Translation matters

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson <gunnar at ringlink.org>]

Besides Swedish, which I basically fixed concurrently with developing
the language handling feature, there are now ongoing translations to
Russian, Spanish, and (possibly) German. I'd like to mention a couple of
things that have come up in private emails.
For those languages, where more than one person are involved in the
translation, what's the best division of duties? It has been suggested
that you subdivide the language file, and that the translators work with
one part each to start with. Personally I'm not convinced that this is
the best way to do it. Many words and expressions are similar, and to
ensure a consistent terminology throughout the program, I think it's
advisable that *one* translator makes a draft translation initially of
the whole file. After all, we are not talking about a huge text that
shall be translated.
After the draft translation, there are a number of things that the
co-translator(s) can help with:
- Review the draft, and add their input.
- Run the program to ensure that the strings in the local language
  make sense considering the context in which they appear.
One restriction is that the space, where the strings are displayed, is
limited. In many cases it's rather important that short expressions, and
in some cases abbreviations, are used. If the strings in the local
language are permitted to be too long, the resulting layout can be
disappointing.
Ok, these were a couple of my thoughts. To facilitate the translation
process, please share your views and experiences here.
/ Gunnar