As promised the www.OpenPhrase.org system is now ready for a beta run.
Hopefully this could potentially be the start of a permanent online developer community, where developers with different native languages can help each other translate their software to foreign languages. I’ve tried to design the system in such a way that developers that are not multi-lingual (e.g. only English speaking) can also take advantage of the system.
I really chased to get a first version ready (everything was written from ground up), and it really is more of an alpha version than a beta, so I’m sure there are gazillions of ways that OpenPhrase.org still needs to be improved.
To be honest, I have no idea if this idea will work on a practical level, so I guess time will tell. I don’t want to give away too much about how the system works, because it would be great to see if it is intuitive enough for new users.
If there is enough interest, I’m very willing to spend time on tweaking and improving the system a lot.
Note that the purpose of OpenPhrase.org is not to replace professional translators. If you are developing serious software intended for high-paying commercial clients, it would still be best to contract or employ a professional translator. OpenPhrase.org does however provide a platform to get started with phrase translations.
The current languages that are supported by OpenPhrase.org include:
English, Spanish, German, Swedish, Afrikaans, French, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese and Maori.
If there are any other languages you would like to see on OpenPhrase.org, please let me know.
I look forward to seeing you at OpenPhrase.org… and please don’t hesitate to be blunt and honest about what works and what doesn’t.