KDE nìNa'vi (a small part, at least...)

[Wllìm]

Well, quite some months ago, in January or so, I had the crazy idea that it would be nice if my computer would have its interface in Na'vi I use KDE, so I tried to figure out how language support works there. After a lot of messing around with system files, and a lot of translating, I now have Dolphin, KDE's file manager, almost ready. (I also have a small start for Kate, KMail and Lokalize, but that is not that much yet.)

Obviously, there are probably a lot of errors in it, and I needed to be very, ìììì... "creative" on how to say a lot of computer terms. I tried not to loan words from English, but instead use an existing Na'vi word that seemed a bit related to the "computer meaning", for example tseng = "folder", rìk = "tab", ropx = "window". Of course, none of this should be taken seriously in any way

Spoiler: Screenshot

(Those English things unter "Ayeltutsyìp" are partition names; I can't change them to Na'vi... Furthermore, there are some small things still untranslated, because I can't find them in the translation files, or I can't think of a Na'vi word to describe it.)

If you use KDE as well, you can try it. (Sorry, this won't work in other desktops like GNOME, or Windows )
Download the current version

See the spoiler below for instructions on how to install and enable this.

Spoiler: Installation instructions

• Getting the files
  Download the archive using the link above and unpack it somewhere.
  
  
• Installing the translation
  Copy the folder x-navi to /usr/share/locale, so you get the folder /usr/share/locale/x-navi, that contains three subfolders LC_MESSAGES, LC_SCRIPTS and LC_TIME, and a file entry.desktop.
  
  
• Teaching KDE about the translation (optional)
  (If you don't do this, this is not a disaster, but the name "Na'vi" will not appear in the System Settings. Instead, an "empty" choice will be there, which also works.)
  First of all, a small warning: you need to change a system file doing this. Make sure you make a backup of the old file, so you can put it back if it goes wrong in some way. If you are not comfortable doing this, please don't; I will try to figure out an easier way in the future
  Open /usr/share/locale/all_languages, and append the following to the end of this file:
  [x-navi]
  Name=Na'vi
  Name[en_GB]=Na'vi
  Name[x-navi]=Lì'fya leNa'vi
  
  
• The MIME database (optional)
  (If you don't do this, the file types in Dolphin will not be shown in Na'vi.)
  Again, you need to overwrite a system file doing this. Again, make sure you make a backup
  Overwrite /usr/share/mime/packages/freedesktop.org.xml by the file freedesktop.org.xml from the archive downloaded in the first step. Then run (as root) the following command: update-mime-database /usr/share/mime.
  
  
• Enabling the new translation
  Go to System Settings, choose Locale and go to the Languages tab. Now, put Na'vi as the first item in the right column. (Below it, you can put your preferred fallback language, for example English.) Then press Apply, and as the dialog indicates, logout and login again. Now Dolphin should be in Na'vi
  
  

Spoiler: Removal instructions

If you want to remove this again, just follow the installation steps in reverse order. That is: first pick another system language in the System Settings, put back your backup of the MIME database (if you did that) and run update-mime-database /usr/share/mime again, remove the added lines in the all_languages file (if you did that), and finally remove /usr/share/locale/x-navi.

[Tìtstewan]

Txantsan! Unfortunately, I don't use Ubuntu...

For the Hard Drive, I used somewhere:
säomumä henayu
information carrier

I should take a look how this would be possible for windows.

HRH! I see the jquery-animate file from the /Spam section. xD

[Wllìm]

Txantsan! Unfortunately, I don't use Ubuntu...

For the Hard Drive, I used somewhere:
säomumä henayu
information carrier

That's a great one, irayo! Hmm, perhaps I should make a list of words / phrases that I can't find a translation for...

I should take a look how this would be possible for windows.

I think that is not possible for Windows, since it is not open-source (without hacking at least )

HRH! I see the jquery-animate file from the /Spam section. xD

I downloaded it to see what the problem was.

[Blue Elf]

Na'vify software is hard, as Na'vi do not have technical terms (except a few ones), but put here what you can't translate, maybe we find some solution.
As for Windows, IMHO you can't create your own localization - either localized version in desired language exists and then you can get it or doesn't exist. But if some option to do this exists, I'd like to try it - at least to piss mu boss off (once I wrote some comments in source code in Na'vi and was cursed for that few times. To have Na'vi desktop would be fantastic!)

[Kame Ayyo’koti]

That's awesome! While KDE isn't my native desktop, I might consider putting it in a VM just to play around with it.

I like the idea of translating interfaces into Na’vi, although the most I've ever thought of translating is individual programs and Minecraft HRH.

I read an article a while back about learning language, in which the writer had modded The Sims (the original game) to show German along with the English translation. He explained that by doing this, players could play the game in German and would be motivated to learn words in order to play the game, but could look to the English for help when they needed it.

Imagine if we could translate games like The Sims into Na’vi.

[Tìtstewan]

As for Windows, IMHO you can't create your own localization

I searched a bit, and it is possible, but it need so much work, you wouldn't do that...

