A note to the KDE translation teams:
Ubuntu's web based translation tool Rosetta is now complete for Ubuntu
and Kubuntu Dapper.
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-announce/2006-May/000082.html
This is the first release which has KDE imported into Rosetta so KDE
translation teams now have the option of using Rosetta for their KDE
translations.
As a web based application Rosetta offers an easier way to translate
Free Software without having to learn about Subversion and .po files.
The KDE translation domains in Rosetta are those in Ubuntu's main
archive, which is most of KDE 3.5.2.
https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/dapper/+translations
To use Rosetta you need to join the Launchpad translation team for
your language. There are already translation teams for many languages
actively translating Ubuntua and now Kubuntu using Rosetta, even if
nobody in your translation team wants to use Rosetta it is probably a
good idea to peridically check if there are KDE translations that you
can take from it to put into KDE's SVN. Anyone can export from
Rosetta.
A couple of notes. If you already know all about Subversion and .po
files you probably won't be wanting to use a web based interface, but
keep in mind that new translators to your team may find it easer.
I believe that there is also a web based translation tool planned for
l10n.kde.org, you may wish to wait for that, but the advice about
checking Rosetta for translations by Ubuntu translation teams still
applies.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Syndicate Blogs
Yeah, Rosetta...
When the KDE translations in Rosetta showed up, I tried it out and reviewed the German translation of kdissert, resolving all the numerous fuzzy and missing entries.
Not being a member of the translation team (why should I, if I'm just a one-time contributor) the translation was not applied, and Rosetta said that it only has to be approved by the translation team to get applied.
Guess what happened? Right, nothing. 3 months or so, and the translation is still in the same state as before. Rosetta couldn't even export the changes to a .po file so that I could send it to the maintainer by myself. It isn't clear who from Lauchpad I should contact, as the one listed contributor "is not an active member of any Launchpad teams". Two mails to German translators didn't get me any reply.
Looking at the kdissert translation in Rosetta now, my "suggestions" don't even show up like they did before. I guess my work (which has been staying up all night for translating) has been for naught. Now tell me to use Rosetta again and I'll tell you what I won't do for sure.
Rosetta and KDE translations
Just to get this into perspective: Web based translation tools for KDE have been frequently discussed and tested (http://l10n.kde.org/tools/kartouche/). But there always were only a few supporters, esp. among teams who were just starting or couldn't get enough committed translators for the usual process with KBabel and SVN.
Among the majority, there has always been consensus that web based tools wouldn't result in the consistent, high quality translations most teams are looking for and that, in practice, it would be hardly possible to integrate them into the standard translation process. Accordingly, there are no plans that I'm aware of to set up a web based translation tool for l10n.kde.org. See respective posting of its maintainer to the translation list: http://lists.kde.org/?l=kde-i18n-doc&m=114183249408975&w=2
As to Rosetta in particular there were also reservations about its licensing, see eg http://lists.kde.org/?l=kde-i18n-doc&m=114182600628413&w=2
Kind regards,
Thomas