[OSM-talk] i18n-rich areas on the map

Mikel Maron mikel_maron at yahoo.com
Tue Jul 28 18:42:51 BST 2009


Very good point, and feature suggestion. 


I've started a wiki page on this project. Please contribute!
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Map_Translation_Interface



________________________________
From: Ed Avis <eda at waniasset.com>
To: Subhodip Biswas <subhodipbiswas at gmail.com>; Mikel Maron <mikel_maron at yahoo.com>
Cc: Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <avarab at gmail.com>; Stefan Baebler <stefan.baebler at gmail.com>; talk at openstreetmap.org; David Sasaki <osopecoso at gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, July 27, 2009 4:24:00 AM
Subject: RE: [OSM-talk] i18n-rich areas on the map

Not all map features need translating in the same way.  For now, let's assume that only
the 'name' tag will be translated, since that is about the only place where freeform
natural language is used.  (Possibly 'note', 'FIXME' and other things like parking
restrictions could also contain natural language, but they are not normally rendered on
maps.)

Now, there are different kinds of names.  There are those which are descriptive, such as
'Town hall' or 'London Zoo', which can always be translated.  Then there are names which
are purely proper names, such as 'Rome' or 'Brazil'.  These may or may not have
equivalents in different languages.  Many names are in between these two poles, such as
Paris's Arc de Triomphe, which may be rendered in English as the Triumphal Arch (taking it
as a description to be translated), or kept in the original French (taking it as a proper
name).  Finally, some things like street names are rarely translated, even if they carry
a meaning.  Near to me in London is Bread Street, but I would hardly expect to see
it on a Spanish tourist guide as 'Calle del Pan'.

So I would suggest that any translation interface should accommodate these different levels
of translatability.  One way might be to record two different kind of translations: one
being an equivalent name for a well-known place, and the other kind a translation of the
meaning of a string.  The web interface would have a tickbox to distinguish the two kinds.

-- 
Ed Avis <eda at waniasset.com> 

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