B4X localized

[Erel]

I want B4X to be accessible to as many developers as possible, so I decided that its time for B4X to be localizable = support other human languages.

The first step is to make the IDE itself localizable:

It is built in such way that will make it relatively simple for developers to collaborate and help by translating the English phrases to their own language.
I estimate that adding support for a new language will take about 2 hours. It is really not too difficult.

After testing several options, I decided to use Google Sheets to maintain the translation tables.

For now there is a single sheet with one column for each language.

I will need the community help with this task. If you want to join the B4X Translators group and help with this then please send me a private message and also mention the language(s) that you know.

As a small gratitude I will list the translators in the About box of the IDE (unless you don't want to).

All languages are welcome. As there are less Asian developers, developers who can translate to Asian languages are especially wanted.

Note that right to left languages, such as Hebew and Arabic, will not be perfectly supported at this point as the layout orientation is left to right.

Thank you!

Edit: Just to make sure that it is clear, this will always be an optional feature.

Current status (21 March, 2018):
German: 826
English: 825
Spanish: 825
Portuguese (Brazilian): 825
Amharic: 825
French: 824
Italian: 823
Polish: 821
Norwegian (Bokmål): 815
Bosnian: 806
Croatian: 806
Hindi: 805
Hebrew: 804
Simplified Chinese (????): 784
Hungarian (magyar): 784
Traditional Chinese (????): 779
Turkish: 776
Russian: 775
Greek: 763
Dutch: 659
Dansk: 602
Swedish: 438
Serbian (Cyrillic): 419
Portuguese (European): 382
Thai: 330
Catalan: 300
Bengali: 255
Czech: 240
Indonesia: 147
Bulgarian: 76
Romanian: 65
Arabic: 15



600+ is considered ready for production.

 

[An Schi]

Don't get me wrong please, i don't dislike localize b4x
But i will keep on using the english version even when my language is implemented. The reason is that i think there should be a very basic english knowledge in internet stuff. For me it would be harder to ask something, get an answer like 'in the IDE under tools change your build config' and then have to ask again what this option is called in my language
(i can help doing the german translation )

 

[Deleted member 103]

Too bad, I had already got used to the English, now I have to learn German or Italian.

 

[alwaysbusy]

I like the idea, but I hope this is a setting because although my mother tongue is Dutch, I prefer my tools (and Windows) in English

 

[Alessandro71]

Maybe it's an already made decision, but I think translating tools will make harder for people to search answers.

 

[rscheel]

Es buena esta opción para nuevos desarrolladores que busquen una herramienta tan útil como B4X, yo por mi parte seguiré usando el ingles ya que espesamos de esta manera y me va bien con ello.

This is good for new developers looking for a tool as useful as B4X, I for my part continue to use English as we thicken this way and I do well with it.

 

[Claudio Oliveira]

@Erel
Even though most users will probably keep on using the english language, it's nice to have the option to use our own language.
Count on me for Portuguese translation.
Sent you a message.

 

[klaus]

I am not sure if it will really help much.
Learning the English words in the IDE wouldn't be that much effort for new users.
To really help, I think that the xml files for the language should also be localized.
But this is a bigger job.
Hopefully, the keywords will remain in English. The localization of the keywords in Excel is awful for me.

Anyway you can count on me for French and eventually for German, mail sent.

 

[Erel]

Don't worry. It will be an optional feature. You will never be forced to use a different language.

I will quote B4X homepage: "With B4X, anyone who wants to, can develop real-world solutions."
We stand behind this statement. This means that we need to do our best to lower the language barrier and allow developers from different countries and different cultures to be able to develop with B4X.
As the code itself is written in an English based syntax, familiarity with English will always be required. In the long run I hope that more and more resources will be available in multiple (human) languages.
Technically it is simple to use the same mechanism that is used by the IDE to allow localization of the libraries internal documentation.
Note that Klaus's latest guides sources are also available: https://github.com/AnywhereSoftware/B4X_Documentation

The information revolution is world wide. While it started in the western world, it reached almost every country in the world. I guess that there now more software developers in China and India than in any other country. There are 1 billion smartphones in those two countries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_smartphone_penetration

 

[ilan]

i like the idea. it fills more comfortable when you use a soft in your language.

where can i download the file?

 

[sorex]

I'm Dutch speaking and always install everything in English just like most people do overhere.

I already helped people with translations and sometimes the hard part is to find a good sounding local alternative while the english one makes more sense for everyone.
A good example of such case would be screenshot or snapshot.

So it's kind of hard to make it suit for everyone.

Just wondering...

What if the translater vanishes or dislikes the task after a while and no-one else is willing to take over the job?
will you delay releases for 3 missing keywords to be added or temp. remove that language?

Excel has all the formula keywords also translated if > als , sum > som etc.
Will you do the same with the programming keywords?

 

[Sergey Kravchenko]

The difficulty will be that words in different languages have different lengths.
I think so....

 

[Lahksman]

I like the idea of translating the IDE, although I also use most of my software in English.

Excel has all the formula keywords also translated if > als , sum > som etc.
Will you do the same with the programming keywords?

I hate the translated keywords in Excel, some of them make no sense at all.

 

[Erel]

What if the translater vanishes or dislikes the task after a while and no-one else is willing to take over the job?
will you delay releases for 3 missing keywords to be added or temp. remove that language?

Releases are never delayed. Especially not because of 3 missing keywords

The English phrases are used when a localized phrase is missing.

Excel has all the formula keywords also translated if > als , sum > som etc.
Will you do the same with the programming keywords?

No. Code will not be translated.

Also phrases that come directly from the code shouldn't be translated. For example the views types in the designer (Button remains Button in every language as it refers to the Button type).

The difficulty will be that words in different languages have different lengths.

In most cases it should be fine (assuming that the differences are not too big).

where can i download the file?

There is no file to download. It is an online spreadsheet (Google Sheet). You can see it here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fAqr-POOiNz_N_GCtBWJZwdPtl425VlUhOfktKrJG4A/edit?usp=sharing (it is not yet complete).

 

[Sergey Kravchenko]

Another remark
The meaning of a word may depend on the context.

 

[Marek Brezina]

Erel if you want, I can help you with the translation into the Czech language.

 

[wonder]

European Portuguese here! Count me in!

 

[gma]

Hey Erel,

please count me in too. I would like to do the Hungarian translation if possible.

Regards,
Mark

ps. I recommend transifex for translating projects like this, based on my experience.

 

[wonder]

Regarding the translation table, I would like to suggest the addition of an extra "Comments" column, which could be used for example to explain the context of certain options.

 

[moster67]

I am on holiday in this moment but in two weeks or so I can provide with a Swedish translation