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Lots of new users here in Germany prefer if the tools and help they can get is in their language. Can these whishes be addressed also with this tool? Is it possible to have different categories for different languages in this tool here?

asked 10 Jul '10, 11:38

Hantilles's gravatar image

Hantilles
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This isn't really a question about using OpenStreetMap, so isn't really appropriate here - it should probably be raised as an issue in the bug tracker at http://trac.openstreemap.org/ instead.

That said, a lot will depend on what OSQA is able to do - that is the software we are using to run the site.

(10 Jul '10, 11:44) TomH ♦♦
4

I'd rather suggest language-specific instances of this tool like http://de.help.openstreetmap.org, as a German user interface will not help with English questions

(10 Jul '10, 14:48) MaZderMind

Having the tool in many languages would be nice. But the content should stay in English for now. There is already to much German content that is not easy to use here in Ethiopia :-)

(11 Jul '10, 17:37) AddisMap_Ale...

Shapado (another Q&A tool, www.shapado.com) has a feature of filtering by language. The content and the interface can be changed in a single list box. Maybe we could do something like this.

(18 Jul '10, 22:43) vgeorge

There are two localization levels:

  1. to have just UI strings translated, this is technical task, and possible with OSQA (see http://meta.osqa.net/questions/94/how-can-i-compilecreate-a-new-language-pack) for instance.
  2. to have whole Q&A content in German - either similar general questions like in English, or even German-specific questions. This is a bit more complex task technically, possibly requires another separate instance of the help system (help.osm.de?). But is it really good idea, it would generate similar questions duplicated ?
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answered 10 Jul '10, 14:55

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jaak
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2

OSM is an international Project and many contributors are not comfortable with everything being in English as they don't speak the language (well). So although rather unfortunate, I don't think there is an alternative to allowing (and encouraging) questions and answeres in other languages.

(11 Jul '10, 00:00) apmon

Translation is not duplication. Otherwise there wouldn't be http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/DE:Main_Page, http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Main_Page, and so on.

(11 Oct '10, 08:59) Art Penteur

I use shapado.com for its nice language support. The German version is fully translated. But hasn't been released yet you can check out the translation progress on Translatewiki, or use the dev version if you want to deploy it.

OSQA is free open source software too and supports multiple languages. I know Shapado is trivial to link to setup in their hosted service, and link to domain, so if OSQA doesn't fit the bill OSM may consider moving this facility to shapado.com.

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answered 20 Jul '10, 05:57

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MagicFab
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accept rate: 20%

edited 27 Feb '12, 09:23

emj's gravatar image

emj
2.0k123547

And what about a simple (or temporary) solution, such as adding a tag (e.g. [Deutsch] to a question in German? Then, non-english speakers can easily find Q&A in their language.

Is just an idea, although I'm not sure if it is a good one.

The interface is another story, but I think it's easy to understand.

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answered 25 Oct '10, 22:44

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temporalista
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As of today, the UI strings of this site should obey your browser's language setting to some extent. Only a few languages have translations (not including German). If you want to do something about this, consider submitting a translation to your favourite language to OSQA.

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answered 27 Nov '11, 23:59

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robert
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Oddly I regularly get the OSQA interface in Japanese or Spanish, although my language settings do not include these languages. :)

(18 Jan '12, 01:02) Ebenezer
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question asked: 10 Jul '10, 11:38

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last updated: 27 Feb '12, 09:23

NOTICE: help.openstreetmap.org is no longer in use from 1st March 2024. Please use the OpenStreetMap Community Forum