Translation

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Revision as of 08:44, 8 August 2009 by Dwayne (talk | contribs) (→‎Setting mnemonics: Add using VIrtaal and prop2po)
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How to contribute translations to FreeMind follows.

Step-by-step overview

  1. Get a SourceForge user.
  2. Choose the editing tool if getting started.
  3. Get the latest English translation.
  4. Get the latest translation for your language.
  5. Find and complete what is missing.
  6. Set mnemonics in the translations.
  7. Post to Translations tracker.
  8. Register yourself as FreeMind translator if you prefer.

Getting a SourceForge user

To get a SourceForge user, visit creation page, unless you already have a user. (You need a SourceForge user to post your translation to Translations tracker, as described below.)

Getting the latest translations

Look for a translation into your language present in the development branch. If such a translation is not present, take the latest revision of Resources_en.properties.

Choosing the editing tool

Translation files can be edited using variety of tools.

Popeye

Popeye Screenshot | Download can deal with several language property files at the same time, so you can contrast the original property file data with their translations. Also, the program can highlight all properties that do not have a translation set in one of the selected languages.

After a short test, I can recommend Popeye. No installation needed, works fine, looks good, and has a nice web.--Danielpolansky 03:26, 2 Jun 2007 (PDT)

Propedit

PropeditScreenshot can directly edit property files written in Unicode reference characters, thereby saving the time and effort of converting into Unicode through native2ascii. Its plugin is integrated with Eclipse and JBuilder. Files can be opened in the IDE and saved in Unicode. See also Propedit project page.

Plain text editor

A plain text editor is the tool of choice if you are well acquainted with them and prefer them. If so, you already probably have your favorite tool. If not, these tools include Microsoft Notepad, Notepad++, Vim, Emacs and a vast variety of other tools.

Using plain text editor is more tricky in that the language translation files are using Java unicode notatiton, encoding a single non-latin character like \u4567, making the file less readable. A workaround is to convert the language file into UTF-8 encoding first, then edit it, and finally convert to Java notation again. The conversion is described in the following section. Once the text is in UTF-8 encoding, tools like Microsoft Notepad can be used, and the non-latin characters are shown as you would see them in a WYSIWYG editor. However, various plain text editors differ in their capability to show UTF-8 characters. Notepad on Windows XP is definitely able to do that.

Another useful tool my be UniRed.

Converting between Unicode notations

To convert a file in UTF-8 into \uXXXX Unicode escape notation, you may use native2ascii tool included with the Java SDK. Example of use (Resources_cs.properties.txt is before conversion):

cd C:\j2sdk1.4.2\bin>
native2ascii.exe -encoding UTF8 Resources_cs.properties.utf8.txt Resources_cs.properties

Ideally, your file's name will be Resources_xx.properties, where xx is the code of the language (e.g. en, de, dk etc.).

To convert \uXXXX Unicode encoded file back to UTF-8, use a command similar to the following.

cd C:\j2sdk1.4.2\bin>
native2ascii.exe -reverse -encoding UTF8 Resources_cs.properties Resources_cs.properties.utf8.txt

Translate with PO tools: Virtaal and prop2po

Youcan also use a traditional PO translation tool such as Virtaal if you convert the .properties file to PO format.

To convert from .properties to PO you will need the ini2po command from the Translate Toolkit. If you language code was xx then use the following command:

 prop2po Resources_en.properties Resources_xx.properties.po

Now open Resources_xx.properties.po in Virtaal. Set your target language in Virtaal and various features like spell checking, translation memory and terminology will be set correctly.

Before you submit or test your translation you will need to covert back to Java .properties format as follows:

 po2prop -t Resources_en.properties Resources_xx.properties.po Resources_xx.properties

This will convert your PO file into a Java .properties file using the English as a template. All Java escaping of Unicode will happen automatically. Submit your .properties file as usual.


Setting mnemonics

For menu items, you can set mnemonics by putting "&" character before the letter of the mnemonic in the title of the menu item. For instance, "&Edit" means that the title of the menu will read "Edit" and its mnemonic will be "e". Mnemonic is a keyboard shortcut accessible in various ways; in Windows, either by pressing Alt + mnemonic, or by pressing F10, followed by the mnemonic. Mnemonics are there not only for the leading menus, but also for submenus and menu items.

Posting translations

Send your translation to Translations tracker. To be able to do it, you need a SourceForge user, which can be created at Account Registration page at SourceForge.

