What minority-language software would you like to see?

[Dave Robertson]

[From today's LINGUIST list --  Dave]

Date:  Thu, 27 Sep 2001 10:51:15 -0700
   From:  "Chuck Coker" <chuckc at tyrell.com>
   Subject:  What minority language software would you like to see?

   About a week or so ago, I posted a question about computer software
   localization (l10n) efforts. I have received a lot of replies from all
   over the world and will post a summary in about another week. I want
   to make sure all replies are in before summarizing.

   Based on the replies I received so far, it appears that there is a lot
   of demand for l10n for minority languages all over the world, from
   languages as small as one fluent speaker left to languages with
   millions of speakers.  I've received responses from all continents
   except Antarctica (if you're there, I'm waiting).

   That leads me to my next question: What minority language software
   would you like to see?

   If properly designed from the beginning, software can be built that
   makes changing languages relatively easy. For example, it might take a
   lot of effort to write a word processor or an educational
   language-learning application in Serrano. Once that is done, however,
   making another version for Cahuilla would not be too difficult since
   all the "hard" work will have already been done. Basically, English
   (in my case) to Cahuilla text translations would have to be done, but
   after that I could recompile the application and it would be ready to
   go. (All of my experience so far is with left-to-right languages.)

   I'm working on submitting a proposal to the owner of the company I
   work for to develop localized software for minority languages. Since
   we are a very small company, we could afford to take on projects such
   as this. Larger companies will never develop minority language
   software due to the small markets.

   So what I need to know for my proposal is:

   1. What kind of software would you like to see in ~your~ language? Any
   kind, from a complete operating system to a simple text editor or
   database. The more detailed the description, the better it would be
   for my proposal.

   2. What would you be willing to pay for each of the software
   applications that would be useful to you? I am asking at what price
   (if any) would you ~actually buy~ the product, not what you think a
   fair market value would be.  For example, you would use it if it was
   free, but not if you had to spend money. (Please be brutally honest
   here.)

   3. What computer platforms do you use? For example, Windows NT, Mac OS
   X, Linux/KDE, etc.

   If there is not enough market potential for even the very small
   company I work for to take on these jobs, I still might work on them
   on my own as time allows just because I think languages are important.

   Thank you for your time reading this,
   Chuck Coker

   - --------------------------------------------------------------------
   Chuck Coker <chuckc at tyrell.com>
   Software Developer, Tyrell Software Corporation
   23151 Verdugo Drive, Suite 204
   Laguna Hills, California 92653 United States
   +1 949 458 1911 ext. 3
--
"Asking a linguist how many languages she knows is like asking a doctor how many diseases he has!" -- anonymous



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