[Wllìm]

Na'vify software is hard, as Na'vi do not have technical terms (except a few ones), but put here what you can't translate, maybe we find some solution.

I'm not sure about how to translate the following in Na'vi in an understandable way. The "Current Na'vi" column lists what is currently in the translation, but I'm not really happy with them

Term	Current Na'vi
album (containing music)	tìrolpongu	(not clear in my opinion, perhaps something with puk instead?)
cut / copy / paste	- / - / yem	(don't know which metaphor to use here)
file	pamrel	(seems clear to me, but I run into trouble translating "text file" )
line (of text)	yeyfya	(actually means "straight line" instead of a line of text)
mount / unmount (a device)	- / -
mouse (pointing device, not the animal)	-
owner (of a file)	-	(perhaps eyktan?)
pixel	hapxìtsyìp relä
tab	rìk	(not clear at all)
tag (a label you can assign to a file)	sna'o	(not clear, since sna'o means "group" in general)
version (of a program)	-
window	ropx	(not clear)

There are many more difficult-to-translate terms, but I think these are currently the most important ones Any suggestions are appreciated!

[...] once I wrote some comments in source code in Na'vi and was cursed for that few times [...]

HRH!

That's awesome! While KDE isn't my native desktop, I might consider putting it in a VM just to play around with it.

Irayo nìtxan! I think it should be possible to automatically make a translation that has texts like Pamrel (File), so with the English translation included, but I guess that would make the texts quite long in total

[Tìtstewan]

My attempt:

1   pamtseo tsengä

2   mun'i / [1] /  sung

3   'u

4   yeyfya aylì'uä

5   [2]

6   swirä lefngap?

7   [3]

8   hapxìtsyìp 'opinä

9   [4]

10 fne'u?

11 holpxay fì'uä?

12 [5]

[1] in Na'vi, there is missing the concept of "copy". Maybe nìyll could solve this
[2] still thinking...
[3] the same problem like [1]
[4] hmm, in German, we say "Reiter" (maktoyu) but the meaning is completely different.
[5] ropx -> tsongropx (it's totally weird)

[Blue Elf]

As for Windows, IMHO you can't create your own localization

I searched a bit, and it is possible, but it need so much work, you wouldn't do that...

Can you post link? Just to see how hard it is. IMO we need just some resource DLLs, but probably there's many of them.

[Tìtstewan]

I haven't a link, nìkeftxo. But I read that one could extract a language packet and modify the files. I haven't a tool how to extract them (those .mui and .bin files). Also, some stuff go kinda deep in windows.

[Blue Elf]

I remember there was attempt to localize some text editor into Na'vi. Unfortunately I don't remember where, try to search here or in project's subforum. Maybe you find something usable.

1/ musical album = sästarsìm sìrolä (see this post) - collection of songs
2/ cut / copy / paste = mun'i / ? / yem. To say "copy", we could use ngop tenga 'ut - create the same thing, but it is long, it's hard to find single word
3/ file: pamrel is text, so it could be used for text files, but in general, I'd try säomum - piece of information (also not exact, but more generic)
4/ line - maybe pamrelä hapxì, or pamreltsyìp ?
5/ mount / unmount (a device) - could it be changed to connect/disconnect? Then we can try tare, ngop sätaret / ska'a sätaret
6/ mouse - sä'o avusll (pointing tool)
7/ owner - as owner is usually that one who created the file, we can try ngopyu (author, creator)
8/ pixel - hapxìtsyìp relä looks well
9/ tab - what you means here? Tab in tabbed dialog? I can think of anything now.
10/ tag - tìsla'tsu, tìoeyktìng, pätsì ?
11/ version - no idea... maybe *tìlonu (release as a noun)
12/ window - I used tsongropx in my story, it's generic hole going through the object, but windows on the screen is something different. Maybe txayotsyìp?

[Tìtstewan]

As for "pixel", technically a pixel is not a small part of a image. A pixel is a goup of three colours: red, green and blue.
So, I think this could work: pxeopintsyìp - three mini colour

For "version", this could work too: fneholpxay säomumä - type of number of the information

I wouldn't use pamrelä hapxì, or pamreltsyìp because this would mean a small part of a bigger text. I thought this: yeya aylì'uä - straight words?

[Kemaweyan]

Hrh Eltur tìtxen si Hufwa ke sar oel KDE-ti, sunu oer fìsäfpìl

[Wllìm]

Irayo nìtxan, ma Tìtstewan sì Blue Elf! Karma mengaru! Those translations are really useful!

Spoiler: My thoughts...

