Re: [9fans] localization

[Gabriel Diaz <gdiaz@9grid.es>]

Hello

We install operating systems in English. Spanish / Catalan localized
systems are a source of problems like:

* error messages do not reflect was going on in Spanish but it does in
English, and in some cases it can mislead the user, jumping to a
wrong conclusion
* translations are often outdated, referring to things not present in
the system anymore
* applications do not always use the localization engine of the
system, so you end with multiple languages and localization
implementations, grep-ing though a localized log file is painfull if
you must deal with more than one language (and can lead you to use
error codes)
* jargon is usually translated and used in strange way at best, also
the 'false friends' words are difficult to handle in an automated way

I would prefer to have a system completely in English but polished,
instead of a badly or half translated system.

"La memoria no se puede 'written'" is a common windows error, which
shows the kind of problems they found.


slds.

gabi

On Wed, Apr 27, 2011 at 6:14 PM, erik quanstrom <quanstro@quanstro.net> wrote:
> !/bin/upas/marshal -s 'Re: [9fans] localization' -R /mail/fs/mbox/3100 9fans@9fans.net
> On Wed Apr 27 12:04:56 EDT 2011, dexen.devries@gmail.com wrote:
>> browsing through uriel's slides from fosdem 2006 [1], i see him mention Plan 9
>> lacks localization. what are this lists feelings on localization (both
>> translation of strings and formatting of numbers, time etc.) of user-facing
>> applications?
>
> it's not the implementation that bothers me so much as the
> theory of operation.  command-line utilities are localized s.t.
> it becomes necessary to fiddle with the locale if you want to
> parse the output.  but then you can't present this as localized
> output yourself easily.  localization can go as far as changing the set
> of digits, or even the default numbering base!  they also don't
> choose a character set.  shell scripting becomes impossible.
>
> i realize no localization makes life difficult for folks who speak greek.
> it would be interesting to hear from a non-native english speaker
> on if they think dealing with the computer in english is something
> that can be done once and then forgotten, and if this is less work
> than dealing with the tower of locale.
>
> it would be interesting to hear ideas on this.  it's a hard problem.
>
> - erik
>
>