RE: translation request

If the working group plans to release a new draft shortly, then yes obviously, it is most likely preferable to wait as, among other things, this can facilitate things for a translator.  But if the working group does not plan to release a new version shortly, I feel there should be no reason to discourage translation of the current draft if one wishes to contribute, especially since this version made it to Last Call, has been subject to much debate and is still being very much discussed in the community even though comments period is now closed.

Also, while participating in the working group and/or sifting through hundreds of e-mails and other related documents could perhaps make things easier with regards to making translations available at the appropriate time and there is definitely nothing wrong with that, there should be other ways of ensuring timely translations of important documents submitted for comments from the international community.

Finally, please note that my comments do not constitute an opinion concerning Mr. Osobka's request or any specific request as such but a general opinion on the underlying issue which is hopefully more clear with this message.

Best regards,


Catherine



--
Catherine Roy, consultante

www.catherine-roy.net 




> -----Original Message-----
> From: Masayasu Ishikawa [mailto:mimasa@sfc.keio.ac.jp]
> Sent: August 24, 2006 1:35 AM
> To: ecrire@catherine-roy.net
> Cc: ot@w3.org; andrew.osobka@tlumaczenia-angielski.info; w3c-
> translators@w3.org; cooper@w3.org
> Subject: Re: translation request
> 
> zara <ecrire@catherine-roy.net> wrote:
> 
> > I must point out that various drafts of WCAG 2.0 have already been
> translated in at least French[1,2], Spanish[3] and Japanese[4], the last
> of which is publicised on W3C/WAI's own site[5] so it is a little late in
> wondering if translation is welcomed now.
> >
> > Furthermore, while there can surely be cases where certain material
> might not be pertinent to translate until finalised, when it comes to
> specifications that will be or are effectively in the process of being
> disseminated for the purpose of obtaining feedback from the international
> community, translations should certainly not be discouraged.
> 
> Speaking for the Japanese translation, we translated the Last Call Working
> Draft precisely because we wanted to encourage timely feedback from
> non-English speakers, and made the translation available within a few
> days after publication of the Last Call Working Draft.
> 
> However, in order to be able to do so, several of our colleagues
> participated in the WCAG WG and followed the development closely,
> and we even started the translation before actual publication.
> It does require a lot of efforts.  Since the Last Call period for
> the current draft is over and there may be an another draft before
> reaching the Candidate Recommendation status, it may be prudent to
> wait until the next draft.  Of course you may start looking at
> the current draft, but you'd better follow the discussion within
> the WCAG WG to figure out which part is more stable and which part
> is likely to change.
> 
> > [1] <http://www.webaccessibilite.net/traduction/WD-WCAG20-20041119-
> FR.html>
> > [2] <http://www.webaccessibilite.net/traduction/WD-WCAG20-20050630-
> FR.html>
> > [3] <http://www.sidar.org/recur/desdi/traduc/es/wcag/wcag20/WD-WCAG20-
> 20040730.html>
> > [4] <http://www.comm.twcu.ac.jp/~nabe/data/2006/WCAG20LC/WCAG20-ja/>
> > [5] <http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/>
> 
> --
> Masayasu Ishikawa
> Keio University

Received on Friday, 25 August 2006 01:12:58 UTC