New Tajik Gnome Translation Team

[Roger Kovacs <rkovacs khujand org>]

Hi Everyone,

  I subscribed to this list a short time ago to prepare for our
announcement to establish a Tajik Gnome translation team.
I will be the facilitator, providing a continuity for the various
volunteer translators throughout Tajikistan.  This is the formal
request to establish the interface with the Gnome project.

  Just a little background is appropriate - my name is Roger Kovacs, and
I have been involved with the Tajik LInux Translations for about 5 years
now.  We have made great progress on Mandriva, KDE, and KOffice (maybe I
shouldn't have said that here).  Now it is time to begin working Gnome
with a focus.  The structure of our team is very unusual, but is proven
in previous projects, and is an effective method (considering the
circumstances.)  The most unusual part is that I do not know much of
the Tajik language.  One of the main issues in Tajikistan is that a
33Kb/s internet connection costs about 2 annual salaries per month of
service ($250US).  A little bit expensive for the typical volunteer or
even a non-profit organization.  So having a full time internet
connection in the USA, I e-mail .po files to translators (after doing a
rough 'automated' translation) who use KBabel to do the translations,
and when I get them back, I do a little quality control, verification,
and "compile" them into .mo files which I send back to the translator
for a final check.  Upon the ok, I check them into the configuration
management system.  At times, when there is funding, and an
organization called Youth Opportunities (www.tajikngo.org) will also
have configuration management system access and can provide
administration of the translation process. So my main role is to
provide continuity and allow for continuous progress via e-mail for the
volunteer translators. As progess is made in Tajikistan, a transition to
native translation coordinator will be accomplished. [FYI - typical
monthly salary in Tajikistan is about $10US, but I guess you figured
that out by now.]  

  Oh yes there are issues with this method, as it is very difficult to
share the translation database to develop standard terms, although  I
try to do this twice a year.  In addition, new releases are shipped to
Tajikistan on CD via DHL only a couple times per year, so they are
usually working behind the latest release. (Mail gets pilfered, so the
expense of DHL is necessary.)  It is amazing how much the development
process is dependent on the internet, and we just take it for granted.

  As an emerging nation, Tajikistan needs Linux and open source
applications due to the current economic conditions.  The only computer
system in the Tajik language today is Linux.  Linux is now being
accepted by the schools for education.  Soon Tajikistan may be a nation
that will not need to migrate to Linux, but rather have evolved into
using Linux as the only option.

  I am certain with the support of the Gnome community, the team will
have great success.  I look forward to your comments on getting
started, suggesting initial priorities for translations.  I'll also
probably need some assistance as I set up a build environment to
compile .mo files.  Suggestions and ideas are always welcome!

Have a great day everyone - I hope we will have an opportunity to meet
via e-mail or chat soon.

Roger Kovacs
rkovacs khujand org
Khujand Computer Technologies, Inc.