<appendix id="methods-advices"><title>Translation methods and advices</title>

<sect1>
<title>
Introduction
</title>

<para>
This section will give translators recommendations about work methods
as well as more precise recommendations targeted for &d-i;
translations.
</para>

<para>
Reading more general documentation about Free Software translation
work is also recommended to all &d-i; translators as several methods
and concepts are common to all Free Software translation projects.
</para>

</sect1>

<sect1>
<title>
Work with translation teams
</title>

<para>
If a translation team exists for a language, translators should
<emphasis>work with them</emphasis>. They should first check the
<email>debian-l10n-&lt;language&gt;</email> mailing list where
&lt;language&gt; is the language name in English
(e.g. <email>debian-l10n-polish</email>,
<email>debian-l10n-portuguese</email>, etc.)
</para>

<para>
The list of all available translation teams is available at <ulink
url="&url-debian-list-archives;i18n.html">&url-debian-list-archives;i18n.html</ulink>
If in doubt, assistance and help may be requested on the
&email-debian-i18n-list; mailing list.
</para>

<para>
As soon as more than one translator works for a given language, the
creation of a dedicated translation team is recommended. This is
usually done with the creation of a dedicated mailing list,
preferably on the Debian servers, where it will get more
visibility. Assistance for this can be requested to the &i18n-coords;
or on &email-debian-i18n-list;.
</para>

<para>
Working with translation teams not dedicated to Debian work is also
possible. Actually, several &d-i; translators come from such teams and
continue working directly with these teams. This work method is
however slightly weaker as the link between the &i18n-coords; and the
translators for the given language depends on a single individual.
</para>

</sect1>

<sect1>
<title>
Use peer review
</title>

<para>
In all translation efforts, peer reviewing is a key point of the
quality assurance process. All translators may introduce errors,
spelling or grammar mistakes in their translations. Thus, reviews by
another native speakers of the language (even if not familiar with the
technical background) can help in tracking these down.
</para>

</sect1>

<sect1>
<title>
Remain consistent
</title>

<para>
Some strings or translations choices are identical in two or more
packages. Translators should try to translate them consistently. The
use of compendiums or translation dictionaries is suggested.
</para>

</sect1>

<sect1>
<title>
Work with previous translators
</title>

<para>
From time to time, translators will find existing, incomplete (or
inconsistent) translation, done by another individual.  They should do
their best to contact the previous translator in order to prevent
duplication of work.  His/her mail address can be found in the PO
file header named <classname>Last-Translator</classname>.
</para>

<para>
Such contacts may be a good opportunity to get more manpower in some
teams. Translators should suggest the former translator to join their
team.
</para>

<para>
If this contact is unsuccessful (unresponsive former translator), the
work can be taken over by a new translator, provided this is not
prohibited by a non free licensing (some translators unfortunately put
statements that make their work non free such as restriction of
distribution or restriction of modification).
</para>

<para>
In any case, if the translation work is taken over and completed or
corrected, the reference to the former translator must be kept in the
PO file headers. Changing the <command>Last-Translator</command> field
with the real name and address of the last person who effectively did
some work on the file is recommended.
</para>

</sect1>

<sect1>
<title>
Follow development
</title>

<para>
Packages involved in the various levels of &d-i; translations are
constantly changing, which sometimes induces string changes.
</para>

<para>
As a consequence, translation updates are sometimes required for these
packages. &d-i; translators should follow the status of their
translations for the various levels.
</para>

<para>The translation status pages are the recommended reference to use in order to follow each language's statistics. See 
<xref linkend="gettext-tools"/> for details.
</para>

</sect1>

<sect1>
<title>
Testing translations
</title>

<para>
When a translation is completed, it should always be proofread at
least once to correct all meaning-, spelling-, grammar-, typo-, etc-
mistakes.
</para>

<para>The validity of the new PO file must be tested. The following
command should be used before committing or sending translation files:
</para>

<informalexample>
<screen>
  msgfmt --check --statistics &lt;language&gt;.po
</screen>
</informalexample>

<para>For details about <command>msgfmt</command>, see <xref linkend="gettext-tools"/>.
</para>

<para>
The Debian <classname>aspell</classname> package can be used to test
the spelling in translation files.
</para>

<para>
Finally, <command>podebconf-display-po</command> (from the
<classname>po-debconf</classname> package) can be used on 
<emphasis>debconf</emphasis> translation files:
</para>

<informalexample>
<screen>
  podebconf-display-po -fdialog &lt;language&gt;.po
</screen>
</informalexample>

<para>
For details about <command>podebconf-display-po</command>, see <xref
linkend="gettext-tools"/>.
</para>

</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>
Variables substitutions
</title>

<para>
In several &d-i; packages, some embedded variable names such as "You
are currently modifying ${PARTITION} properties" can be found.
Translators <emphasis>should not</emphasis> translate the variable
names and be very careful about keeping braces and "dollar" signs. For
instance, the French translation of the above is: "Vous modifiez
actuellement les propriétés de ${PARTITION}".
</para>

<para>
When translating programs such as <classname>dpkg</classname>,
<classname>apt</classname> or <classname>shadow</classname>,
translators should be careful about "%s" variables: the translation
<emphasis>must</emphasis> have the same number of such variables than
the original English string.
</para>

<para>
Modern PO editing tools will warn translators about such mistakes and
<command>msgfmt</command> will also report such
<emphasis>errors</emphasis>.
</para>

</sect1>

</appendix>
