G'day everyone
I see you have helped translate MailMan, and since you've helped translate opensource software before, I was hoping I could interest you to participate in our volunteer translation project, Decathlon. We need volunteer translators from all over the world to translate up to ten or more opensource programs into their languages.
More information about the Decathlon project can be found here: http://translate.sourceforge.net/wiki/decathlon/mainpage
Our project has the following aims: * To create or assist language communities to translate software * To promote languages by making software available in those languages
There is no minimum commitment. We hope to translate at least one computer program per month. The programs we choose usually contain between 2000 and 4000 words, and it is possible for multiple translators to work together on a single project. There are no deadlines either, so this is truly a translation project in which you should feel welcome to give as much or as little as you have time for.
We're starting off with FreeMind, which is a mindmapping program: http://translate.sourceforge.net/wiki/decathlon/freemind
Other programs we have lined up are Art of Illusion (a 3d animator), 7-zip (an archive utility), FileZilla (an FTP client), TuxGuitar (a score editor), TuxPaint (a children's drawing program), and VLC (a video and music player). More projects will hopefully join shortly.
All translations are done in our web-based translations system, Pootle. Translators can also download (and upload) the translation files to translate offline, although it depends on the number of people in the translation team and the programs involved. Our source format is Gettext PO. Our project is designed for all types of translators -- amateurs, academics, professionals. One way to think about translating in Decathlon is that if you get 9 friends and each of you translate only 20 words per day (or 100 words per week), that is 4000 words per month.
Our Pootle server is here (not all languages listed there are active yet, and some languages we target are not listed yet either): http://pootle.locamotion.org/
The value of Pootle is that a team of translators can work together on a single file. Pootle also has quality checking features. If there are young translators in the team, their rights can optionally be limited to suggesting translations, but this depends on the dynamics of each team. If you're using FireFox, you may be able to use a free built-in spell-checker (if one exists for your language).
I may send you more e-mails as the Decathlon project progresses, but if you want no further mails from us, please let us know and we'll remove your name from our list.
I look forward to hearing from you. You are welcome to pass this e-mail on to anyone you think may be interested.
Sincerely
Samuel Murray Decathlon project leader