Localisation

The term localisation (sometimes spelled localization and abbreviated as L10N) is used to refer to the translations of software and similar media products.

The localisation of software into Klingon has been shown as quite difficult. This is partially due to lacking vocabulary (although it has grown lately, see computer terms), but also because the amount of strings to be translated usually is very high and can change during updates. Next, the localisation of a software is much less poetic than translating a piece of literature, so the motivation of translators is very low as the work is very technical and repetitive.

Typical problems

Localizing a user interface presents special challenges. Alan Anderson explained some details about working on Joan: (1)

One of the messages in the Joan UI is required to have a date and time at the very end. The rule in Klingon is that time elements come at the beginning, so the message needed to be rephrased to use the time as its subject. Additionally, some typical scheduling words like 'until' have no direct translation in Klingon, with the idea being expressed using other grammatical means.

Such typical phrases are like {We meet at %1 o'clock} which can easily be rephrases into {%1 rep maghom}. It gets more complicated when strings are composed automatically, for instance when such a time element is not part of the string which is simply {We meet at} and is followed by the time which is part of a different element.

Projects

Sophos

This antivirus software had a complete Klingon version published in 2009.
See main page ➞ Sophos

Facebook

The translation progress of Facebook has stalled when the translators of the Facebook translation team noticed that new strings appeared faster than translation progressed, even replacing existing translations.
See main page ➞ Facebook

Google

Google is known to be used in Klingon, but it's not complete. In 2014 there was a call to re-start the translation, but not much happened.
See main page ➞ Google

Open Office

The team of OpenOffice.org contacted the KLI to localize their product, but nobody responded.
See main page ➞ OpenOffice

FosWiki

The user interface of FosWiki (on which this wiki is running) is available in Klingon and running. It can be changed in the upper right corner of the top bar or by clicking here.
See main page ➞ FosWiki