translation

[D. Michael McIntyre]

On Friday 21 December 2007, Donn wrote:

> > but in english : how could i make automatically a po.file ?
> > I read the tutorial about localisation but there is no working example
> > and i can't adapt it to kapp ?
>
> Hi, I am currently changing my little app into an 18n one. It's not an easy
> job and takes a lot of time. The basic formula is this:

>http://developer.kde.org/documentation/library/kdeqt/kde3arch/kde-i18n-howto.html

> 1. aptitude install gettext

You have to use the special KDE gettext for some reason.  I don't remember 
why, but our users pointed out some problem that we could only solve by using 
the proper gettext.

> 4. Use kbabel (or a text editor) to edit that file - put all the French to
> English strings in there. Use French _("in your app like this") and put the
> English in the pot file

From the above link:

  11.2 Coding in a foreign language 
     If you are not comfortable with the English language, you may have coded
  your application using strings in your native language. You must convert all
  your code to English before it can be translated by the translation teams.
  One solution is to get someone who understands both English and your
  language to help you with this....

So I think I'd be sure to use English in the code, in case I ever wanted 
anyone who didn't speak French to translate it.  That's what every 
application I can think of does.  US English is the standard "untranslated" 
state for text strings in the source code, and even UK English is a 
translation.  Works great for me.  :)  I guess somebody has to have the upper 
hand linguistically, since Esperanto has never taken off.

> 4. To make a .po file try this:
> That's the 10 cents version - for a better overview search online for the
> GNU gettext manual and read it.

And you'd be a lot better off to take this question somewhere you could expect 
to find developers.  This is a user-oriented list.

-- 
D. Michael McIntyre