[Po4a-devel] Length of messages

[Hannie Dumoleyn]

See my answer below:

Op 24-09-12 12:23, D. Barbier schreef:
> On 2012/9/24 Hannie Dumoleyn wrote:
>> Hi developers,
>> As a member of the Ubuntu Manual Project, http://ubuntu-manual.org/, I have
>> a question on how po4a splits text in separate messages.
>> Our manual can be translated on Launchpad, but the problem is that many of
>> the individual messages (msgid) are too long.
>> Here is an example of a long string:
>> https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu-manual/precise/+pots/ubuntu-manual/nl/+translate?field.alternative_language=&field.alternative_language-empty-marker=1&show=untranslated&memo=10&start=10
>> \advanced{A \acronym{MAC} address is a hardware address for your computer's
>> network card. Entering this information is sometimes important when using a
>> cable modem connection. If you know the \acronym{MAC} address of your
>> network card, this can be entered in the appropriate text field in the
>> \button{Wired} tab of the editing window. To find the MAC addresses for all
>> installed networking devices, open a terminal window, and at the command
>> line prompt, type \userinput{ifconfig}. This will display a lot of
>> information about each of the network devices installed on the computer. The
>> wired devices will be labeled as \textfield{LAN0}, \textfield{LAN1}, etc.
>> The wireless devices will appear as \textfield{WLAN0}, \textfield{WLAN1},
>> etc.}
>>
>> My question is this:
>> Is it possible to split text after every . (dot)?
> Hello,
>
> This is not possible.  We believe that splitting into sentences may
> sometimes introduce duplicated msgids which need different
> translations.  In French, we also often split sentences differently to
> make them look more natural.  When looking at your URL, I am not
> redirected to your paragraph but to this one:
>
>    To connect to a wireless network, select the desired network by
> clicking on its name within the list. This will be the name that was
> used during the installation of the wireless router or access point.
> Most \acronym{ISP}s (Internet service providers) provide
> pre-configured routers with a sticker on them detailing the current
> wireless network name and password. Most publicly accessible wireless
> networks will be easily identifiable by the name used for the wireless
> network \dash for example ``Starbucks-Wireless.''
>
> Here you do not want to split after the last dot.  There are surely
> many other occurences, when printing IP addresses, etc.  So this is
> not as simple as "split after every dot".  I am afraid that this will
> introduce many strings which could hardly be translated.
>
> Denis
>
Hello Denis,
Thank you so much for your quick response. I understand what you mean, 
but I have not been clear on what the real problem is. For every new 
version of Ubuntu we rewrite/revise our manual. All translations of 
strings that have changed, even if it was only a comma, will be lost in 
Launchpad. My idea was: the smaller the msgid, the smaller the loss of 
translations.

btw, with msgmerge I merged the translation file of the previous version 
(oneiric) with the new one (Precise). In Lokalize, a translation tool, 
the strings that have undergone some kind of change, are shown as 
Fuzzies. I only have to translate the small changes in these fuzzies. 
Working in Lokalize (offline) does not have the advantage of Launchpad, 
where more than one translator can work on the same file online. But 
working in Launchpad means all fuzzies from Lokalize have to be copied 
manually to Launchpad.

If nothing can be done about this, it means translators are not very 
keen on translating long documents such as The Ubuntu Manual or the 
official Ubuntu Documentation.

Regards,
Hannie Dumoleyn