[Librezale] Decathlon volunteer software translation project

[Samuel Murray (Groenkloof)]

G'day everyone

I see you have helped translate Xine, 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