So, new Ubuntu cycle and time for a fresh translations videocast!

Join me tomorrow at the Ustream Ubuntu Translations channel, where I'll give you a summary about the great sessions we had around translations last week at the Ubuntu Developer Summit in Budapest, where we discussed the plans for the next cycle: the Oneiric Ocelot. As usual, feel free to come along, ask your questions and have a chat around translating Ubuntu.

• WHAT: Videocast - UDS O Translations Highlights
• WHEN: Thursday, May. 19th, 15:00 UTC
• WHERE: Ustream Ubuntu Translations channel

Note that if you wish to participate in the online chat, you’ll need to sign up for a ustream account (it doesn’t take more than a couple of minutes), but I’ll also be answering your questions on the #ubuntu-translators IRC channel on Freenode.

Join me in a fresh episode of Ubuntu Translations TV tomorrow, where I'll be continuing the series started on the last session and explain what happens to translations when they get out of Launchpad and are delivered to our users for some localized goodness.

Again, this will be a bit technical, but not too much, and it will help everyone understanding the big picture of how translations work in Ubuntu.

As usual, feel free to participate and ask your questions!

• WHAT: Videocast – The Ubuntu Translations Workflow II
• WHEN: Thursday, Feb. 17th, 16:00 UTC
• WHERE: Ustream Ubuntu Translations channel

Note that if you wish to participate in the online chat, you’ll need to sign up for a ustream account (you can use your Launchpad OpenID), but I’ll also be answering your questions on the #ubuntu-translators IRC channel on Freenode.

As previously discussed,  I'm happy to announce the first in the series of biweekly Translations Training Sessions, starting tomorrow.

So here's the rundown: we'll be having a 1 hour IRC session, where you can learn how to use the Launchpad Translations web UI to translate your favourite distro.

• WHAT: Translations Training Sessions
• WHERE: #ubuntu-translators IRC channel on Freenode
• WHEN: Thursday, 3rd February, 16:00 UTC

Not much, really. It would be great if you could create a Launchpad account before joining the session, so that you can get started trying your first translations during the hour, that'd be awesome. You'll simply need an e-mail address and an Internet connection for that. You'll find how to do this on the Translations QuickStart Guide.

Don't miss this opportunity to learn how to easily contribute to Ubuntu in your language and to ask all your questions.

See you tomorrow!

As every two weeks, this Thursday I'll be preparing a fresh Ubuntu Translations Videocast for all of you interested in knowing more about the exciting world of translating Ubuntu.

I'd like to combine some basic with some more advanced topics, so that the subjects are interesting to both new and experienced translators. This week I'll be doing a more technical talk (not too much, though) about the translation workflow in Ubuntu and all that happens behind the scenes.

Hopefully this will give you an overview of the whole infrastructure and will help you understand why some of the things are implemented the way they are.

As usual, feel free to participate and ask your questions!

• WHAT: Videocast - The Ubuntu Translations Workflow
• WHEN: Thursday, Jan. 27th, 16:00 UTC
• WHERE: Ustream Ubuntu Translations channel

Note that if you wish to participate in the online chat, you’ll need to sign up for a ustream account (it doesn’t take more than a couple of minutes), but I’ll also be answering your questions on the #ubuntu-translators IRC channel on Freenode.

Lots of translations news on the air this week!

Yesterday I had the pleasure to chat with the legendary Danilo Šegan, of Launchpad Translations and GNOME internationalization fame.

Danilo told us all about the progress on upstream integration work in Launchpad and explained more in detail the part which has just been freshly implemented for Ubuntu: better translation imports from upstream projects.

Do check it out here and stay tuned for the next Ubuntu Translations Videocast in a couple of weeks.

But that's not all! This week  comes packed with translations content, as I got interviewed by Jono and had the opportunity to talk a bit about our amazing translation community.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7gIDkq6oT8

It's been a great week here in Dallas, but all good things come to an end. Next week back in business from home and we'll leave the space to the Launchpad folk to discuss their master plan during the Launchpad Thunderdome. Rock on.

Ladies and gents, I'm pleased to announce the next Ubuntu Translations videocast tomorrow from Dallas, Texas, where this week we are holding the Canonical Platform Rally for the next version of Ubuntu, the Natty Narwhal.

This time around I'll have the privilege to be joined by Danilo Šegan (or his alter ego Данило Шеган), the Launchpad Translations developer team lead.

Those of you involved in translations will know Danilo well, not only for his work in developing the translations application in Launchpad, but also for his community involvement. A regular at UDS and GUADEC conferences, he's also developed and maintained some of the key tools in the Free Software Localization ecosystem, such as xml2po and intltool.

He'll be explaining all the cool new things coming up in Launchpad Translations, such as better upstream integration, and will also tell us a bit more about other changes affecting the way Launchpad is being developed.

As usual, we'll be taking and answering your questions, so come and join us for a chat!

• WHAT: Videocast - Launchpad Translations News
• WHEN: Thursday, Jan. 13th, 21:00 UTC
• WHERE: Ustream Ubuntu Translations channel

Talk to you all tomorrow!

After the first Ubuntu Translations videocast two weeks ago, join me tomorrow in a new edition where I'll talk about the first steps to get you started translating Ubuntu.

So if are either:

• new to Ubuntu and would like to learn more and join the awesome translations community...
• not involved in translations but would like to know more about how Ubuntu is translated...
• an experienced translator that would like to ask questions or share your workflow...

Come along tomorrow and watch the introduction on how to get started, the general translations workflow, and participate by asking your questions!

• WHAT: Videocast - First Steps Translating Ubuntu
• WHEN: Thursday, Dec. 16th, 16:00 UTC
• WHERE: Ustream Ubuntu Translations channel

Talk to you all tomorrow!

