...
Localizing
...
Mifos
...
into
...
Other
...
Languages
...
We're
...
looking
...
for
...
volunteers
...
to
...
both
...
localize
...
Mifos
...
and
...
improve
...
our
...
documentation.
...
We
...
also
...
welcome
...
volunteers
...
to
...
identify
...
and
...
implement
...
software
...
changes
...
that
...
would
...
improve
...
the
...
localization
...
process.
...
We
...
are
...
now
...
using Translatewiki.net to allow volunteers to localize Mifos. For more information on our current approach, see:
Technical Background
Java properties-style resource bundles store translated messages for Mifos.
From the functional perspective - some things to keep in mind: ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
...
- Most
...
- users
...
- will
...
- generally
...
- want
...
- their
...
- numbers
...
- displayed
...
- in
...
- international
...
- numbers
...
(0123456789)
...
- ,
...
- not
...
- localized
...
- into
...
- Chinese
...
(零一二三四五六七八九十)
...
- ,
...
- Eastern
...
- Arabic
...
(٠١٢٣٤٥٦٧٨٩)
...
- ,
...
- Devanagari
...
(०१२३४५६७८९)
...
- ,
...
- etc.
...
- This
...
- may
...
- change,
...
- and
...
- one
...
- future
...
- enhancement
...
- might
...
- be
...
- to
...
- allow
...
- an
...
- MFI
...
- to
...
- configure
...
- localization
...
- of
...
- numbers
...
- separately,
...
- but
...
- initially,
...
- this
...
- isn't
...
- a
...
- requirement.
...
- The
...
- same/similiar
...
- phrases
...
- are
...
- repeated
...
- across
...
- the
...
- various
...
- modules.
...
- We've
...
- tried
...
- to
...
- keep
...
- phrasing
...
- consistent
...
- across
...
- the
...
- properties
...
- files.
...
- For
...
- example,
...
- when
...
- a
...
- desired
...
- value
...
- is
...
- not
...
- selected
...
- for
...
- a
...
- field,
...
- we
...
- don't
...
- want
...
- the
...
- application
...
- to
...
- say
...
- "Please
...
- select
...
- Loan
...
- Officer"
...
- and
...
- "Please
...
- specify
...
- Loan
...
- Officer"
...
- in
...
- another.
...
- I'm
...
- sure
...
- there
...
- will
...
- be
...
- inconsistencies
...
- found
...
- (please
...
- fix!),
...
- but
...
- when
...
- translating
...
- the
...
- various
...
- properties
...
- files,
...
- we
...
- want
...
- to
...
- try
...
- to
...
- keep
...
- phrasing
...
- consistent
...
- across
...
- the
...
- site.
...
- Please
...
- review
...
- the
...
- functional
...
- specification
...
- for
...
- both
...
- language
...
- and
...
- how
...
- users
...
- can
...
- select
...
- their
...
- user-preferred
...
- language.
...
- Any
...
- other
...
- functional
...
- questions--
...
- feel
...
- free
...
- to
...
- post
...
- them
...
- to
...
- the
...
- mailing
...
- list
...
- or
...
- send
...
- them
...
- to
...
- emilytucker
...
- @
...
- dev.java.net.
...
From
...
a
...
technical
...
perspective,
...
some
...
things
...
to
...
keep
...
in
...
mind:
...
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
...
...
...
...
...
- -
...
- Mifos
...
- has
...
- some
...
- of
...
- these
...
- – look
...
- for
...
- {0}
...
- and
...
- the
...
- like
...
- in
...
- the
...
- .properties
...
- files
...
- for
...
- one
...
- mechanism
...
- by
...
- which
...
- we
...
- do
...
- it.
...
...
...
...
...
...
- (another
...
- good
...
- article
...
- which
...
- covers
...
- similar
...
- subjects).
...
- Related
...
- to
...
- the
...
- articles
...
- above,
...
- please
...
- refer
...
- to
...
- the
...
- thread
...
- on
...
- the
...
- mifos-developer
...
- list
...
- "Issues
...
- with
...
- Localizing
...
- Mifos"
...
- Appropriate
...
- entries
...
- will
...
- need
...
- to
...
- be
...
- made
...
- into
...
- mifosmasterdata.sql.
...
Localization/Translation
...
Tools
...
and
...
Approaches
...
It
...
is
...
useful
...
to
...
develop
...
a
...
common
...
glossary
...
of
...
terms
...
that
...
can
...
be
...
shared
...
and
...
reused
...
during
...
translation.
...
In
...
computer
...
aided
...
translation
...
(CAT)
...
this
...
is
...
referred
...
to
...
as
...
the
...
Translation
...
Memory.
...
There
...
are
...
two
...
open
...
source
...
CAT
...
tools
...
that
...
would
...
be
...
worth
...
exploring:
...
The goal of these tools is to help speed translation and to aid in consistency of translation. They will both work for java ".properties" files and for documentation (though some conversion may be necessary).
To make use of tools like these for translating text in the database would require some work to implement an import/export capability into a format that can be used by these tools.
One approach to streamlining the localization process would be to move most or all of the text requiring translation from the database and into .properties files so that translation can be done on a uniform file set.
There are also some simpler tools available just for editing .properties files such as:
...
The
...
.properties
...
tools
...
won't
...
help
...
with
...
translating
...
documentation
...
and
...
don't
...
support
...
the
...
idea
...
of
...
a
...
standard
...
translation
...
memory.
...
One
...
other
...
point
...
to
...
be
...
aware
...
of
...
is
...
that
...
it
...
is
...
likely
...
that
...
there
...
will
...
be
...
some
...
code
...
changes
...
(java
...
&
...
JSP)
...
required
...
to
...
make
...
translations
...
show
...
up
...
completely
...
correctly
...
even
...
after
...
the
...
text
...
itself
...
has
...
been
...
translated.
...
Once
...
the
...
text
...
has
...
been
...
translated,
...
then
...
it
...
will
...
be
...
clearer
...
from
...
looking
...
at
...
the
...
application
...
web
...
pages
...
where
...
further
...
work
...
is
...
needed.
...
See Also
- Localization - functional specification
- Mifos Localization Stories is a list of stories related to the localization effort.
- Mifos Internationalization Project tracks work done on Internationalization to prepare Mifos for localization