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Localization Efforts in the Asia-Pacific ❘ 15The government, under an IDRC grant, is pushing for the localization of Windows and MS Office. Theyhave neither plans nor resources to get involved in FOSS localization, but are said to be interested incoordinating efforts so as not to duplicate work and to ensure that the Khmer language (collation, etc.)is implemented consistently in both platforms.The project aims not to be sectarian about FOSS. It is better to have people using email in Khmer onWindows in the short run than to try to make them change to a completely new system abruptly. Thereare still two or three years before the intellectual property law is expected to be strongly enforced. Thisperiod can be used as transition time, assuring a gradual success rate, rather than trying to force anovernight change and thereby failing.Status of Localization ProjectsA survey 24 of the status of localization projects was conducted by the PAN Localization Project 25 duringthe training on “Fundamentals of Local Language Computing” in Lahore, Pakistan in January 2004.Participants from 13 Asian countries were asked to provide information about the status of localizationtasks in their countries. The survey revealed the status of standardization, localization and national policyfor local language computing of the participants’ countries. Please note that the informal survey techniqueemployed gives only a rough picture of the actual situation.Table 1 summarizes the survey on standardization for character set, keyboard layout, key-pad layout(e.g., for mobile phones), collation sequence, terminology translation and locale definition.Table 1PAN Survey: Localization StandardsCountry Language Char KBD Keypad Coll. Seq. Interface LocaleSetTerm.Myanmar Burmese ✓ * *Cambodia Khmer ✓ ✓Mongolia Mongolian ✓ ✓ ? * * ✓Lao PDR Lao ✓ ✓Nepal Nepali * * * * *Sri Lanka Sinhalese ✓ ✓ * * *Thailand Thai ✓ ✓ * * * ✓Bhutan Dzongkha ✓ ✓ * *China Tibetan ✓ ✓ ?Japan Japanese ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓Bangladesh Bangla ✓ ? * * ✓Afghanistan Pashto ✓ ✓ ? *Iran Farsi ✓ ✓ * * *Pakistan Urdu ✓ * * * *✓: complete; *: partially done; ?: don’t know; blank: no work doneFrom the table, character set and keyboard layout seems to be well defined for most countries, whileother issues need more work.Table 2 summarizes the current status of localization of applications on the GNU/Linux platform, namely,keyboard input, fonts, sorting and find/replace utilities, natural language processing, spell checker, andthesaurus. It also shows whether any GNU/Linux distribution has been released in the country.24Hussain, S. and Gul S., PAN Localization Project: A regional initiative to develop local language computing capacity in Asia, 2004.25See www.panl10n.net/.
16 ❘ FREE/OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE: LOCALIZATIONTable 2PAN Survey: Basic Localized Applications on GNU/LinuxCountry Language KBD Font Coll. Find / NLP Spell Thes. LinuxDriver Replace Check Distr.Myanmar Burmese *Cambodia KhmerMongolia Mongolian ✓ ✓ * * * ? ✓Lao PDR LaoNepal Nepali ✓ * *Sri Lanka Sinhalese * ✓ * *Thailand Thai ✓ * ✓ ✓ * * ✓Bhutan DzongkhaChina Tibetan * * ?Japan Japanese ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ? ? ? ✓Bangladesh Bangla ✓ * * ? *Afghanistan Pashto * ? ✓Iran Farsi ✓ * ✓ * ✓ * * *Pakistan Urdu * * ✓ *✓: complete; *: partially done; ?: don’t know; blank: no work doneThe survey shows that FOSS localization activities are taking place in many countries. Sharing expertiseand resources among countries can boost progress in this area.For message translation, a number of Asian language localization projects are underway. All of theseprojects are tracked in real time on the Internet. The following links provide the current status of some ofthese projects.i18n.kde.org/stats/gui/HEAD/fullinfo.phpwww.mandrakelinux.com/l10n/status.php3l10n-status.gnome.org/gnome-2.6/index.htmlAs of June 2004, Japanese and Korean translators have already completed most of their initial work inFOSS localization. China is close behind, followed by India and the South-East Asian nations. The situationis highly fluid, however, and the above sites should be checked for detailed and updated information onthe current status.
Page 2 and 3: Free/Open Source Software:Localizat
Page 4: TABLE OF CONTENTSFOREWORDACKNOWLEDG
Page 7 and 8: including simple “how to” prime
Page 10 and 11: INTRODUCTIONThis primer provides a
Page 12 and 13: Introduction ❘ 3What is Free/Open
Page 14 and 15: LOCALIZATION EFFORTS IN THE ASIA-PA
Page 16 and 17: Localization Efforts in the Asia-Pa
Page 26 and 27: RECOMMENDATIONSImplementing Localiz
Page 28 and 29: Recommendations ❘ 19Analysts and
Page 30 and 31: Recommendations ❘ 21elements must
Page 32 and 33: Recommendations ❘ 23Language Cons
Page 34 and 35: Annex A. Localization - Key Concept
Page 40 and 41: Annex B. Localization - Technical A
Page 56 and 57: Further Readings ❘ 47KuhnKuhn, M.
Page 58 and 59: RESOURCES AND TOOLSBangladeshwww.be
Page 60 and 61: Resources and Tools ❘ 51oo-l10n-m
Page 62 and 63: Resources and Tools ❘ 53Organizat
Page 64 and 65: Glossary ❘ 55GNUA recursive acron
Page 66 and 67: Glossary ❘ 57XFSX Font Server.Xft
Page 68: APDIPIOSNThe Asia-Pacific Developme

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