How to contribute!

[slinkeepie]

Hi there,

I am promoting Mint among some of my Khmer friends, and I would like to speed up the Khmer translations, but it seems the volunteers are a bit behind, and as I am not fluent, I decided I would like to use my own funds for professional translating, in whatever capacity I can afford (at least for cinnamon, etc, in order of importance). I will be able to find a suitable translating business in cambodia hopefully that can deal with technical computer terms, and it's quite affordable, but I would like to know how I would go about entering the translations, and what are the basics I should know. I would just like to know how the whole process works, and if anyone could tell me how to get started... Also what are the undone translations that would be most useful to mint users.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[xenopeek]

Translating is a valued contribution

The translations for the software developed by the Linux Mint developers are done using Launchpad. For Khmer that is here (just those 19 applications): https://translations.launchpad.net/linu ... a/+lang/km. As it states there, there currently is no Khmer translation team for the Linux Mint software (though you can see a few translations have been done). A prospective translator would sign up for a Launchpad account and in this case get in email contact with Clement Lefebvre [root at linuxmint dot com], Linux Mint's project leader, for starting a Linux Mint Khmer translation team.

Linux Mint Main Edition is based on Ubuntu. So except for those 19 applications listed in above link, translations are handled by Ubuntu's Khmer localization team: https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-l10n-km. I think the most urgent for translation to Khmer are then those 19 Linux Mint applications, as for the other applications already a translation team is in place from Ubuntu.

I'm a member of the Linux Mint Dutch translation team, so I've seen it in action. Launchpad automates a lot of the translating work. For example, common phrases that are already translated in other applications are put forth as suggestions while you are translating. Even if you just have a Launchpad account, you can already enter translations as a suggestion, which the Linux Mint Khmer translation team can than later accept (for now Clement accepts translations, until such a team is set up).

I would suggest you sign up for a Launchpad account, to get an idea from following the above links. BTW not to diminish the strive for a perfect translation, but to any user not understanding English, having access to a Khmer localized installation makes all the difference regardless of how perfect the translation is Please share if we can help you further, and thank you for considering doing this!

[slinkeepie]

Thank you Vincent, for an amazing reply! You've explained it perfectly, and it doesn't sound so daunting now, either. I really want to contribute somehow, so I've made an account. Can I just start translating the mint stuff straight away and clem will approve it, or should I get some special permission? I will be getting some of it professionally done, but just as you said, it gives you suggestions of similar strings from other packages, which is very handy! So I can probably just do the simple ones myself...

Thanks again...!

[slinkeepie]

One more annoying question... when I click on the package link in the suggestion lines, it says "not found or no permission..." ...

This is an example link: https://translations.launchpad.net/ubun ... +translate

Though it will probably match most of the time, It might be handy occasionally to get some context on the use of the string...

Thanks in advance... have already started "translating" (basically just confirming some simple translations).

[xenopeek]

If you are translating, I think Clem approving your suggestions (each needs to be approved individually I think) is less preferable to Clem setting up a Khmer translator team and making you a member so that you can do translations directly. I've forwarded this topic to Clem to consider; may take some time due to current focus on finishing the final release for Linux Mint 13.

As for the page not found error, possibly that was a translation for a package that has since been removed?

[clem]

Hi,

Please send me a request by email containing your email/ID on launchpad, so I can create the team and make you a member of it.

Thanks,
Clem.