Do we want to translate bits.d.o?
Hi Thomas,
I thought about this a few days before replying.
On Sun, Mar 23, 2014 at 12:13:06AM +0100, Thomas Vincent wrote:
> Hello publicity team,
>
> I think bits.d.o is great but blog posts are currently only in english.
> Would it be possible to provide translated versions of blog posts as well?
> If so, I volunteer to help with french translations. :)
Technically, the software used in bits.d.o allows publication of articles
in multiple languages. I don't know how it works and if the result is good
enough. But I'd say that technically is possible after putting some work.
Now, from a non technical angle, do we want to translate the posts published
in bits.d.o? I think it depends on the public we're aiming to reach. From
my point the blog is oriented to the contributors of Debian, the Debian
power users and the media who reports about our project and look for some
source to link, e.g [1]. From here, small communities and localized media
pick up the news, translate and comment them.
Also, the posts in bits.d.o tend to use a clear language and the posts
are not very long (except those posts who are a re-post). So I feel they're
not very hard to read for somebody whose knowledge of English doesn't
go further that the English taught at school.
The media we have aimed to all end users and should always be translated
are the press releases. There we announce, new releases, updates,
messages of support ending and important decisions affecting end users
who don't follow Debian's Development.
This is not a final or closed opinion. I'd like some feedback about this
because I feel it's also linked to another discussion we should have:
how we should organize all the press/publicity/advertisement media
in Debian more effectively [2]
Ana
[1] For example, from a few days ago
http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/03/20/1722208/debian-considering-long-term-support-for-squeeze
[2] See second question in this email:
https://lists.debian.org/debian-vote/2014/03/msg00190.html
Reply to: