Localisation (L10n) Resources

This page brings together some information and links of general use to localisation efforts, and multilingual ICT, in and for Africa. Particular attention is given to what are sometimes called "tools" that assist in localising software or content. This information, together with specific language, country and script information from the profiles, are intended to be of use to localisers.

Be sure to consult also the relevant language, country, and if necessary writing system pages for resources specific to the work you are doing.

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1.  Overview & general information

1.1  Foundations

• Internationalisation (i18n)
• Standards

1.2  Understanding how the pieces work together

• L10n Layercake (a graphic by Daniel Yacob)
• "Localization of Computer Software" (a presentation by Alberto Escudero-Pascual and Louise Berthilson, May 2008) http://www.it46.se/courses/ict4d/materials/IT46_ICT4D_l10n_Part1.pdf

1.3  Guides for localisation

• "FOSS Localization Primer" by Anousak Souphavanh and Theppitak Karoonboonyanan
  • PDF version: http://akgul.bilkent.edu.tr/iosn/foss-l10n.pdf (1.3 MB)
  • Wikibook version: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/FOSS_Localization
• "FOSS Localisation Manual: Effecting Change Through Localisation" by Friedel Wolff (link forthcoming)

1.4  Guides for underresourced languages

• "Comment assurer la présence d'une langue dans le cyberespace" par Marcel Diki-Kidiri http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001497/149786F.pdf
• "Securing a Place for a Language in Cyberspace" by Marcel Diki-Kidiri (English translation) http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001497/149786E.pdf
• "First Language First: Community-based Literacy Programmes for Minority Language Contexts in Asia" by Asia-Pacific Programme of Education for All (includes discussion of orthography) http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001402/140280e.pdf

1.5  African language resources

• African Language Technology (AfLaT) http://aflat.org/

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2.  Resources by topic

2.1  Input hardware & software

• Keyboards & keyboard layouts
• Graphics tablets? (including handwriting recognition)

2.2  Fonts & rendering

• Fonts (general and some utilities)
• Converting legacy fonts to Unicode (also data)
• Unicode fonts

2.3  Codes and tags

• Codes and Tags

2.4  Locales

• Locales
• LocaleGEN

2.5  Terminology

• Terminology
• Glossmaster

2.6  The work of localisation

• Localising software
• Localising web content

2.7  Other

• Advanced applications
• Hidden item to connect ends of trail
• Internationalisation

3.  Forums

See Communication

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