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<p>Dear developers:</p>
<p>As a former translator of the Danish version of QGIS I have a few
- very personal, perhaps a bit caustic - comments:</p>
<ul>
<li>The transfer from using QT linqguist to Transifex was a
mistake from my POW. Without the user interface context is
sometimes impossible to translate correctly. My method (around
ver. 2.12) was to use a simple editor like notepad++ on the raw
xml translator files and get a significant part of the job done.
And afterward using QT-Linguist to get the difficult
translations. From that standpoint Transifex is simply a
delaying factor.<br>
</li>
<li>The translation effort is very important. Even in Denmark ,
where the population generally is competent in English, the
majority of "ordinary" users prefer using QGIS with the Danish
translation. I assume, that the situation is the same or more
pressing for most countries.</li>
<li>The translation is difficult and time consuming and you are
not being compensated for your effort. Throw some money or
prestige after it. Even a small token would help.</li>
<li>Treat the translation effort with respect. Don't ridicule
people's earnest efforts. Think how you would react If you were
a rookie developer and the first reaction from an old shark was
ridicule of your programming efforts ?</li>
<li>Make the translation stage a significant step in the
development cycle. <br>
</li>
<li>Create a group or list of highly technical GIS related terms
that is *not* to be translated. There is a lot of GIS terms that
is English in origin, but haven't a well defined local
translation. (With some hilarious results if they are
translated). Not all translators is well versed in every aspect
of GIS. <br>
</li>
</ul>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Med venlig hilsen / Kind regards
Bo Victor Thomsen</pre>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Den 30-06-2020 kl. 00:20 skrev
Alexandre Neto:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CA+H0G_H67iVeMz4=gRAPax_3c9WGV0-DRAfnC=bmn-JtK=PQ2w@mail.gmail.com">
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<div dir="ltr">Hi,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I have been looking into the Portuguese translations of the
GUI and the Docs, and I got really scared. Many translations
were done completely out of context, making it very hard to
read or understand what was originally written in English,
even if you are familiar with the terminology.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I don't know how other languages are going, and if you face
the same problems. In Portugal, we have a very small
community. Because of that, translation efforts are not really
coordinated or even reviewed in most cases.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Now, the biggest problem is that I think this deeply
affects QGIS credibility. When you install QGIS, it defaults
to the machine's locale, and many users don't even know how to
change it (seen it in several courses). This means that many
people will only know the badly translated version of QGIS in
their native language... and It looks bad.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>In training, people sometimes make fun of the translations.
I always enforce the idea that the translation work is fully
done by volunteers in their spare time, but I am afraid if for
some people it just looks like the full application was done
by volunteers and hobbyists.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>So, I wanted to know if more of you face the same issues.
If so, would it be wiser to default the language always to
English and let the user find out how to change to his
language if he wants to?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Thanks,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Alexandre Neto</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>PS: Sorry for the cross-posting</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
<br>
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