David Grove
Mon 28th Apr '08, 1:08pm
Have languages be hierarchical or inheritable just like templates are.
For example, say I want to have the following languages:
English (US)
English (UK)
German (using Sie)
German (using Du - informal)
Spanish (using Usted)
Spanish (using Tú - informal)
Now, with each language for different geographical regions, there are vocabulary changes needed, but not in all phrases. With German and Spanish, which have formal or informal systems, there are now 2 variations for each regional variation.
Having languages be hierarchical would make things a lot easier for translating and especially for updating the language when new versions come out.
For example, I just upgraded to 3.7 RC4 and I had hundreds of phrases that needed to be updated in my UK English, why? Because to create the language, all the phrases are copied from the MASTER_LANGUAGE (US English), even though copying is not needed because there are only slight vocabulary differences between US and UK English. So instead of copying thousands of phrases to create UK English, and then only changing a few, I should be able to copy only the ones I actually need to change, and then set a language to the be the parent language, and any missing phrases will be inherited from the parent language.
MASTER_LANGUAGE (US English)
UK English (any missing phrases will default to US English) Only the phrases that have spelling/vocabulary differences would be translated.
German (Sie)(any missing phrases will default to US English) (all phrases would be translated)
German (Du)(any missing phrases will default to German (Sie)) (only a few phrases would be translated)
Spanish (Usted)(any missing phrases will default to US English)
Spanish (Tu)(any missing phrases will default to Spanish (Usted))
And you get the idea. The point would be to have as many missing phrases as possible in the subordinate languages, so that they default to their parent language and not the MASTER_LANGUAGE, and thus do not have to be reverted/fixed with every update.
For example, say I want to have the following languages:
English (US)
English (UK)
German (using Sie)
German (using Du - informal)
Spanish (using Usted)
Spanish (using Tú - informal)
Now, with each language for different geographical regions, there are vocabulary changes needed, but not in all phrases. With German and Spanish, which have formal or informal systems, there are now 2 variations for each regional variation.
Having languages be hierarchical would make things a lot easier for translating and especially for updating the language when new versions come out.
For example, I just upgraded to 3.7 RC4 and I had hundreds of phrases that needed to be updated in my UK English, why? Because to create the language, all the phrases are copied from the MASTER_LANGUAGE (US English), even though copying is not needed because there are only slight vocabulary differences between US and UK English. So instead of copying thousands of phrases to create UK English, and then only changing a few, I should be able to copy only the ones I actually need to change, and then set a language to the be the parent language, and any missing phrases will be inherited from the parent language.
MASTER_LANGUAGE (US English)
UK English (any missing phrases will default to US English) Only the phrases that have spelling/vocabulary differences would be translated.
German (Sie)(any missing phrases will default to US English) (all phrases would be translated)
German (Du)(any missing phrases will default to German (Sie)) (only a few phrases would be translated)
Spanish (Usted)(any missing phrases will default to US English)
Spanish (Tu)(any missing phrases will default to Spanish (Usted))
And you get the idea. The point would be to have as many missing phrases as possible in the subordinate languages, so that they default to their parent language and not the MASTER_LANGUAGE, and thus do not have to be reverted/fixed with every update.