Registering yourself as FreeMind translator

If you are seriously planning to become a FreeMind translator, and want to receive Call for translations emails from us, please register yourself as translator by subscribing to freemind-translator mailing list. To subscribe, follow this link, and fill in the form.

When to translate

We send a call for translation email after publishing the first release candidate of FreeMind, as at that point we can make sure that only few or possibly none new texts to translate will be added.

A translator can still start creating and posting translations at any point of time, so he or she can distribute the workload in time.

Using new translation in FreeMind

  1. Write or download the Resources_xx.properties file.
  2. Unpack the freemind.jar file with 7-Zip or similar into a temp folder.
  3. Replace or add the Resources_xx.properties with the new one.
  4. Repack the freemind.jar with the modified content of the temp folder.

Menu label checklist

Menu Label Checklist Poor Good
In English, use capitalized labels Move to root Move to Root
Menu items leading to a dialog should end with ... . Open
Close ...
Open...
Close
Do not repeat the verb already used in the menu heading Export > Export to PNG
Insert > Insert Hyperlink
Export > As PNG
Insert > Hyperlink

State of translation

Currently, we have the following languages translated. The table below is out of date, mapping roughly the state at 0.8.1. It would be very helpful if the translators would update it. Up-to-date information of the state of translation can in any case be found in CVS and in Translations tracker.

Already Translated Languages
Language Language Short Last version patch Last up-to-date version Translator Reviewer Capitalized titles Translated help map
Czech Česky cs not released Radek Švarz Daniel Polansky No
Chinese trad.chinese zh 0.8.1? william chen    
Chinese simp.chinese zh_CN not released william chen    
Danish Dansk dk 0.8.1?
Dutch Nederlands nl 0.8.1? Koen Roggemans No
English English en 0.8.1? N/A Yes Yes
Estonian Eesti et 0.9.0.beta18 0.9.0 RC1 0.8.1? Edmund Laugasson Yes Yes
Finnish Suomi fi not released Matti Lassila
French Francais fr 0.8.1? Rickenbroc Yes
German Deutsch de 0.8.1? Christian Foltin Yes
Hungarian ? not released documan
Italian Italiano it 0.8.1? Bob Alexander
Japanese Nihongo ja 0.8.1? / 0.9.0 Kohichi Aoki / Tomophy
Korean Hangeul kr 0.8.1? Kim Jong Woo
Polish Polski pl not released Rafal Kraik No
Portuguese Português pt not released Luis Ferreira
Brazilian Portuguese Português brasileiro pt_BR not released Rodrigo Rizzi Starr
Romanian Română ro not released Nicoleta Negut
Russian Pусский ru 0.9.0 Dimitry Polivaev Yes
Slovenian sl 0.8.1? Martin Srebotnjak - filmsi No?
Spanish Espanol es 0.8.1? Hugo Gayosso Yes Yes
Swedish Svenska se 0.9.0 Anders_B & Hans Gustavsson No?
Turkish Türkçe tr not released Uğur Çetin Yes
  1. Last version patch: enter a link to the latest existing patch with the FreeMind version it concerns as text.
  2. Last up-to-date version: enter the newest released version of FreeMind with up-to-date translation, consider beta versions as well.

Translating the documentation

The freemind.mm file, which is documentation in mindmap format, is a simple XML file. It can be found in your FreeMind installation (eg in Microsoft Windows XP, you'll find it in C:\Program Files\FreeMind\doc). Open the file in a Unicode enabled text editor, and then simply translate everything in the TEXT attribute. For example:

 <node COLOR="#000000" CREATED="1124560950701" MODIFIED="1124560950701"
 TEXT="You can install the applet at your website so that other users can
 browse your mind maps.">

Using Swordfish

If you want to use translation memory or a CAT tool, you can now use Swordfish to translate MM files. Swordfish is not free software.

First, create a file named config_map.xml and put the following code in it:

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
 <!DOCTYPE ini-file PUBLIC "-//Maxprograms//Converters 2.0.0//EN" "configuration.dtd" >
 <ini-file><tag attributes="TEXT" hard-break="segment" keep-format="yes">node</tag></ini-file>

Then copy this file into the /ini folder of your Swordfish installation (there may be a file by that name already; if so, rename it temporarily).

Run Swordfish and go File -> Convert file to XLIFF format. Remember to select the file type as "XML (Generic)" and the encoding as "UTF8". If you select "Embed skeleton", you may be able to recreate the MM file with a third-party XLIFF editor.


Feedback

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