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On 12/01/2010 03:34 PM, Martin Denham wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:AANLkTinUk2xE66wtfJJU6DXSRkXfAHMYowg6F9+Qb7Hg@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">I am aware there has been some work started on
simplifying user interface translation in JSword and I wondered if
there were any plans to use translation tools.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>There was a discussion thread on mobile-devel recently
('French Translation' was the subject title) in which one of the
translators of And Bible said it is getting more difficult to
translate as it grows and he doesn't like the xml format files
containing the translatable text. A suggestion was to use <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://translations.launchpad.net/">Launchpad</a> but I
have no experience of this and wondered what the plans were for
JSword.</div>
<br>
</blockquote>
I have a page in the wiki for details on the effort. See:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.crosswire.org/wiki/DevTools:JSword/Internationalization">http://www.crosswire.org/wiki/DevTools:JSword/Internationalization</a><br>
<br>
The basic idea is to have a small number of files that would need to
be translated. For the most part, I've been consolidating them down
to one per Java package. There are a few that won't merge: Bible
name, Section Names, Language and Country Names, .... Other than
these, they will be merged into one per jar. (Thus the consolidation
of common and jsword jars.) Not sure what to do with config
(startup) files.<br>
<br>
One important part of the effort is commenting every call to
Msg.gettext(...). These will be used by translators to understand
what the text means in context.<br>
<br>
I'll focus on getting JSword done soon. Then common-swing and bible
desktop. (The ugly part of the UI stuff is the buttons (with their
label, tooltip, accelerators) and un-winding the Aliases)<br>
<br>
Once that is done, they will be exported to a format that works well
with GNU's Gettext mechanism. For each file that needs to be
translated there will be a pot file and each translation will be a
po file. These files are readily editable using translation tools.<br>
<br>
The extraction process is repeatable, incremental and will grab
comments, too. That is the pot file is maintained by scraping the
source code. It will merge in new stuff and mark old stuff as no
longer needed.<br>
<br>
(The primary reason for going to gettext is that's what Peter
recommends! and it is a great recommendation:)<br>
<br>
These then will be the master copy and Java property files will be
generated from them.<br>
<br>
Regarding Launchpad, it is probably the best place for the pot and
po files. At least part of Launchpad is dedicated to translation
work. One aspect of Launchpad is that their tools allow sharing of
existing translations. I think this is called "translation memory".
So if I am starting a new French translation, I should be able to
suck in translations for OK, Edit, Open, Close, Cut, Copy, Paste,
Bible, Verse, ... from what is in other projects.<br>
<br>
I'm hoping that Peter will take on managing the files in Launchpad,
but I haven't talked to him about that yet. ;)<br>
<br>
Any other questions? Any input?<br>
<br>
In Him,<br>
DM<br>
<br>
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