I'm wondering if it is possible to convert Gettext PO files to Amiga Catalog files.
My idea is to setup an on-line translation system where the whole world can help out making translations for Amiga applications.

Any ideas, suggestions or practices?

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AmigaScene.nl

@sananaman

The problem is not just about converting files.
The source code of an application is written to make use either of PO or catalog; both method are not directly compatible. If the source use gettext, even if you convert the PO into IFF catalog, the compiled application will not read the catalog unless you modify the source to change the method.

If the source is for Amiga only, you could create a CT file and convert it to PO, share the PO file with the world, and when translated, convert it back to CT so you can create a catalog for it.
But is it worth it ?
Both CT and PO are plain text file. Anyone can easily understand how to add translations to them (but again, testing the translated PO file is not possible without an adapted compiled source).

@sananaman

Do you mean using something like cURL to send text to google translate/ Bing translate?

I was looking for a program that translate text from the Clipboard.
Similarly a system wide Spell check, Grammer Check, Translator using online services.

I wish the Clipboard device was easy to get access to via Scripts.

and Clipboard requires IFF-text format

Last edited by asymetrix on 08-Mar-2010 at 08:37 PM.
Last edited by asymetrix on 08-Mar-2010 at 08:35 PM.

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@AmigaPhil

You would of course write gettext wrapper. Another question is if it is really worth of it...

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Amiga Developer
Amiga 500, Efika, Mac Mini and PowerBook

Thanks all for the reactions so far.

@AmigaPhil

The whole idea is to have an online system, where you can create projects (apps that need localization) and from there manage the translation. Everybody can translate it's own chunk and send it back into the online system. An supervisor (approver) can check the quality of the translations and can put the chunk on "approved". Only that chunk wil go into the locale file.

In an ideal world you can hook the translation system into your build system. In that way you can have nightly builds with the latest translations.

I'm looking into a way how to realize such thing for Amiga apps.

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AmigaScene.nl

@sananaman

Given your design end is for amiga apps, why get "gettext" involved at all?

gettext and catalogs aren't remotely compatable, using totally different approaches to finding the localised string.

I would say you need a php (or perl or python) script that parses the 'cd' file presents a form online into which the translations acn be entered then rebuilds the ct file from the entered strings. The developer could then download the final result and compile the catalogs. You have to be careful of spammers though, just imagine if a bot found the site and filled all the translations with adverts for little blue pills!

Last edited by broadblues on 09-Mar-2010 at 02:59 PM.

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BroadBlues On Blues BroadBlues On Amiga Walker Broad

@broadblues

The thing is that there are advanced online translation systems they mostly work with PO files. If you're able to make a bridge between the Amiga locale files and the PO files then you are able to use these systems.

But it might also be worth to see if Amiga local files can be converted to something usable in an online system. Let's see.

@all
Thanks for the feedback so far.

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AmigaScene.nl

@sananaman

Quote:

The thing is that there are advanced online translation systems they mostly work with PO files. If you're able to make a bridge between the Amiga locale files and the PO files then you are able to use these systems.

You can convert CD files to PO files, BUT :

- On Amiga, the source, CD and CT files share a msgID to identify strings, and this msgID HAS to be in the form of a variable name syntax. Whereas in the gettext system, the msgID is the original string itself.
The msgID as used in CD file is of no use in PO file (but you could include it as a specially formatted comment line, so that when converting PO to CT, the msgID could be restored).

- The catalog files only have translated strings, identified by a NUMBER (strNum, associated to the msgID). Ideally, this strNum has to be unique and permanent to preserve compatibility of catalogs between several version of an application .
Whereas a MO file has both the original and translated strings; the translated ones are identified by the msgID which in this case is the original string. There is no strNum here.
When converting CD to PO, the strNum is LOST (unless you store it in a comment line as well).

So the idea: CD - > PO, and PO - > CT is possible, but not easy.

If you already have something that can take a string as input and return a translation, then you could take the original strings from CD, and create a CT with the translation.
With some knowledge of HTML and PHP or Perl, it should not be too difficult to create a CT file (a catalog is another problem, as it has to be compiled by tools like CatComp. Is the server an Amiga ?)

@sananaman

I'd question the usefulness of such an online translation collaboration system anyway.

In my experience as a translator, the big part of the work involved in making a good translation is not getting the raw texts translated into the other language, but testing the result with the application in question, making sure that you have followed your standards, that you don't have duplicated shortcuts etc., and that everything is correct and understandable in the context in which it actually appears when you use the application.

All this is best done by having one person create the translation and possibly another one proofread and test it. If many people participate in translating subsets of strings for an application, or even worse, reuse translations of words taken from completely different contexts without realizing in which new context they are going to be used, it might very well mean more work for the one who has to make it all fit together, not less.

Best regards,

Niels

@nbache

I agree.

What would be more useful is to re-kick life to the ATO (Amiga Translator's Organization) network and refresh/update the website(s).
http://ato.vapor.com/