Tibetan localization projects

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These days we can make software, websites, books, everything, in Tibetan. Most everything uses Unicode, and can handle བོད་ཡིག་ just fine.

But the menus and help — the "back end" of most programs — are usually only translated into a few popular languages.

Why are hardly any available in Tibetan?

Only one reason: You didn't ask them to do it.
There are hundreds ... thousands? ... of languages in the world. Most of these programs are made by people in the west. And most people in the west have never even heard of Tibet, or the Tibetan language! Or if they have, they think it is something romantic in a book, and way in the past. (Trust me: it's true.)

How can you help?

  • The biggest thing you can do is, let them know they are needed in Tibetan!
Really? Is that all?
Yes it is! Programmers like to program. (You can trust me on that one too.) Geeks are kind of like kittens: when you wave a shiny object in front of their nose they just have to jump on it. If you present them with a technical challenge, they will want to solve it. They just need to know it is there. So tell them! See each project below for contact info.
  • If you are good with words you can translate. If you are a programmer you can program.
See each project for how you can help.
  • Also, if you know more about these or other projects, it would be great if you can add to this page, or contact me.


Here are some projects that might be useful to be in བོད་ཡིག་ — I'm sure there are many more!

Contents

Applications (Programs)

Android phone

What is it? A mobile phone with an open-source operating system How can you help? Translating, coding, publicizing, ...
Contact the projects.
Android projects:
  • Android operating system [2011]
http://www.android.com/
I think it uses gettext - Search developer's section to find more info.
Status: still needs Tibetan?
  • Keyboard for Android [2010]
Tibetan keyboard on Android, by Nathan Freitas
Status: it works!
  • Guardian Project [2011]
Apps, firmware, and hardware for people to [improve the security of their mobile phones About Guardian project
https://guardianproject.info/
Don't know translation technology used - see Join the team
Status: unknown.
  • RSS Machine [April 2011]
A way to publish on the web, without an internet connection, through mobile phone (Android)
Needs translation of texts used in information about the app, and in the app itself, from English to Tibetan
Info with video: http://www.QRdvark.com/rss/
Jerry Whiting, jetcityorange AT gmail DOT com -- or Contact me
Status: looking for a translator.

Filezilla

Status 2010: No བོད་ཡིག་ Filezilla - yet.

What is it? Popular FTP client
Where's the Tibetan? The menus and help could be translated to Tibetan. How can you help?
Check with the above link.

XPDF

Status 2010: No བོད་ཡིག XPDF - yet.

What is it? PDF viewer How can you help?
Check with the above link- developer is looking for Tibetan translations for computer terms [July 2010]

Educational

These are really more like translation projects -- not exactly what we think of as localization projects. But they are listed here because: websites have become applications (programs). And, most of these have a system for handling the translations, just like other more "techie" projects do.

Albert Einstein Institution (books)

Status February 2011: Two books are in བོད་ཡིག་ so far.

What is it? An Institution "dedicated to advancing the study and use of strategic non-violent action in conflicts throughout the world." It has many books on non-violence, written by Gene Sharp, translated into many languages.
Where's the Tibetan? So far, 2 books have been translated into Tibetan. See them at http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations82f0.html One is associated with TPPRC and Paljor Publications.
  • Info:
Home: http://www.aeinstein.org
See all their books at http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations6563.html
  • Uses: Their own format and system
How can you help?
See how to translate at http://www.aeinstein.org/organizationsedf7.html


Computer Masti (books)

Status February 2011: No བོད་ཡིག་ books - yet.

What is it? Books, CDs, and activities for computer education in schools, created at IIT Bombay. They are designed with an understanding of what is suitable for school education in the Indian subcontinent
Where's the Tibetan? So far, CM books have been translated into 8 Indian languages and 2 foreign languages.
  • Info:
Home: http://computermasti.com
Read books online at http://www.computermasti.com/computer_masti/books
Download PDFs at http://www.cse.iitb.ac.in/~sri/ssrvm/
  • Uses: Don't know
How can you help?
Contact Computer Masti if you can help translate

Tibetan Geeks (website)

Status January 2011: No བོད་ཡིག་ pages - yet.

What is it? A website with tech tutorials for Tibetans ... but ...
Where's the Tibetan? It's all in English! What's up with that??? How can you help?
Contact me if you can add translations to TibetanGeeks.
If people were interested, TibetanGeeks could be turned into a WordPress or Wiki site, and translation could be more automated.

Web standards curriculum

Status January 2011: no བོད་ཡིག་ versions - yet!

What is it? An online course at Opera.com for learning HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
How can you help?
"If you want to get involved in a new translation effort ... feel free to drop me a mail at cmills [at] opera [dot] com"

Wikipedia (website)

Status January 2011: Wikipedia comes in many languages, including བོད་ཡིག་ — but not all content is translated.

