UBB.Developers Forums General Discussion Suggestions and Feedback Whining about lang files

Disclaimer: I am in no way suggesting that we should get rid of the language options. Not at all. Not in the least. I'm just venting.

I despise the lang files! []/w3timages/icons/mad.gif[/] I never know whether I can edit the text in the lang files... I don't know in how many places each lang variable may be used. I want to change the text in one place, but I may end up changing it in totally inappropriate places. I have to do multi-file searches constantly. And when I need to change the text, my changes are only going to be reflect to users who select English as their language. Other users may have totally incorrect or incomplete information. Making modifications or additions can screw up other language users... I just discovered that Eileen's "Insert Tags" javascript will make markup tags not work for non-English users.

I hate them I hate them I hate them! I have fantasies of stripping out all languages besides english, but I would feel like a creep if I did. I'm sure that some of my users will find it very valuable to be able to use the boards in their native language, but I have no way of providing non-English speaking users with support, and I can't update their FAQs to include my changes, and I can't give them a user's manual in their language. []/w3timages/icons/mad.gif[/] []/w3timages/icons/mad.gif[/] []/w3timages/icons/mad.gif[/]

Phoenix

I hear where you're coming from, it IS a lot of work to keep all the language files up do date. Unless you happen to have a user or two who can translate for you, there's not much you can do.

However, I've found sites like http://translator.go.com and http://www.babelfish.com to be fairly useful in translating portions of text in a few different languages. I don't know how accurate or grammatically correct the translations end up being, but it's the best I can do as a webmaster trying to cater to the language needs of as many people as possible. Also, I've only been able to dig up online translators for about half of W3T's supported languages... but as I already said, there's not much we can do about that. Maybe there could be a language board here where translators could help each other out when needed?

Well, I went and did it. I'm a bad, bad person. I'm an ugly American, a redneck even. I'm elitist. I'm prejudiced. I'm unfair. I'm mean. My friend who teaches ESL should take me out back and shoot me. []/w3timages/icons/laugh.gif[/]

I de-$lang-ified the whole durn program in one click. It felt so good I needed a cigarette after. But now I feel dirty and guilty. []/w3timages/icons/frown.gif[/] What my users don't know will not offend them, right?

Phoenix

I interact with multi-lingual speakers on a daily basis, and we've laughed about the online translators a few times... actually just today one French speaker said that the translators ignore metaphors, etc… []/w3timages/icons/crazy.gif[/] and wind up with simply silly translations.

I would avoid those if possible, but obviously if you don't speak the languages, you won’t be able to make changes. Also, the online translators only are capable of translating 5-7 languages, and W3T has 13... the idea of a language board on here is a good one, for foreign speakers to help with translations... of course I wouldn't be able to help with any of the languages offered, but this gives me an idea for a feature wish. []/w3timages/icons/wink.gif[/]

Regards,

Muhammad Chishti
Creative dIRECTOR
[:white]http://www.imcuniverse.com

I gotta tell ya...I'm close to ripping the languages files out of my version too. []/w3timages/icons/smile.gif[/] I keep wanting to make the smiley emotes on my forums get activated like they do on UBB, but that would mean having to change the markup in each language file. I think I might just take the lazy approach and put a bablefish dropbox on my forums so people can translate the forums on the fly. []/w3timages/icons/smile.gif[/]

>>put a bablefish dropbox on my forums

Now there's an idea that might fly!

[]http://www.amdragon.com/images/eileensig.gif[/]

Yeah, and I actually got a "pretty good" translation out of babelfish:

English: I like this language.

Bablefish Italian: I appreciate this language.

Just don't take that Italian translation into german, then you get "I estimate this language" []/w3timages/icons/wink.gif[/]

Muhammad Chishti
Creative dIRECTOR
[:white]http://www.imcuniverse.com