: Canonical does select the
agencies. Generally there are a few with which work has been done over the
years and are contacted whenever an OEM project comes up.


>
> I am doing commercial translation for a big software company and they
> ended up using 5-6 agencies, which was a logistical nightmare. Since
> we're a minority language and nobody else is qualified to do the job,
> we could put our foot down, go through 1 agency only and thus
> coordinate the work load.
>
> Of course, I don't know if Canonical has any power over which agencies
> are selected.
>

So far, both the logistics and the results from the agencies who we've
worked with have been good, and fortunately we've not experienced any such
cases! But in any case, if this were to happen and translations are clearly
of low quality for a particular language, we've got public venues (such as
this mailing list) to provide feedback and contribute to then a) fix the
translations and b) use it as a deciding factor on whether to use a
particular agency or not.


>
> It should also be possible for volunteers to give Canonical a shout so
> they can apply to register with the translation agency/agencies if
> they want to. Why should others earn the money rather than those
> people who have dedicated tons of their free time over the years. It
> would also serve translation consistency.
>

I agree on the consistency with guidelines, but my personal suggestion is
to keep things simple and for Ubuntu Translators to focus on translating
the regular Ubuntu as usual. As I said, these projects if and when they
come up are generally the minority, and have generally critical deadlines,
thus it's more efficient to outsource them. They are also usually based on
a list of target languages, meaning manufacturers are only interested in a
subset of languages to be complete, which could open the door to those
language teams outside that list feeling discriminated. In Ubuntu/Canonical
we're in a unique position to have a fine balance between volunteer
contributions and business, which is often challenging, but it's been
proven to work over the years, and in this particular one, and to answer
the question, that would be what I would personally recommend.

Cheers,
David.
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