1: I didn't see that Na'viteri post yet... Then sästarsìm sìrolä seems nice
2: I indeed also searched for things like "copy", "duplicate", "imitate", and so on, but it seems that there is no word yet for that... I don't see how to use nìyll here...
3: I used säomum already for information about a file, so that would be confusing perhaps. Hmm, maybe I should just change that to teri säomum (about the file), and use säomum for file...
4: I agree with Tìtstewan; to me pamrelä hapxì sounds more like a paragraph or so. Yeya aylì'u seems clear to me
5: Nice, tare seems a good fit indeed
6: Perhaps mix the two translations? swirä avusll - "pointing creature"
7: As far as I know KDE does not display the creator, so ngopyu should be fine indeed.
8: Since pxeopintsyìp is one word, I prefer that one personally
9: Indeed I meant a tab in a tabbed pane. (So in German it is maktoyu and in Dutch it is rìk... interesting )
10: Oh, I like pätsì here. It is a loan, but it is an "official" one
11: This is a difficult one... I was originally thinking along the lines of holpxay as well, but I couldn't figure out how to use this word for indicating a version... fneholpxay might work indeed. Tìlonu works as well I think, but it is a non-official word Perhaps tìlonu a°4ve for "version 4"... It actually sounds quite nice
12: My thoughts were like this: "window" > "hole in a wall" > "hole" > ropx But another metaphor like txayotsyìp is better.

By the way: I have just found out that KDE's translations are scriptable. This means that in a translated text, you can call an arbitrary JavaScript function, that can do almost everything you want. Wou!
I have made a function to convert numbers to octal, so now in Dolphin every integer is shown as an octal number I'm also working on a function that applies a case on a word, such that a text like Latem <program name>... figures out whether to add -ti or -it to the program name automatically

[Tìtstewan]

I thougt also about lonu, but I tryed not to use loanwords... *tìlonu works
But I got an idea for the version: tìtxula a4ve - 4th construction (build XY)

As for 2nd with "copy", I somehow can't think how the Na'vi could imagine that action? What they could copy?
The closest word is rì'ìr si - reflect, imitate

Ma Wllìm, you won't use maktoyu there, it's too weird!

Windows -> it is not a hole in the monitor?

[Wllìm]

I thougt also about lonu, but I tryed not to use loanwords... *tìlonu works
But I got an idea for the version: tìtxula a4ve - 4th construction (build XY)

Oh, that is a nice one indeed, I think!

As for 2nd with "copy", I somehow can't think how the Na'vi could imagine that action? What they could copy?
The closest word is rì'ìr si - reflect, imitate

I was thinking of something like:

Ngeyä waytelem lu lor nìtxan nang! Srake oe tsun c<iv>opy tsat?
Your songcord is really beautiful! Can I make a copy of it?

But actually, I don't know how I missed rì'ìr! That is what I was looking for. I think that ngop rì'ìrit would work... Or just rì'ìr si?

Ma Wllìm, you won't use maktoyu there, it's too weird!

Of course not, HRH But rìk is almost as weird

Windows -> it is not a hole in the monitor?

I have never understood why they are called "windows" in English, actually. "Panels" or something like that would be much more logical in my opinion

[Tìtstewan]

As for 2nd with "copy", I somehow can't think how the Na'vi could imagine that action? What they could copy? The closest word is rì'ìr si - reflect, imitate I was thinking of something like: Ngeyä waytelem lu lor nìtxan nang! Srake oe tsun c<iv>opy tsat? Your songcord is really beautiful! Can I make a copy of it? But actually, I don't know how I missed rì'ìr! That is what I was looking for. I think that ngop rì'ìrit would work... Or just rì'ìr si?

The problem with "copy" is, that the Na'vi have no concept regarding physical copy. In your example, they wouldn't say "can I copy it", rather they would say something like: can you teach me that song" or could you share that song with us"

Ngeyä waytelem lu lor sì txantsan! Nga tsun pxìmivun'i tsat nìyll, srak?
Your cordsong is nice and great! Could you share it?

nì’eng for sharing in general (equally, on the same level)
nìyll for sharing with the clan (communally, in a communal manner, (share) with the clan)

These words works in a sentence. And not to mention that here one means "teach me/us this song".
Ngop rì'ìrit works, imo.

Ma Wllìm, you won't use maktoyu there, it's too weird! Of course not, HRH But rìk is almost as weird

As weird as rìk? I would use rìk.

Windows -> it is not a hole in the monitor? I have never understood why they are called "windows" in English, actually. "Panels" or something like that would be much more logical in my opinion

You would not call a programm's windows as "panel". And how we translate "panel" in Na'vi?

[Wllìm]

Ngop rì'ìrit works, imo.

So, the Na'vi do not have the concept of copying things, since they share them... Very interesting!
I'll use ngop rì'ìrit then

As weird as rìk? I would use rìk.

I'll leave rìk in, at least until someone comes up with a better word. One can actually see tabs as leaves stacked on top of each other, so it is kind of fitting

You would not call a programm's windows as "panel". And how we translate "panel" in Na'vi?

Dolphin also has panels; at the moment I translated it as hapxì ropxä (part of the window). That of course needs to change if the translation for "window" changes

[Tirea Aean]

There already exists the official loan Fayl for file. (it dates back to an email to/from Paul about an Excel File.)

[Tìtstewan]

There already exists the official loan Fayl for file. (it dates back to an email to/from Paul about an Excel File.)

And why this word is not in the dictionary?