The Wikimedia Foundation uses MediaWiki for its software. The localisation of this software is done at Betawiki. At Betawiki we support several other applications for their localisation. The benefit for these other applications is that Betawiki has a great community of translators.
Every year, the WMF has its fund raiser. Every year the message needs to be tuned and consequently the software is spruced up. You would expect that the WMF would use Betawiki for the localisation of their message. They do not. When you look at their translation request you will find only 30 languages, you have to work an Meta, so as a translator you will not find help that explains what the message is about.
I think it silly that the WMF thinks that a Wiki is the universal tool appropriate to translate text. These messages are to be used in software; these wiki pages have to be converted... For me it is demonstrates that the WMF does not have a strategy on how to deal with multiple languages. It is also gives the impression that all the "other" languages and their communities are not considered to be relevant.
Thanks.
GerardM
6 comments:
My ideal scenario for the fundraising toolkit is a MediaWiki extension that handles payment processing and lives in our version control system. All user interface texts here would be localized using BetaWiki like any other extension.
This is not what we've implemented for this year: It will be a technical priority project once the fundraiser is concluded.
The current fundraising messages are a mix of software user interface messages (sitenotice), page templates (landing page, donation page, etc.), and regular pages (FAQ, tax deductibility information, etc.). BetaWiki in its current incarnation seems potentially appropriate for the sitenotice, but not so much for the other texts which aren't actually software user interface strings.
For the sitenotice, Tomasz (one of our new developers) is implementing a simple translation tool that actually shows a preview of what different campaigns look like, to test things like "Is my translation too long to properly fit into this banner?". It transparently accesses the MediaWiki namespace pages on meta.wikimedia.org. This need for a preview makes it more straightforward to us to manage the translations on our servers.
This tool isn't live yet, and once it is, sitenotice translation will be managed through it.
As for the core messages, those could potentially be localized via BetaWiki, but whether they live on BetaWiki or Meta, they will have to be copied into the templates on wikimediafoundation.org in the end, so doing so doesn't actually help us hugely.
Regarding what languages can be translated into, the list suggested on Meta is obviously only meant as a starting point. It can be freely added to as needed, though there's not much point in translating to a language when there isn't a Wikimedia wiki in that language yet.
When you build a tool to improve MediaWiki localisation and, you build it outside of Betawiki, it means that this tool will have to be build twice in order to benefit next year if you truly want to use Betawiki next year.
Generalising the tool so that it is not only but also a WMF tool would be a good thing as MediaWiki and its extensions are used a lot outside of the WMF.
The notion that other languages may be added is true, but the point is that there is no community of translators looking at this stuff and consequently this is less likely to happen.
Meta indicates a wish for 30 languages, There are over 300 language versions of Wikipedia.. Please do the math.
Betawiki does allow for the translation of plain text. It even has functionality to indicate later changes in the original text...
Thanks,
GerardM
Hi Erik,
I certain hope that you will advise your developer to contact Niklas about improving the MediaWiki extension translate to accomplish set goals, as what you describe in your above comment flabbergasts me, and strikes me as a waste of donated resources.
Siebrand
Gerard, it's nice that you're pushing BetaWiki for everything, but it's not a personal slight when other, existing tools are used.
What we're talking about here is a site notice template campaign organizer, with easier editing of the localized messages -- and most importantly actual preview of the composed template -- on top as an extra.
This doesn't conflict with or replace other general MediaWiki localization tools.
For the curious, this lives in the CentralNotice extension created for last year's fundraiser -- I didn't get the UI implemented last year, but the infrastructure was always designed to have a campaign management UI (defining banner templates, start and end dates, etc)
As for the donation pages, these are being done the same as years past -- templates on wikimediafoundation.org which existing translators customize on the wiki, so there's nothing new or shocking going on.
Brion your answer indicates that you think in terms of technology. The question however is, where are the translators. How do you get the most translators working on the localisation of these messages.
From a community point of view it is insane to have separate places where people have to work on the localisation of our software. This will get you an suboptimal result.
Thanks,
GerardM
Great article. While browsing the web I got stumbled through the blog and found more attractive. I am Software analyst with the content as I got all the stuff I was looking for. The way you have covered the stuff is great. Keep up doing a great job. Also Check : best recruiting agency software , best video interview software.
Post a Comment