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Localizing
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Mifos
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into
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Other
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Languages
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We're
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looking
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for
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volunteers
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to
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both
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localize
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Mifos
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and
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improve
...
our
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documentation.
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We
...
also
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welcome
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volunteers
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to
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identify
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and
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implement
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software
...
changes
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that
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would
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improve
...
the
...
localization
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process.
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We
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are
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now
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using
...
...
...
to
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allow
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volunteers
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to
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localize
...
Mifos.
...
For
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more
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information
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on
...
our
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current
...
approach,
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see:
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Technical Background
Java properties-style
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resource
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bundles
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store
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translated
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messages
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for
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Mifos.
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From
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the
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functional
...
perspective
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-
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some
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things
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to
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keep
...
in
...
mind:
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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
...
+
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- Most
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- users
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- will
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- generally
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- want
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- their
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- numbers
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- displayed
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- in
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- international
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- numbers
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(0123456789)
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- ,
...
- not
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- localized
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- into
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- Chinese
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(零一二三四五六七八九十)
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- ,
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- Eastern
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- Arabic
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(٠١٢٣٤٥٦٧٨٩)
...
- ,
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- Devanagari
...
(०१२३४५६७८९)
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- ,
...
- etc.
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- This
...
- may
...
- change,
...
- and
...
- one
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- future
...
- enhancement
...
- might
...
- be
...
- to
...
- allow
...
- an
...
- MFI
...
- to
...
- configure
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- localization
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- of
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- numbers
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- separately,
...
- but
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- initially,
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- this
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- isn't
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- a
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- requirement.
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- The
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- same/similiar
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- phrases
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- are
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- repeated
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- across
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- the
...
- various
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- modules.
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- We've
...
- tried
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- to
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- keep
...
- phrasing
...
- consistent
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- 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
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- select
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- Loan
...
- Officer"
...
- and
...
- "Please
...
- specify
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- Loan
...
- Officer"
...
- in
...
- another.
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- I'm
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- sure
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- there
...
- will
...
- be
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- 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
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- functional
...
- specification
...
- for
...
- both
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- language
...
- and
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- how
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- users
...
- can
...
- select
...
- their
...
- user-preferred
...
- language.
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- Any
...
- other
...
- functional
...
- questions-
...
- -
...
- feel
...
- free
...
- to
...
- post
...
- them
...
- to
...
- the
...
- mailing
...
- list
...
- or
...
- send
...
- them
...
- to
...
- emilytucker
...
- @
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- 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.
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Localization/Translation
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Tools
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and
...
Approaches
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It
...
is
...
useful
...
to
...
develop
...
a
...
common
...
glossary
...
of
...
terms
...
that
...
can
...
be
...
shared
...
and
...
reused
...
during
...
translation.
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In
...
computer
...
aided
...
translation
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(CAT)
...
this
...
is
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referred
...
to
...
as
...
the
...
Translation
...
Memory.
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There
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are
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two
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open
...
source
...
CAT
...
tools
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that
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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:
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The
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.properties
...
tools
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won't
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help
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with
...
translating
...
documentation
...
and
...
don't
...
support
...
the
...
idea
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of
...
a
...
standard
...
translation
...
memory.
...
One
...
other
...
point
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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