So, after having done the first translations videocast on the Ubuntu Translations channel yesterday, I can just say it was great fun, and from the feedback I got after the show it seems people liked it too, which is fantastic.

First of all though, big thanks to those of you who joined in with your comments and questions.

I was really really pleased to see lots of participation, both in the ustream chat in the show's page and in the #ubuntu-translators IRC channel. I think that's the best format to make it your show as well: do ask your questions, comment and make it more interactive. I can go on forever rambling on... err... talking about translations, but your participation makes it more fun and more personal, which is one of the objectives of these shows.

So for those of you who missed it, here's the link to the recording to watch it in your own time:

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/11209840

As it was the first time I ever did this, it was a bit experimental. I've been pondering about topics for the next shows, and here's a list of the things I think folks might find interesting:

• Ubuntu Translations Workflow - How is Ubuntu translated
• Natty Translations Roadmap - An overview on the translations community projects this cycle and their progress
• Translating Ubuntu in Launchpad - A tutorial on how to use Launchpad to translate Ubuntu
• Best Practices for Translation Teams - Tips and advice for translation teams when translating Ubuntu
• Internationalizing your application - Introduction on how to internationalize and make applications translatable
• ...

I've already scheduled the next show, so I hope to see you on Translations TV - same time in two weeks time.

Do add it to your calendars! ;-)

The plan for the community team to dominate social media first and the world afterwards goes on unabated.

First it was At Home with Jono Bacon, then Ubuntu Development with Daniel Holbach.

This time it's translations.

Join me tomorrow on the first ever Ubuntu Translations videocast and learn more about our ever amazing community. I'll be talking about how Ubuntu is translated, how translation teams work, and whatever else time allows. On later shows I'll focus in more detail on particular subjects (upstreams, best practices, etc. - I'll also take requests!).

Tell your friends and bring them along! This is a great opportunity to learn something new, to have a relaxed chat and to ask anything you always wanted to know about Ubuntu translations.

• WHAT: Ubuntu Translations with David Planella
• WHEN: Thursday, Dec. 2nd, 16:00 UTC
• WHERE: Ustream Ubuntu Translations channel

Some quick notes: if you wish to participate in the online chat, you'll need to sign up for a ustream account (it doesn't take more than a couple of minutes), but I'll also be answering your questions on the #ubuntu-translators IRC channel on Freenode. I'm sure it's going to be great fun, see you all tomorrow!

As Jono has been mentioning recently, one of the projects we're working on the translations community this cycle are Translations Stories.

We'd like to show how translations change people's lives for the best, and how the work of translators has an impact on that. We'd like to share our excitement and highlight the awesome work translators do, and we thought that articles with translations stories would be the perfect vehicle for that.

In order to achieve this, we need your help. You don't have to be a translator for this: you only need a few spare hours and be willing to give back to the project contributing on this effort to raise awareness on translations.

So, without further ado, here's how:

Contribute

• Sign up. Sign up for writing a translations story on this wiki page by adding your name to the list there.
• Research. Think about what you want to write, and get some information. The Get inspired section below (or here) should give you a few pointers to get you started.
• Write a Story. Write a short article highlighting an area of your choice related to translations. Don't forget to add a picture!
• Send the Story. Send me your story (david (DOT) planella (AT) ubuntu (DOT) com) adding the word [STORY] to the e-mail's subject. I'll then take care of publishing it to Ubuntu News, Ubuntu Planet and to the translators Facebook page.

Get inspired

• Schools with Ubuntu in your language: Check out the schools using Ubuntu in your language. Get in touch with them to get more information and write how they are using Ubuntu.
• Translation Jams: Did you run a translation jam during the UbuntuGlobalJam or at any other time? Tell us how it went!
• Statistics: Did your team had a whooping increase in translation coverage since the last release? Tell us how you dit it and promote some healthy competition among teams.
• Interviews: Interview and tell us about people being able to use Ubuntu in their language
• Workflow: Are you particularly proud about your successful translation workflow and would like to show it to other teams? Write an article and let everyone know!
• Be creative: There are lots more of other subjects or areas where we can highlight the work of translators and their impact on people's lives. Use your imagination as a source for stories!

Are you going to be the first to send one? Looking forward to reading them!

Picture: A tsig mit zibn tsigelekh by Center for Jewish History - No known copyright restrictions

So, as our fearless leader nicely put it, it's Ubuntu Follow Friday!

This last couple of days in the Community team we've been looking at some of the ways to spread out the word about different areas of contribution in Ubuntu, share our excitement and reach out to a bigger audience.

We've been reviewing and reviving some resources we already had and we've been creating new ones, and in the case of translations I just thought I'd give a heads up to everyone about them.

Translations

Facebook

Feel free to upload your pictures and videos related to translations, such as translation jam photos, and comment on our wall as well!

Microblogging

Identi.ca - If you use identi.ca, you can subscribe to ubuntul10n to follow thoughts and announcements in real time about everything related to translating Ubuntu. In addition to @ubuntul10n, you can also use the !ubuntutranslators, !ubuntu-l10n, !ul10n or !utranslators tags to send notices to the ubuntul10n group, and the #ul10n hashtag for your related tweets.

Remember that these now exist in addition to the existing outreach resources. As before, the main channel for discussion and announcements remains the ubuntu-translators mailing list, but we also want to reach out to everyone who prefers other communication methods. All important announcements will be posted in all of these channels.

I've also updated our Ubuntu Translations contact page with all this information.

Other interesting areas

• Ubuntu Development Facebook Page
• Ubuntu Developers on Twitter and Identi.ca
• Ubuntu Cloud Facebook Page
• Ubuntu Cloud on Twitter and Identi.ca