[QGIS-Developer] Concerns about translations and QGIS overall credibility

[Bo Victor Thomsen]

Dear developers:

As a former translator of the Danish version of QGIS I have a few - very 
personal, perhaps a bit caustic - comments:

  * 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.
  * 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.
  * 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.
  * 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 ?
  * Make the translation stage a significant step in the development cycle.
  * 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.


-- 
Med venlig hilsen / Kind regards

Bo Victor Thomsen



Den 30-06-2020 kl. 00:20 skrev Alexandre Neto:
> Hi,
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Alexandre Neto
>
> PS: Sorry for the cross-posting
>
>
>
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