+ <chapt id="l10n">Internationalizing, translating, being internationalized
+ and being translated
+ <p>
+Debian supports an ever-increasing number of natural languages. Even if you are
+native English speaker and do not speak any other language, it is part of your
+duty as a maintainer to be aware of issues of internationalization (abbreviated
+i18n because there are 18 letters between the 'i' and the 'n' in
+internationalization). Therefore, even if you are ok with English only
+programs, you should read most of this chapter.
+ <p>
+According to <url id="http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/intro-i18n/"
+name="Introduction to i18n"> from Tomohiro KUBOTA, "I18N (internationalization)
+means modification of a software or related technologies so that a software can
+potentially handle multiple languages, customs, and so on in the world." while
+"L10N (localization) means implementation of a specific language for an already
+internationalized software."
+ <p>
+l10n and i18n are tied, but the difficulties related to each of them are very
+different. It's not really difficult to allow a program to change the language
+in which texts are displayed based on user settings, but it is very time
+consuming to actually translate these messages. On the other hand, setting the
+character encoding is trivial, but adapting the code to use several character
+encodings is a really hard problem.
+ <p>
+Letting alone the i18n problems, where no general receipt exist, there is
+actually no central infrastructure for l10n within Debian which could be
+compared to the dbuild mechanism for porting. So, most of the work has to be
+done manually.
+
+
+ <sect id="l10n-handling">How translations are handled within Debian
+ <p>
+Handling translation of the texts contained in a package is still a manual
+task, and the process depends on the kind of text you want to see translated.
+ <p>
+For program messages, the gettext infrastructure is used most of the time.
+Most of the time, the translation is handled upstream within projects like the
+<url id="http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/contrib/po/HTML/" name="Free Translation
+Project">, the <url id="http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gtp/" name="Gnome
+translation Project"> or the <url id="http://i18n.kde.org/" name="KDE one">.
+The only centralized resource within Debian is the <url
+id="http://www.debian.org/intl/l10n/" name="Central Debian translation
+statistics">, where you can find some statistics about the translation files
+found in the actual package, but no real infrastructure to ease the translation
+process.
+ <p>
+An effort to translate the package descriptions started long ago even if very
+few support is offered by the tools to actually use them (ie, only APT can use
+them, when configured correctly). There is nothing to do for the maintainers,
+and the translators should use the <url id="http://ddtp.debian.org/"
+name="DDTP">.
+ <p>
+For debconf templates, maintainer should use the po-debconf package to ease the
+work of translators, which could use the DDTP to do their work (but French and
+Brazilian teams don't). Some statistics can be found both on the DDTP site
+(about what is actually translated), and on the <url
+id="http://www.debian.org/intl/l10n/" name="Central Debian translation
+statistics"> site (about what is integrated in the packages).
+ p>
+For web pages, each l10n team has access to the relevant CVS, and the statistics
+are available from the Central Debian translation statistics site.
+ <p>
+For general documentation about Debian, the process is more or less the same
+than for the web pages (the translators have an access to the CVS), but there is
+no statistics pages.
+ <p>
+For package specific documentation (man pages, info document, other formats),
+almost everything have yet to be done. Most notably, the KDE project handles
+translation of its documentation in the same way as its program messages.
+Debian specific man pages begin to be handled within a <url
+id="http://cvs.debian.org/manpages/?cvsroot=debian-doc" name="specific CVS
+repository"> .
+
+
+ <sect id="l10n-faqm">I18N & L10N FAQ for maintainers
+ <p>
+This is a list of problems that maintainers may face concerning i18n and l10n.
+While reading this, keep in mind that there is no real consensus on those
+points within Debian, and that they are only advices. If you have a better idea
+for a given problem, or if you disagree on some points, feel free to provide
+your feedback, so that this document can be enhanced.
+
+ <sect1 id="l10n-faqm-tr">How to get a given text translated?
