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Hi
Well you goes really deeply into it I see :-) but thats good as I see you really care about that. You made some really good points worth to think about. Firstly some initial feeling you can get from level of translator english. If there is a sign that translators english is actually very bad from for example forum posts or direct email conversation than this is a warning sign that translation might NOT be very accurate and good. How good can be translation from person who hardly write one sentence in english ? Secondly translator should be very computer literate - I mean if such translator dont know what is utf8, what the coutry language codes, what is ini file, never heard of ftp, cant locate proper folders in joomla - its not very good sign either.Also to motivate translators to keep their translations updated from time to time its good system like for example Geraint - dev of Jevents established. He made a CONTRIBUTOR membership level on his site and basically translators get lifetime subscription to extensions in exchange to updating their translations when new version come out.They dont update every version but main ones. Like not 0.15 to 0.16 but from 0.15 to 0.20 or 1.0 to 1.5. If they dont update their subscription is cancelled and another translator (if any) take place but nobody can expect translators to be working on their product every day or week but update like once per 3 months or so is I think okay. Mesurement of translation quality is what matters - you are certainly right. Its almost impossible to measure it if you dont personally speak that language and many of translations are really not good at all. For example I agreed recently with Acyba team to actually rework their current czech translation as it contains many of bugs, gramma erors,mispellings and wrong meanings. SO thats exactly what you wrote about above and also ...how they can measure it. They cant - only what they can do is hire external translator - native speaker living in some english speaking country for example to validate translation or trust original translator.
What I do is I trying to agree with devs for that long subscription as long I will keep translation update as this is my motivation to update it. So if for some reason I stop update it I will be no longer subscribed and thus Cant download any new version. That few devs who only agreed on like 60% one time discount I always warn that I will made good translation but they cant expect any hype activity regarding updates because its not worth for me. Agreement on long term membership to keep files updated for free subscription - making CONTRIBUTOR level subscription type, measuring translator english language level from his conversation, ask him what he actually translated so far and complete feeling from this person is I think only way what you can do. If this is not enough than only other way is hire professional company who do translations - but this will cost u much more money. Anyway certain trust have to be initially on both sides as if I make translation I trust devs that I really get free membership and devs on on otherside should trust that translation will be okay.
DO NOT BELIEVE ANYBODY WHO WANT SELL TRANSLATION FOR MONEY with exception if its some real reputable translating agency. I seen some people doing this and they even cant natively speak translated language - instead they translated using google translator which is ridiculous.If you just buy translation from some unknown person - its almost sure its scam and you get really bad translation at best - at worst case u get something you cant even call translation :-) so you only throw your hard earned money to rubbish bin. If people offer translation in exchange for free compomnent subs. like me its higher probability that translation will be good as me and other people like me need use your components on our own sites - so we need most accurate translation for our own use too. Many developers dont care much about translation quality and they trying save on translators as much as they can but they forgott all people need motivation (free subscription) and difference between good and bad translation is same like between badly coded script and good one. With most devs I did translation for I agreed as I alreaady said above on free unlimited subscription and no licence limit for my own websites so by this I can save quite alot of money and its my motivation to cooperate with devs while keeping high quality and update files as needed - so I would recommend you same scheme as it seems like best to me .
Some translators can even act as beta testers of new versions if they want - simple said they can act in team even more than "only" translators but can be in team community more active. I achieved with some devs and their teams that friendly attitude - so than its more like community which also keep translators actually do something - in exchange I know that if I have problem team will try help me even with some stuff off side of component itself - if I get into some troubles with other component etc.... simply said firendly relationships has been established with some development teams and its good for both sides..
Regarding hours spent on translations. Good translation is tough job - make a really good translation (in my instance) is job not for hour but for several days and if component is really robust than even months as I go through several alpha, beta and rc versions same as you do with programming - to ensure everything is correct and meaningful but you are right there is many translators who make it in 30 minutes and such translation is worthless and not worth even discount on price - but same apply as I wrote already above in this post - there are some signs which help you filter that kind of so called "translators"
..... So what u think ?
Regards
Dave
Last edited by mmstudio; 5th July 2010 at 01:37.
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