NB: For some reason, MDrights broke the thread in their answer so I'll
answer here to both emails.
emma peel:
> sajolida:
>> - @Zen + @emmapeel: Do you think that Weblate is in a good shape to
>> welcome a bunch of new translators for "zh_TW" if we make some
>> publicity around it? Or would it be better to wait some more months?
>
> Yes. The platform is currently having some 503 issues but it can have new translations for those languages.
Ok, and seeing your roadmap on the translation platform it also feels
better to wait a bit more before advertising it wildly. At least after
all your tickets with "High" priority are solved. I guess it will make
it easier to coordinate all this once the roles and responsibilities
withing the team are clarified. This also relates to the pending budget
forecasting process I guess.
> I have added reviewer rights to mdrights on the platform.
Awesome!
>> I could help trying to get new translators but contacting my friends in
>> Taiwan and announcing it on Twitter but I don't have the skills and time
>> to onboard them on Weblate.
>
> (We are going to update the docs soon)
Oh nice! I wouldn't mind helping you out a bit with the doc. I don't
think that it's my responsibility as Technical Writer to write all the
doc on how to use Weblate but it might be worth it for me to either do a
review, help you identify the most important things to fix in this
process, or think about the structure of the doc.
Please get back to me if you think that you can use my help on this.
>> Another option would be to try to get some new translators right now
>> with clear plans of activating "zh_TW" only if we manage to build an
>> active team and, for example, get them to translate the new Home and
>> About page at least before activation.
>>
>> What do you all think?
>
> i like this idea, ad the others as well. i think with the current situation we may wait a bit to publish.
Ok.
> I also think Chinese speakers like to call the languages Hans and Hant, maybe before we publish we can change the names for the languages? (move 'zh' to zh-Hans and zh-TW to zh-Hant)
Indeed, according to MDright, these terms are considered/criticised by
some people as this makes languages nationalised (and politicized).
I don't know what would be the cost of renaming them and what else might
break in doing so, so I'm not in a good position to evaluate the
cost/benefit. But I'm not against you doing it.
MDrights:
>> By "zh_TW" (as on Weblate), which I called "Chinese (Taiwan)",
>> I understand that we're talking about Traditional Chinese, which you
>> called zh-hant.
>
> Oh, sorry for letting you be confused :)
> Indeed Traditional Chinese = zh-hant = zh_TW + zh_HK ;
> Simplified CHinese = zh-hans = zh_CN.
> We sometimes mix these terms while formally I think I should use
> zh_TW, zh_HK and zh_CN (some sorts of Int'l standard?). However these
> formal terms are considered/critised by some people as this makes
> languages nationalised (and politisized).
I didn't know that. Thanks for teaching me even more about Traditional
vs Simplified Chinese :)
>> So as in the computer world (as well as on Weblate, Transifex) the
>> 'zh_TW'-like term is widely used, we can continue using such terms.
Or with their full name "Traditional" and "Simplified" Chinese :)
>> Indeed it would be awesome to be able to count on you to review
>> "zh_TW" as well as "zh"!
>
> Thank you so much.
Now emmapeel gave you reviewer's rights :)
>> - @MDrights: Do you think that you could help with getting more
>> active translators for "zh_TW"?
>
> I am afraid I am not able to get more translators for zh_TW or zh_CN.
> I am based at China (zh_CN), the place where most people have
> difficulty using Tails at the first place so they might not be
> interested. I also have little human resources for Taiwan, TBH.
Thank you for being clear about your possibilities.
> yep, it needs time and energy to get new friends onboard. My current
> idea (and a short term plan) is that I would continue jxtsai's work
> (so as to value his previous work and achieve a sort of milestone). As
> for the new Home and About page (and other new content), I would not
> hurry but see if there are more active translators in the future then
> begin the new translation.
>
> I am also in Localisation Lab's l10n community (on IFF's Mattermost).
> There are a few active zh_CN and zh_TW translators there. Could we
> connect to them, and/or make the Tails l10n project visible at LocLab?
> (I assume there might be some reasons that why Tails l10n is not
> included in LocLab's Transifex?)
I might be wrong so emmapeel, please correct me. I think that we are not
on LocLab's Transifex because it wouldn't be possible to translate our
website there. That's why we built our own platform. But we know LocLac
and we are in good terms with them. Actually, it's LocLac who funded the
initial translation of the website into Farsi.
Seeing that:
- Traditional Chinese ('zh_TW') is at 28% of core pages.
- Farsi ('fa') will down to 20% after the release of the new Home.
- The new Home and About won't be translated either but might help get
people excited about translating our website (hopefully!).
- The translation platform has a few bugs and docs to be fixed before
being in a state that we can comfortably call "production" according
to its maintenance team.
I propose that we:
1. Pause the idea of activating Traditional Chinese zh_TW until Weblate
can be in a state that we can comfortably call "production".
2. Keep Farsi activated on the website.
3. Once the new Home and About are released, wait until the Weblate team
gives us the green light after fixing the most important issues and
improving the doc.
4. Call for translators for Traditional and Simplified Chinese and Farsi
to reactivate teams and reach a good coverage. While doing so we
might ask for the help of LocLab.
5. Activate Traditional or Simplified Chinese if we manage to get good
coverage and an active team on Weblate. Deactivate Farsi if we don't
manage to get back to good coverage and have an active team on
Weblate.
How does this sound?
--
sajolida
Tails —
https://tails.boum.org/
UX · Fundraising · Technical Writing
