Re: An Attempt in Emacs Translation

[Visuwesh <visuweshm@gmail.com>]

Thanks Jai for adding me to the discussion.

[வெள்ளி மார்ச் 08, 2024] Arun Isaac wrote:

> [...]
>>> We really need a large body of Tamil Emacs users who are willing to
>>> use these words everyday and create the subtle shades of meaning that
>>> is so easy in English.
>>
>> Are there even significant Tamil Gnu/Linux users, let alone Emacs or
>> Guix? I’m writing these translations hoping that it serves some future
>> user, but currently how widely are our works acknowledged? Are we
>> echoing to the void?
>
> Ha ha! That's why translating software stuff to Tamil is so
> frustrating. The lines யாருக்காக, இது யாருக்காக, இந்த மாளிகை வசந்த மாளிகை
> always come to mind. :-P Most Tamil users of Emacs simply prefer to use
> English. Even we are having this conversation in English. So, I really
> don't know how to fix this. 

Indeed, I am not sure if I am suited to suggest fixes for the
translation since I have fallen out of the habit of reading Tamil for
years now since my education requires me to read, write, and converse in
English.  That said, unfortunately I didn't get proper focused time to
read the translation so the only comment from what I went through
superficially is: is there a better word for command?  கட்டளை doesn't
sound like the right word to me since Emacs is not really a person.  [ I
can only imagine Vadivelu being Pulikesi when I read கட்டளை in the
translation.  :P ]

> Being able to see the real-world impacts of our translation would be
> very gratifying indeed. Maybe, Shrinivasan is the right person to talk
> about this. I know almost nothing about what's happening in the Tamil
> computing community.

Same on this account too: I have only ever participated in
English-speaking communities.  I wonder if Jambunathan [1] will also be
a better judge of the translation?  AFAIU, he is still active and was
active when tamil-itrans was initially added to Emacs.  Apart from him,
whoever runs emacsnotes [2] might know about this landscape more but
they could end up being the same person...

> Regards,
> Arun

1. https://github.com/kjambunathan/
2. https://emacsnotes.wordpress.com/