Updating translation workflow

[Warren Block]

>       I think we can use a combination of tools to work with our existing documents.  The workflow would be like this:
>
>       1. Use textproc/itstool to create a "strings to be translated" file
>          (.pot) from an XML file.
>
>       2. Use pootle as a database to translate any of those strings that have
>          not already been translated.
>
>       3. Use itstool to merge the translated strings back into the XML file.
> 
> 
> I'm not quite sure here when we are putting back strings I guess we have to check again the meaning of the sentence.

Examples may help:

A German translation of a sentence:
http://pootle.pcbsd.org/de/pcbsd/translate.html?unit=461257

Gnome uses the .pot/.po files to translate their documentation. 
Instructions that are specific to translating documentation as opposed 
to programs are hard to find.  Possibly they don't make that distinction 
because the process is identical.  An example:

https://wiki.gnome.org/ReleaseNotes/Translating

And a sample of the German .po file for a document:
https://l10n.gnome.org/POT/gnome-user-docs.master/docs/gnome-help.master.de.po

> What if we can have some rules for English documentation change?
> For instance maybe limitation of changes in doc for one commit per day etc. I know English version needs to be updated very frequently and always needs modifications, improvements etc.
> However if we can have some limitation of changes (I mean small changes like maybe couple of hundred lines that translators can follow immediately with ease) then it would be much
> easier for translators and that would maybe help new translators join. Like asking them to work on small changes and review if necessary.
> 
> And of course automated tools would be nice addition to it.

Personally, I'd like to see fewer restrictions and much more automated 
help for everyone.  With the .pot/.po system, whitespace changes seem to 
no longer be a problem.  The web interface makes it much easier to get 
involved with translation, less intimidating for new translators and 
less work for experienced translators.

Also, there are many people with experience using that translation 
system, so there's less of a learning curve.

It could provide helpful experience if FreeBSD translators signed up for 
an account on the PC-BSD Pootle site and tried translating a few things 
there.

And there may be other CAT software that we could use.  Pootle is just a 
first possibility because PC-BSD is using it.  It may even be possible 
to share the "translation memory" between PC-BSD and FreeBSD, reducing 
the effort to get documents translated.