What is it? An encylopedia that anyone can edit
Where's the Tibetan? http://bo.wikipedia.org/བོད་སྐད་
  • Info:
List of Wikipedias at Wikimedia.org
Multilingual Wikipedia at Wikimedia.org
Wikipedia to boost vernacular content at TimesofIndia.com
How you can edit Wikipedia at TibetanGeeks.com
How can you help?
Get an account, and edit and add articles in བོད་ཡིག

Social websites

Diaspora

Status 2010: No བོད་ཡིག་ interface yet.

What is it? New social website
Where's the Tibetan? You can post in Tibetan easily, but all the menus, help, and pages are in English or many other languages.
  • Info - about Diaspora:
http://www.helium.com/items/1835414-what-is-the-diaspora-social-network
https://joindiaspora.com/ - home page
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Diaspora_(software)
  • Uses: yml files; you edit them on your own machine working through git at Github, or online through 99translations (which accesses GitHub).
How can you help?
How to contribute Diaspora translations - at Github: https://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/wiki/How-to-contribute-translations
There are two ways you can contribute a translation:
    with a pull request using git: https://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/wiki/Git-Workflow
    or through 99translations.com: http://99translations.com/public_projects/show/181

Facebook

Status 2010: བོད་ཡིག་ keyboard input is working; no བོད་ཡིག་ interface for site yet.

What is it? Popular social website http://facebook.com
How can you help?
Check with the below links.
Facebook projects:
  • བོད་ཡིག་ keyboard
If you don't have Tibetan keyboard program on your computer, you can now write in Tibetan on Facebook with this virtual Tibetan keyboard by Tashi Samphel. Find it at http://apps.facebook.com/tibetankeyboard/
Keyboard layout is same as TCRC Bodyig layout.
  • Facebook interface
Here is how to translate Facebook:
http://www.insidefacebook.com/2008/04/02/now-you-can-help-translate-facebook-into-any-language/
http://www.facebook.com/translations/
But Tibetan is not in the list of languages? How to contact Facebook and add Tibetan? [february 2012]

Twitter

Status January 2011: No བོད་ཡིག་ Twitter - yet. "Twitter is gradually translating the UI of their web site into other languages."

What is it? A site to share links and info in less than 140 characters
Where's the Tibetan? You can post in Tibetan easily, but all the menus, help, and Twitter pages are in English and a few European languages.
  • Info:
Twitter.com
Coming soon - Twitter in more languages [October 2009]
Twitter growing around the world [April 2010]
Will Twitter be available in more languages? [December 2010]
How can you help?
Ask Twitter to make a Tibetan version. Offer to help them with translation.
They can't know Tibetans want it if nobody tells them!
I couldn't find an official localization page, or page for requesting new languages. [jan 2011]


Web Applications

DokuWiki

Status February 2012: No བོད་ཡིག་ Dokuwiki - yet.

What is it? Dokuwiki is a program to make websites that are easy to edit. It is similar to MediaWiki, but simpler, and uses files rather than database to store the articles.
Where's the Tibetan? Not there yet!
  • Info:
Localization at Dokuwiki.org
How can you help?
Translate!


Google Translate

Status 2010: No བོད་ཡིག་ Google Translate - yet.

What is it? "Machine translation" - automatic translation of web page (and other) content by a program.
Where's the Tibetan? There is no automated translation to Tibetan yet. How can you help?
"The best way you can help is by contributing Translation Memories (TMs) or glossaries by uploading them to Google Translator Toolkit."
(More info in the previous links.)


Joomla CMS

Status 2010: No བོད་ཡིག་ Joomla - yet.

What is it? web-based Content Management System (CMS)
Where's the Tibetan? The admin areas, Joomla-generated content, and help could be translated to Tibetan. How can you help?
Check with the above link.


MediaWiki

Status January 2012:No བོད་ཡིག་ MediaWiki - yet.

What is it? A program to make websites that anyone can edit. One famous example is Wikipedia.org. Wikipedia is in many languages, including བོད་ཡིག་ — but the back-end messages are mostly in English. Where's the Tibetan? http://bo.wikipedia.org/བོད་སྐད་
  • Info:
Localisation at Mediawiki.org
The MediaWiki Interface
How can you help?
Translate at TranslateWiki.net


Menalto Gallery

Status 2010: No བོད་ཡིག་ Menalto - yet.

What is it? web photo gallery program:
How to localize Gallery G1
Current localizations
How can you help?
Check with the above links.

Web Font Hosting

Status 2010: No བོད་ཡིག་ font hosting - yet.

