[Typo3-doc] [Translation]

[JoH]

> >> When "I" sell something than it is "my" task to document something,
> >> but not the T3-teams task. BTW: I believe it was in the last CT where
> >> there was an article about this, pointing out that it is even not
> >> defined what documentation is...
> >
> > So when you sell MS-Office to your clients it's your job to write the
German
> > manual?
>
> In case that it would be open source and you as the seller dont' pay for
> it: YES. So a commercial product like the referenced one may not be the
> best to compare with, isn't it?
>
> > No - it's the producer's part to do this. If there is no adequate manual
the
> > seller might choose another product. And this is the problem we have
with
> > TYPO3. We are losing the financial power and sponsoring abilities of
many
> > big players just because there is no adequate documentation.
>
> I cannot discuss about that, as I'm not familar with whether and where
> money flows towards Kasper. I see T3 as an project that allows people to
> take usage free of charge.

You remember that open source means "free as in free speech and not free
beer"?
It doesn't matter if you pay for the software itself or not. In most cases
the client pays for a complete package where the software is only one part
of it. And German law says: the client has a right to get a well written
understandable German manual. And now we are coming to reality: When the
Consultant that delivers the package has to write or at least translate all
the manuals when using TYPO3 this might be a good reason to use another
package. This means: Another consultant and maybe a big player who is lost
as a possible sponsor for things like DAM, Workflow, Staging etc.

> > The reality is that many people are writing English docs that have to be
> > reviewed and rewritten by others to meet the minimum requirements of a
good
> > documentation. So when you are talking about resources and manpower you
> > should be aware that we are wasting a lot of these just for getting as
many
> > English documentation as possible. Taking a closer look at the people
who
> > joined the doc-team you will notice that most of them are no native
speakers
> > of the English language. In fact we have many French and German people.
IMHO
> > most of them are able to write adequate docs in their native language
but
> > there are very few that could produce the same quality in English.
>
> You are right, why not. But I prefer a doc written in very bad english,
> even bullet points, than in french, as I coun't read anything from that.

Well - I didn't say you won't get your English doc. But you will get two
docs: One in perfect French _and_ a very good translation of it.

> >> Again, to whom does he hand over. If you have that person it is fine,
> >> but I doubt that.
> >
> > We hand this over to people who are able to understand at least two
> > languages. If there is someone who is able to understand German and
write
> > English this someone can join with me, since I am able to understand
English
> > and write German. Both of us can produce at least two manuals available
in
> > German _and_ English in the same time you would need for two English
only
> > manuals if this job was done the way you described it.
>
> Ack. Nevertheless it seems that we suffer on not having so many Aussie's,
> Brit's, or Burger's here, including Kasper. Am I wrong?

So let's try to find and/or activate them. Or as I mentioned in my previous
posting: First lets find out how many of them we already have in the team.

> > As I described above we needed less people if we did it in native
languages
> > only with the additional advantage that we would have much more
translated
> > manuals available.
> >
> > Maybe we should set up a list where any member/contributor of the
doc-team
> > can tell us about his/her abilities to understand and/or write different
> > languages. This could help the team leader to hand over the right jobs
to
> > the right people.
>
> Well, thats fine, But you changed, maybe by chance, your wording. Before
> you were referencing to native writer, now just writers.

OK- as you seem to love quibbling:
If I wrote "and/or write different languages" this inlcudes different
scenarios:

1. One native language and one or more other languages learned wherever.
2. One or more native languages (i.e. son of a German and a French born and
living in the US - or living in Bolzano, Italy, where people are growing up
bilingual) and one ore more other languages learned wherever
3. One or more languages some of them not native but on a higher level
because this one is a professional translator and or has some years of
experience in international business

But this doesn't change the fact that I believe only native (or
professional) writers should do the job.

Since you all love this Wiki thingie: who sets up a list where contributors
can inform us about their language skills??

Joey