[OSGeo-Discuss] Message Translation in OSGeo software projects

[Dave Patton]

Markus Neteler wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> a known obstacle to use FOSS Desktop GIS software (maybe
> also WebGIS solutions) are the user messages which are often
> not translated from English to other languages.
> 
> In the GRASS project, we have ongoing efforts to translate
> the (thousands) of messages into various languages:
> http://grass.itc.it/devel/i18n.php
> 
> While this sort of works, translators always have to download
> the entire message files and submit changes. A problem arises
> if different people want to translate for the same language.

There are tools in the GNU Gettext chain that deal with
merging message catalog(.po) files, so the work of
translation of larger files can be divided.

> Opinions, suggestions?

I haven't used it myself, but there are people who do
make use of the Translation Project:
http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/translation/

It may be worthwhile to ask for opinions and
suggestions on the Translation-i18n list:
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/translation-i18n
Both the administrators of the Translation Project and
the maintainer of Gettext participate on that list.

-- 
Dave Patton

Canadian Coordinator, Degree Confluence Project
http://www.confluence.org/

Personal website - Maps, GPS, etc.
http://members.shaw.ca/davepatton/