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#1 2005-03-13 02:36:49

skoal
Member
From: Frequent Flyer Underworld
Registered: 2004-03-23
Posts: 612
Website

phpBB Native Language Translation

Anyone know of any phpBB mods which allow the forums to be translated into one's native speaking language?

I couldn't find an easy way to search the phpBB MOD database to find one that supports:

1. Forums are tranlsated into the native language.
2. Someone can post in their native language, and then they can press a button before they post which translates into English.

I see the difficulty in implementing either, especially when translating from one language to the next.  I can only imagine what would become of these forums if one posts in their native language first and doesn't hit the "translate" button.  Then you get a "Tower of Babel" forum effect.  However, I thought it would be a nice addition to our forums for those who don't speak English and would like to contribute or can't get help in lieu of the "language barrier".

I don't know if this has been discussed before or how practical the implementation would be, but I thought I'd throw it out there for somebody to "chew" on... <- I wonder how that last line I wrote would be translated and interpreted...

P.S. I need a Canadian i18n mod.  I don't understand our northern brothers half the time...

muahahaah...

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#2 2005-03-15 04:23:14

sud_crow
Member
From: Argentina
Registered: 2003-06-30
Posts: 546
Website

Re: phpBB Native Language Translation

I think the localized forums and the Other Languages forum are enough for anyone not speaking English. Using bad automatic translations would confuse more than help (in this enviroment IMHO, where we "foreigners" use to have a couple of misspelled words, instead, a good spell checker would be nice smile).


Leonardo Andrés Gallego
www.archlinux-es.org || Comunidad Hispana de Arch Linux

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#3 2005-03-15 06:49:08

skoal
Member
From: Frequent Flyer Underworld
Registered: 2004-03-23
Posts: 612
Website

Re: phpBB Native Language Translation

sud_crow wrote:

Using bad automatic translations would confuse more than help (in this enviroment IMHO[...]

You're right.  That's why I think the implementation would be difficult.  I just thought the feature would be nice to have, and I was really looking for a forum example where it may have already been implented.  From reading several phpBB forum threads, it looks like there are some efforts already underway. 

You speak perfect English, and it's probably not your native 'tongue'.  I just recall trying to help some guy from Russia with a problem here in these forums. The poor guy apologized for his 'english', and I kept thinking...maybe I should apologize for my poor 'russian'.  We struggled through it somehow and I don't remember the outcome.

Maybe not until we can all insert a 'babelfish' in our ears will this become a reality...

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#4 2005-03-15 07:29:42

Snowman
Developer/Forum Fellow
From: Montreal, Canada
Registered: 2004-08-20
Posts: 5,212

Re: phpBB Native Language Translation

Automatic translation is very dificult because words have different meanings depending on the context.  Plus such a program will probably translate things that you don't want to translate like package names, command names and  error message thus increasing the confusion.

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#5 2005-03-15 20:40:53

sud_crow
Member
From: Argentina
Registered: 2003-06-30
Posts: 546
Website

Re: phpBB Native Language Translation

Hi again,

I guess it could be usefull for someone that doesnt know at all the language he wants to speak/write, but as snowman says, i think there would be a lot of things you wouldnt want to translate (or badly translated). This just got me thinking, maybe implementing some kind of BBCode, like [translate=target_language] text to translate [/translate] would be usefull in such cases... smile If you know someone implementing the translation feature, tell him/her smile

Thanks for the compliment but my English is far from perfect smile
And yes, my mother (native) tongue is Spanish, not English. Your comment reminded me of some of my apologies, but then i understood that people would realize im not a native English speaking person and wouldnt care "that much" about my misspelled words or awful grammatics. Even when i dont stand native speakers misspells, specially some.


Leonardo Andrés Gallego
www.archlinux-es.org || Comunidad Hispana de Arch Linux

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