Localization issues

[Michael Bauer]

Hi folks

Ok, first of all, we brought gd back up over 95% again. Sorry it's been 
a while but losing *that* many translations in the move to KDE was a 
real kick in the guts. And now I've forgotten how to commit on the new 
system, KDE does my head in. Would it be possible for an admin to grab 
the po from www.akerbeltz.org/sealach/gcompris_gd.zip and commit it 
please? :)

I've also run into various issues while bringing the localization back 
up which I feel need adressing. In no particular order (though I deem 1, 
6 and 7 most critical) these are:

1) the long blocks of text are really unhelpful for localizers. If 
you're working on a laptops and in Virtall (for example), stuff just 
disappears off the bottom of the page in these really long blocks. 
Working on my desktop and in Trados Studios, they sometimes make even 
Trados crash due to sheer length.
The additonal problem is that when devs change some tiny thing in en-US, 
suddenly your translation ends up with massive chunks of "untranslated" 
text just because ":-)" was deleted from a dozen "strings". Someone 
should really look at breaking those into smaller chunks, certainly 
between paragraphs of text and in future, possible even down to 
sentences (which would also make the use of translation memories more 
efficience if sentences are moved around or split etc).

2) Columbus Day - is that really such a great example to use, given how 
controversial it is?

3) Mothers Day - this is not on the same date in every country but the 
activity does not seem to take that into account.

4) The family activity is very Anglo-centric. Given the complexity of 
kinship systems, this should really be re-visited (check out 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinship_terminology) and at the very least 
be described as Anglo-European kinship model in the activity, at least 
to set expectations.

5) Pounds and ounces are not entirely restriced to the US.

6) The quality of the English is seriously poor in places. Given that 
GCompris charges money for the full version, I strongly feel that before 
more activities are addes, the existing ones need proofreading by native 
speakers. To give a few of the worst examples I've seen:
This activity will give teach about who we are related to our relatives
(I think this means "This activity teaches about how we are related to 
our relatives")
For the married couple we have highlighted with the rings that is 
between two circles. For the rest of relations we have only solid lines.
(I think this is supposed to mean something like "Married couples are 
marked with a ring linking two circles. All other types of relationship 
are linked with a solid line")
Red circle will point to you and blue one to your relative. Now you have 
to find what you should call this person.
(I think this is supposed to mean "The red circle marks you and the blue 
one your relative. You now have to find out what you call this person")
Now he wants to give 4 candies to his friends.
(in English, candy is "pieces of candy", you can't use "candies")
You can't put more than  candies in the same widget
(is this really an appropriate in-activiy string, "in the same widget"? 
That's suddenly very technical for an activity where someone is sharing 
8 pieces of candy between three people...)

7) The Monuments activity is nice but needs a content review. Apart from 
the fact it seems very India-heavy, there are large sections with 
questionable English and content, which in parts seem very technical, in 
parts like advertising. For example:
To pen-down the philosophy, ideology, the inner and outer beauty, as 
well as the historical legacy of Sri Harimandir Sahib is a momentous 
task. It is a matter of experience rather than a of description.
(that may be the case but in a description for a monument seems out of 
place)
There are 30 caves in Ajanta of which 9, 10, 19, 26 and 29 are 
chaitya-grihas and the rest are monasteries.
(the last part is very technical (do we really need the cave numbers 
rather than saying "5 of them"?) and chaitya-griha may make sense to 
Hindi speaking children but anywhere else, without an explanation, this 
is rather pointless.

Over and out

Michael