What is it? A service that could host all the free Tibetan fonts.
This is an idle thought i had just now, and wrote it here to keep it in memory. Could enable Tibetans to make more beautiful web pages, using, for example more of the beautiful Monlam fonts, without having to be limited by what fonts are on the user's computer.
Where's the Tibetan? None yet that i know of. How can you help?
Is this interesting? It wouldn't be too hard to do. If people are interested, i would be willing to do the tech needful. Contact me

WordPress CMS

Status January 2011:
བོད་ཡིག translation for WordPress 3.0.4 is going on now http://codex.wordpress.org/L10n:Localization_Teams#Tibetan_-_བོད་ཡིག [bo_IN] and [bo_CN]

What is it? Web-based Content Management System (CMS)
Where's the Tibetan? The admin areas, WordPress-generated content, and help could be translated to Tibetan. How can you help?
If you are Tibetan, get in touch with the project and help translate.

WordPress Codex

Status January 2011: Nothing yet

What is it? The official documentation for the WordPress CMS
Where's the Tibetan? The navigation and areas, and the page content itself, could be translated to Tibetan. How can you help?
Get a WordPress account and translate!

WordPress Plugins

Status January 2011: No Tibetan translations that i know of

What is it? Many plugins (add-ons) for WordPress.
  • Info:
Translating WordPress Plugins & Themes
Localizing WordPress Themes & Plugins
WordPress Can Host your Plugin
Getting your WordPress plugin listed in the WordPress Plugin Directory
  • Uses: Standard GNU gettext message catalogs (.po files) Most plugins have a "lang" or "language" folder with their .pot file, and one or more language files.
  • More on this site: Localization
How can you help?
Make a བོད་ཡིག་ translation file for any plugin.
WordPress users could test the plugin translation.
Contact the specific plugin owner, or Contact me for help, if you would like to translate a plugin.
Here are some popular plugins and information for translating them:
  • Contact Form 7
Easily make many kinds of forms. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/contact-form-7/ and http://contactform7.com/
Language files are in /contact-form-7/languages/
Has a .pot file. Many translations, including Chinese CN and TW, Japanese, Korean, Hindi. [jan 2011]
Contact form 7 translation info is at http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/contact-form-7/ and http://contactform7.com/faq/#I_want_to_use_contact_form_in_my_language
  • Maintenance Mode
Show "under maintenance" page and work on site behind the scenes. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/maintenance-mode/ and http://sw-guide.de/wordpress/plugins/maintenance-mode/
Language files are in /maintenance-mode/languages/
Has a .pot file. Several translations, including Japanese, Russian. [jan 2011]
  • Menubar
Make more complicated menus. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/menubar/
No .pot file. No translations [jan 2011]
  • Nextgen Gallery
Easily make image galleries. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/nextgen-gallery/
Language files are in /nextgen-gallery/lang/
Has a .pot file. Only has German .mo so far [jan 2011]
Nextgen translation info is at http://alexrabe.de/wordpress-plugins/wordtube/translation-of-plugins/
  • WP Post Ratings
Allow voting on posts and pages very easily http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-postratings/
Language files are in main plugin folder.
Has a .pot file. Several languages are already available, including Chinese [jan 2011]
See .po files at http://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wp-postratings/i18n/

WordPress Tibetan-handling Plugin

Status January 2011: So far it is only a twinkle in one programmer's eye, and a rough outline in his mind. To my knowledge, at least two other programmers (probably more), have written code to handle parts of this, but as far as i know none of it is available publicly.

What is it? An add-on to the WordPress CMS to handle བོད་ཡིག་ wrapping, dates, and numbers.
  • Info:
Translating WordPress Plugins & Themes
Localizing WordPress Themes & Plugins
WPML - WordPress Multi-Language
WordPress WPML functions
Changing localized strings in the WordPress admin
  • Uses: Standard GNU gettext message catalogs (.po files)
  • More on this site: Localization
How can you help?
If you are a programmer you could write a plugin, or help with this one. If you have written code to handle some issues, you could share it.
If you are Tibetan, you could help with your knowledge of how བོད་ཡིག་ works.
WordPress users could test the plugin.
Contact me if you wish to help with this.

WordPress Tibetan Theme

Status January 2011: Nothing yet

What is it? A theme for the WordPress CMS with admin and front-end in བོད་ཡིག , and hooks to handle display in བོད་ཡིག་
Also, tibetan translations could be done for existing themes that have multi-language support built in.
  • Info:
Translating WordPress Plugins & Themes
Localizing WordPress Themes & Plugins
  • Uses: Standard GNU gettext message catalogs (.po files)
  • More on this site: Localization
How can you help?
If you are a programmer you could help code the theme.
If you are Tibetan, you could help with your knowledge of how བོད་ཡིག་ works.
WordPress users could test the theme.
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