+ <p>
+To translate package description or debconf templates, you have nothing to do,
+the DDTP infrastructure will dispatch the material to translate to volunteers
+with no need for interaction from your part.
+ <p>
+For all other material (gettext files, man pages or other documentation), the
+best solution is to put your text somewhere on Internet, and ask on debian-i18n
+for a translation in the different languages. Some translation team members are
+subscribed to this list, and they will take care of the translation and of the
+reviewing process. Once done, you will get your translated document from them
+in your mailbox.
+
+ <sect1 id="l10n-faqm-rev">How to get a given translation reviewed?
+ <p>
+>From time to time, individuals translate some texts included in your package
+and will ask you for inclusion in the package. This can become problematic if
+you are not fluent in the given language. It is a good idea to send the
+document to the corresponding l10n mailing list, asking for a review. Once it
+has been done, you should feel more confident in the quality of the
+translation, and include it fearlessly into your package.
+
+ <sect1 id="l10n-faqm-update">How to get a given translation updated?
+ <p>
+If you have some translations of a given text laying around, each time you
+update the original, you should kindly ask to the previous translator to update
+his/her work to make the translation up to date with regard to the current
+original text. Keep in mind that this task takes time, at least one week to get
+the update reviewed and all.
+ <p>
+If the translator is unresponsive, you may ask for help to the corresponding
+l10n mailing list. If everything fails, don't forget to put a warning in the
+translated document, stating that the translation is somehow outdated, and that
+the reader should refer to the original document if possible.
+ <p>
+Avoid removing completely a translation because it is outdated. An old
+documentation is often better than no documentation at all for non-English
+speaker.
+
+ <sect1 id="l10n-faqm-bug">How to handle a bug report concerning a translation?
+ <p>
+The best solution may be to mark the bug as "forwarded to upstream", and
+forward it to both the previous translator and his/her team (using the
+corresponding debian-l10n-XXX mailing list).
+
+ <sect id="l10n-faqtr">I18N & L10N FAQ for translators
+ <p>
+While reading this, please keep in mind that there is no general procedure
+within Debian concerning those points, and that in any case, you should
+collaborate with your team and the package maintainer.
+
+ <sect1 id="l10n-faqtr-help">How to help the translation effort?
+ <p>
+Choose what you want to translate, make sure that nobody is already working on
+it (using your debian-l10n-XXX mailing list), translate it, get it reviewed by
+other native speakers on your l10n mailing list, and provide it to the
+maintainer of the package (see next point).
+
+ <sect1 id="l10n-faqtr-inc">How to provide a translation for inclusion in a package?
+ <p>
+Make sure your translation is correct (asking for review on your l10n mailing
+list) before providing it for inclusion. It will save time for everyone, and
+avoid the chaos resulting in having several versions of the same document in
+bug reports.
+ <p>
+The best solution is to fill a regular bug containing the translation against
+the package. Make sure to use the 'PATCH' tag, and to not use a gravity higher
+than 'wishlist', since the lack of translation never prevented a program from
+running.
+
+ <sect id="l10n-best">Best current practice concerning l10n
+ <p>
+<list>
+ <item>
+As a maintainer, never edit the translations in any way (even to reformat the
+layout) without asking to the corresponding l10n mailing list. You risk for
+example to break the encoding of the file by doing so. Moreover, what you
+consider as an error can be right (or even needed) in the given language.
+ <item>
+As a translator, if you find an error in the original text, make sure to report
+it. Translators are often the most attentive readers of a given text, and if
+they don't report the errors they find, nobody will.
+ <item>
+In any case, remember that the major issue with l10n is that it requires
+several people to cooperate, and that it is very easy to start a flamewar about
+small problems because of misunderstanding. So, if you have problems with your
+interlocutor, ask for help on the corresponding l10n mailing list, on
+debian-i18n, or even on debian-devel (but beware, l10n discussions very often
+become flamewars on that list :)
+ <item>
+In any case, cooperation can only be achieved with <strong>mutual respect</strong>.
+</list>
+