README.I18N

Quick Guide for new translations
--------------------------------

If you would like to translate Geany into another language, have a look at the
language statistics page at [1] first to see if your desired language already
exists. If it already exists, please read the "Notes for updating translations"
section. Otherwise, get the Git version of Geany, change to the po directory and
start the new translation with:

$ msginit -l ll_CC -o ll.po -i geany.pot

Fill in ll with the language code and CC with the country code. For example, to
translate Geany into Italian you would type:

$ msginit -l it_IT -o it.po -i geany.pot

This will create a file it.po. This file can be opened with a text editor
(e.g. Geany ;-)) or a graphical program like PoEdit [2]. There are also several
other GUI programs for working on translations.

You don't need to modify the file po/LINGUAS, it is regenerated automatically on
the next build.

When you have finished editing the file, check the file with:

$ msgfmt -c --check-accelerators=_ it.po

Please ensure you also translate the mnemonic letters (strings containing a
"_" before a letter, also called "accelerators" on some platforms/toolkits).
When the user wishes to activate a menu item using their keyboard, they will
use this letter to pick an item from the menu.

Here are a few notes on picking which letter to use:

* Always follow platform/toolkit conventions (for example "t" for "Cut") even
if they don't necessarily seem obvious.
* Try to choose the first letter of the command name, where this is the most
appropriate letter (for example "S" for "Save"), assuming it's not already
used in the same menu.
* Try not to use the same character more than once in the same menu as this
will cause the user to have to press the mnemonic's key multiple times to
select the correct menu item.
* If there is no letter in the text that can easily be entered from a keyboard
then choose another character that can be, and put it in parenthesis after the
translated text.
* Try not to change which letter is used whenever possible as it is not
user-configurable and users may have become accustomed to using the existing
mnemonic key.

You can also use intl_stats.sh, e.g. by running the following command in the top
source directory of Geany:

$ po/intl_stats.sh -a it

This will print some information about the Italian translation and checks for
menu accelerators.

When you have finished your work - which doesn't mean you finished the
translation, you will not have to work alone - send the file to the translation
mailing list [3] or directly to Frank Lanitz [4] and he will add the translation
to Geany then.

It is a good idea to let any translator and Frank know before you start or while
translating, because they can give you hints on translating and Frank can ensure
that a translation is not already in progress.


Notes for updating translations
-------------------------------

If you want to update an existing translation, please contact the translation
mailing list [3] and/or Frank Lanitz [4] directly. He is supervising all
translation issues and will contact the maintainer of the translation you want
to update to avoid any conflicts.

Some translation statistics can be found at:
http://i18n.geany.org/


I18n mailing list
-----------------

There is also a mailing list dedicated to translation issues. Please visit
http://www.geany.org/Support/MailingList#geany-i18 for more information.


[1] http://i18n.geany.org/
[2] http://www.poedit.net/
[3] http://www.geany.org/Support/MailingList#geany-i18
[4] Frank Lanitz <frank(at)frank(dot)uvena(dot)de>