[GRASS-dev] RE: [GRASS-user] Re: Call for documentation help

[Moritz Lennert]

On 09/11/07 04:27, Hamish wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I am a bit out of the loop and don't know what is going on for translations of
> the help pages .. the task seems to me too huge + a moving target to worry
> about doing formally with our available peoplepower. They'd always be a little
> out of date.

I agree, but I think that even a man page slightly out of date can be of 
use to someone who really doesn't understand the English version.

> 
> 
> I don't know how AltaVista feels about live linking, but on the wiki I've added
> experimental links to the Babelfish translator for the 6.3 online help pages:
> 
>   http://grass.gdf-hannover.de/wiki/Updating_GRASS_Documentation#Translations


Nice idea, with some interesting results (e.g. postscript becomes 
post-scriptum in the French version and - my favourite - GEM becomes 
"Directeur De Prolongements d'HERBE", meaning something like the 
director for the extension of grass/herbs ;-)).

One more serious issue though: the different options to commands are 
also translated, making them more or less useless:

v.clean [ -b] entré=outil nomméde rendement= de nom[type=corde 
[,corde... ] ][erreur=nom ]=corde[,corde... ] 
[battez=flotteur[,flotteur... ] ] [ - -recouvrez] [ - -bavard] [ - 
-tranquillité]

and the choice of tools:

outil=string[,corde... ]
     Outil de nettoyage
     Options : coupure, rupture, rmdangle, chdangle, rmbridge, chbridge, 
rmdupl, rmdac, bpol, pruneau, rmarea, rmline, rmsa
     coupure: lignes de coupure à chaque intersection
     rupture: lignes instantanées au sommet dans le seuil
     rmdangle: enlevez balance, seuil ignoré si < 0
     chdangle: changez le type de frontière balancent pour rayer, seuil 
ignoré si < 0, input line type is ignored

[...]

Moritz