[Koha] Multi-Lingual SQL & User Defined Parameters

[Massoud Alshareef]

Most academic libraries in the Arabian Gulf region (Saudi, Kuwait, Bahrain,
Qatar, UAE, Oman) always have bilingual catalogers, some do Arabic books
cataloging (Arabs mostly from Saudi and Egypt with near zero English
background) and some do English books cataloging (non-Arabs mostly from
India and Pakistan who are generally fluent in English but have little or
no Arabic language understanding).

Imagine the case when both language catalogers doing cataloging/ authority
work using the same Arabic/English Koha installation !! I think it is like
a night-mare for one of the two groups at least, and the other group
feeling sorry for their colleagues; I did live the experience at a
University library using another single language ILS in the late nineties,
and if you are wondering it was not a healthy environment experience at all!

Thanks
Massoud M. AlShareef,

The world of achievement has always belonged to the optimist!

KnowledgeWare Technologies
(P.O. Box 230-312)
Riyadh 11321, Saudi Arabia
Cel: +966 505 307 267
massoud at kwareict.com

On Wed, May 16, 2012 at 3:15 PM, Karam Qubsi <karamqubsi at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi
> Dear Mr Massoud ,
> Dear all,
>
> I think this will be very helpful for the people who don't want to use
> the English interface in Koha , and as you say when we finish
> translating koha 3.8 to Arabic ( very soon inshaallah) ,
> we will have  problems with the people who want to use koha in Arabic
> and english in the same time
> e.g:
> May be some Arab librarian prefer to use koha English interface for
> the staff client  , and in the case that  we've used the translated
> sql files (that your company provided it to us) for the marc21 the
> Arab librarian who want to use the English interface will have a
> problem because all the staff client will be in english except for the
> marc records
>
> and if we use the English version of the marc21 sql files the problem
> will be that the Arab librarian who will use the Arabic interface will
> see the marc fields in english
>
> so if we want to use arabic interface we have to use arabic sql files for
> marc
>
> is it possible to make something like armarc as we have normarc in the
> SQL structure ?!
>
> it's not a standard we don't really have 'armarc' and it is not a
> solution so the library chose its Marc flavor and all the librarian in
> that library will be forced to use this armarc , but will help to make
> the installation of the translated Arabic marc more easier
>
> and for the preferences description is included in the po files but
> the preferences still in English (the main term )
>
> maybe the best solution is to make all the strings in koha included in
> the po files I don't have deep technical background but this will be
> more flexible for koha users all over the world for other languages
> not only for the Arabic language
>
>
> wish you will be able to do that for all the koha community :)
>
>
>
>  thanks a lot for you Mr Massoud
>
> and thanks you all in Koha community for helping us :D
>
>
> Karam Qubsi
> Koha Arab Translating Team
> http://koha.wikibrary.org/
> Wikibrary for Arab Librarians
> http://wikibrary.org
>
>
> > Date: Wed, 16 May 2012 09:00:57 +0300
> > From: Massoud Alshareef <massoud at kwareict.com>
> > Subject: [Koha-translate] Multi-Lingual SQL & User Defined Parameters
> > To: koha-devel at lists.katipo.co.nz, koha at lists.katipo.co.nz,
> >        koha-translate at lists.koha-community.org
> > Message-ID:
> >        <CAMp2hxbU3fzajsQjgd-hou-RiPLmJ7y8Wf3XU=k2=
> 5W15pPzmQ at mail.gmail.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> >
> > Hello,
> >
> > I have asked a question about two years ago about when we can have Koha
> > support of Multi-Lingual SQL files (used for marc21/Auth fields
> description
> > in the Staff client) and Multi-Lingual users defined parameters (used for
> > describing items/ libraries & groups/ locations/ patrons categories/
> etc),
> > and the answer from Koha development then was that it is
> > under consideration but not in the development pipelines yet, as it will
> > require some re-structuring in Koha system databases and controls. That
> > means, Koha will remain a single language in these areas.
> >
> > With Koha 3.6 release, I noticed the inclusion of "Spanish translation
> for
> > SQL files" in the INTERNATIONALIZATION enhancement section. Does this
> mean
> > that Spanish Koha, or any non-English Koha, now has both Spanish and
> > English SQL files, where Koha users can switch between more than one
> > language when, for instance, editing marc records in the staff client ?
> >
> > Koha Preferences description used to be in SQL files, which means a
> single
> > language prefers, and then moved into PO files format with 3.2 release (I
> > think) and thus Preferences became multi-lingual since then.
> >
> > Thank you Koha development for elaborating on the issue of having a fully
> > bilingual Koha.
> >
> > BTW, Arabic Koha 3.8 is now on the fast-lanes translation speed to be
> > completed within 3-4 weeks.
> > See Arabic Koha 3.8 OPAC demo site on
> > http://176.34.184.60/cgi-bin/koha/opac-search.pl?q=%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%85
> >
> > Thanks
> > Massoud M. AlShareef,
> >
> > The world of achievement has always belonged to the optimist!
> >
> > KnowledgeWare Technologies
> > (P.O. Box 230-312)
> > Riyadh 11321, Saudi Arabia
> > Cel: +966 505 307 267
> > massoud at kwareict.com
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