Bert,

thank you for your response.

I understand this would be huge task. My idea is:

1. Translation of help files is optional, driven by demand. This way (as I
believe) core packages will get translated first, followed by some other
CRAN packages. I don't expect that every page is translated.

2. Use collaborative open-source tools for translation. For example crowdin
is online translation tool free for open-source projects. Alternatively,
wiki can be used for translation (it would be however necessary to program
link to upload original translation and download translations back)

3. When browsing help, file based on user's locale will be displayed (if
exists) with failover to default (English).

I agree with you that translation has to be exact. However, I believe that
users can benefit more from slightly inexact documentation written in their
first language than from exact documentation in language they do not
understand well.

Any idea how to create proof of concept for this? I guess this would
require attention from someone from r-core team.

Regards,

Tomas


On 3 August 2013 01:39, Bert Gunter <gunter.berton@gene.com> wrote:

> Tomáš
>
> 1.  Your concern is valid, especially now that R has become so widely
> used throughout the world. But language translation is hard.
>
> 2. Warning and error messages are short, and relatively trivial to
> translate.
>
> 3. There are tens of thousands of Help pages in thousands of packages,
> most separately maintained.
>
> I would guess that the best option would be to try to run the files
> through a mature, open source translator, if such exists. However, I'm
> ignorant of such matters. And my understanding is that at present,
> even the best may not be adequate (Help files have to accurate in
> exact detail).
>
>
>
> Best,
> Bert
>
> On Fri, Aug 2, 2013 at 2:54 PM, Tomáš Greif
> <tomas.greif@collectionspro.eu> wrote:
> > Is it possible to translate help files? I see there are some localization
> > options for GUI, but not for help. I think this would be really helpful
> for
> > users who don't have English as their primary language.
> >
> > Because all the online help is created from text files, it should be not
> > that difficult to maintain different language versions (e.g. to mark them
> > as not valid when primary documentation in English changes).
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Tomas Greif
> >
> >         [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> >
> > ______________________________________________
> > R-help@r-project.org mailing list
> > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> > PLEASE do read the posting guide
> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>
>
>
> --
>
> Bert Gunter
> Genentech Nonclinical Biostatistics
>
> Internal Contact Info:
> Phone: 467-7374
> Website:
>
> http://pharmadevelopment.roche.com/index/pdb/pdb-functional-groups/pdb-biostatistics/pdb-ncb-home.htm
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help@r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide
> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>

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