Do not touch l10n files

["Andrew M.A. Cater" <amacater@galactic.demon.co.uk>]

Some common sense rules, perhaps.

1. No one person can produce a solution to fit everyone.

2. The translation teams / translators should try as far as
possible to maintain the meaning of the original.  Sentence 
structure / paragraphing / layout / punctuation will vary
from language to language.  Let the translators find the
"official" rules for layout for their language - tell people
where they can be found - and stick to them.

3. If there are two or more authoritative rule sets e.g. for 
British/American/Canadian/Australian English [I don't know
whether this is true - but it probably is] seek to come
to an international consensus.  The standard British English
text is Hart's Rules for Compositors (as used by Oxford University
Press and the Oxford English dictionary).  This also includes
elementary typesetting rules for other languages but does not
claim to be authoritative for Spanish/Russian/Afrikaans etc.

4. The maintainer of the package should accept translations bona
fide.  If there is a disagreement as to the text of the translation
or its sense or meaning - refer it back to the translators _first_
then argue afterwards.

I speak as someone who can type badly in three languages and understand
the sense of a few more.  I can compose a relatively grammatical sentence
in French/Spanish but wouldn't dream of translating into those languages
without a native speaker looking over what I wrote.  I'm happy to 
talk about the technical meaning of English terms, English grammar or spelling
- but I'm only one native speaker and can't claim authority.  Experienced
translation teams (such as the one of which Martin Quinson forms so distinguished

a part) should not be disregarded lightly.

Just my 0.02 Euro :)

Andy

[Sorry about the typo - using mail as mutt has just died on me :) ]