How can I use the Hebrew translation?

Open Source Development
#1

Hi everyone!

My wife is about to teach a course in AppInventor. A significant hurdle for many students would be that there is no Hebrew translation. I thought, OK, it's open source, let's contribute a Hebrew translation. And then, after digging a bit, I found that it seems like there is a Hebrew translation, it's just not available from the web UI. I found this file, and also this page, from which I understand that 98.5% of strings are already translated.

So, my questions are:

  • Why is Hebrew not in the list of languages in the web UI?
  • How can I help with adding it to the list of languages?
  • Is there any information about the process of contributing translations? I googled a bit and didn't find it. I would probably like to improve the existing translation.

Thanks!
Noam

#3

I assigned one of the App Inventor developers to your topic.

1 Like
#4

Search for FAQ Internationalization in the board for a head start.

Right to Left languages was a problem, as I recall.

I started to code a blocks package to universal translate all the display .Texts in a screen at run time, if you want it.

Diagnosing code in another language is especially onerous.

#5

Here is the information you're looking for on contributing to translations: About Translating App Inventor

We have prototype code for right-to-left languages that we have never used because a right-to-left language has never been completed to the point where we can test against it. We would be very excited to see volunteers work on this.

The second link is the important one, and what's not clear here is that this is two out of three modules. The largest module is OdeMessages, which contains the text for the designer GUI and all components. This module hasn't been translated. Note that OdeMessages is huge, and all of it does not need to be complete for a translation to be released and useful.

I'm going ahead and creating a file for OdeMessages in Hebrew to make this clearer.

#6

Hello Susan,

I'm really sorry I haven't replied earlier. I hope I will be able to help with the Hebrew translation, but I'm not sure. Anyway, I plan to send you an email once I manage to create a weblate account (I tried, and didn't get the confirmation mail. I reported this using the form.)

One general thing is that I think there is no need to wait for a right-to-left interface before adding a Hebrew translation. I agree that the best experience for RTL language speakers is to have the full interface from right to left (as is in Scratch). However, I think that even without that, just translating the English strings and keeping the interface from left to right would bring a lot of benefit to Hebrew-speaking users.

So I think it would make sense, until the full RTL interface is polished-out, (and once the Hebrew translation is reasonable), to give two language options: Hebrew with left-to-right interface, and Hebrew with right-to-left interface. Then, students will be able to choose what is more convenient for them.

Thanks a lot, and good luck!
Noam

#7

If you didn't get the confirmation mail, please send me your account ID anyway. I've been getting reports of this problem a lot recently, and I think I may be able to approve you anyway.

I actually have a right-to-left interface written that we have been waiting literally years to have a language to use. So we're actually waiting on the translation rather than the interface.

Any help you can provide is most welcome!

#8

Great! I hope I will be able to find the time to help!

I sent you an email with my details, I tried again at weblate.appinventor.mit.edu and didn't get the email.

Cheers,
Noam

#9

I got your email. I've created an account for you with the info you provided. Let me know if you didn't receive my email response.

I gave the account I created the necessary translate access, so if it works for you, you should have what you need.