Maori version of Office out tomorrow (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Maori version of Office out tomorrow
28 November 2005

By REUBEN SCHWARZ
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3492527a28,00.html

A Maori language version of Microsoft Office 2003 will be available free
to existing Office users from tomorrow, with a Maori version of Windows
XP to follow in two weeks.

Microsoft worked with the Maori Language Commission and Waikato
University's School of Maori and Pacific Development to create the
software, which is a "skin" that sits on top of the English-language
versions of Office applications Word, Excel and Powerpoint.

It translates most of the text seen on screen by people using the
software, such as the contents of drop-down menus, dialogue boxes and
error messages.

Maori Language Commission chief executive Haami Piripi sees the project
as another step in refreshing the image of Maori.

"It's a natural progression for languages to extend into new domains,"
he says. The cyber domain is a very important cutting-edge domain for
up-and-coming generations of citizens. A language must be able to
survive in the IT world if it's going to survive as a language in the
future."

The commission and Waikato University translated 325,000 words for
Windows and 303,000 words for Office, inventing 2500 terms to translate
technical terms such as "hyperlink", or "honongaitua".

Mr Piripi expects "quite a big uptake" of the software.

The commission estimates that 130,000 adults speak Maori.

The Office 2003 skin will be released tomorrow at the World Indigenous
People's Education Conference in Hamilton.

The development costs were met by Microsoft, with only incidental costs
to the commission.

It is one of a series of translations carried out by Microsoft which is
creating skins for Office and Windows XP in more than 40 indigenous
languages, such as Basque and Catalan.

It is available for download free from
http://www.microsoft.com/nz/maori/default.mspx . Copies are also
available on CD for $15.