Softcatalà
Encyclopedia
Softcatalà is a non-profit association that promotes the use of the Catalan language
on computing, Internet
and new technologies. This association consists on computer specialists, philologists, students and all kind of volunteers that work on the field of translating software into Catalan, in order to preserve this language in the English-controlled software environment.
based programs (OpenOffice.org
, Firefox, etc.) into Catalan. After that, they delivered some other projects, including the following ones:
Since 1997 Softcatalà has received several awards, among them the “National Internet Award”, presented yearly by Generalitat de Catalunya
, the National Award to the Scope of Catalan Language (2005) because of the promotion of Catalan on the Internet, and several others related to the language and new technologies.
In 2001, they started collaborating with Google
, and that permitted the translation of the interface and later, the participation in the adaptation of the search engine
related to Catalan pages.
They have also worked on the popularization of GNU/Linux, translating GNOME
and some installation and configuration tools of Mandriva
and Fedora.
The web page consists of six different sections:
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
on computing, Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
and new technologies. This association consists on computer specialists, philologists, students and all kind of volunteers that work on the field of translating software into Catalan, in order to preserve this language in the English-controlled software environment.
Mission and Values
The members of Softcatalà share in their everyday work the following principles:- Transparency. Softcatalà considers transparency as indispensable for the communication fluency within different members working as volunteers.
- Openness. Softcatalà is a community opened to anyone who wants to collaborate, either from a personal, institutional or business view, providing that they accept the values and rules of cooperating.
- Meritocracy. In Softcatalà people are valued according to their effort and work.
- Independence. Socftcatalà is not under the authority of any government, institution or company and it can act in accordance to its values.
- Excellence. Softacatalà stresses the importance of the quality and correction in everything it develops.
- Unity of the Catalan language. Softcatalà uses the general standard variant of the Catalan language. It is determined by the Institut d'Estudis CatalansInstitut d'Estudis CatalansThe Institut d'Estudis Catalans , also known by the acronym IEC, is an academic institution which seeks to undertake research and study into "all elements of Catalan culture"....
(Institute of Catalan Studies), which is the highest academic, scientific and legal authority recognized by the whole Catalan Countries.
History
Softcatalà was born in 1997 as a group of volunteers with the aim of improving the presence of Catalan in new technologies. The first step was to translate the most important free and/or open-source softwareOpen-source software
Open-source software is computer software that is available in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.Open...
based programs (OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org, commonly known as OOo or OpenOffice, is an open-source application suite whose main components are for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, and databases. OpenOffice is available for a number of different computer operating systems, is distributed as free software...
, Firefox, etc.) into Catalan. After that, they delivered some other projects, including the following ones:
- 1.500 English-Catalan words glossaryGlossaryA glossary, also known as an idioticon, vocabulary, or clavis, is an alphabetical list of terms in a particular domain of knowledge with the definitions for those terms...
for software translation. - Software translation style guide
- Translation memoryTranslation memoryA translation memory, or TM, is a database that stores so-called "segments", which can be sentences or sentence-like units that have previously been translated. A translation memory system stores the words, phrases and paragraphs that have already been translated, in order to aid human translators...
with more than 40.000 entries (including translations made for Softcatalà) - Spell-checker
Since 1997 Softcatalà has received several awards, among them the “National Internet Award”, presented yearly by Generalitat de Catalunya
Generalitat de Catalunya
The Generalitat of Catalonia is the institution under which the autonomous community of Catalonia is politically organised. It consists of the Parliament, the President of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the Government of Catalonia....
, the National Award to the Scope of Catalan Language (2005) because of the promotion of Catalan on the Internet, and several others related to the language and new technologies.
Collaborations
During this last years Softcatalà has collaborated with the terminology centre TERMCAT standardizing new Catalan terms related to new technologies.In 2001, they started collaborating with Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, and that permitted the translation of the interface and later, the participation in the adaptation of the search engine
Search engine
A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called hits. Search engines help to minimize the time required to find information and the amount of information...
related to Catalan pages.
They have also worked on the popularization of GNU/Linux, translating GNOME
GNOME
GNOME is a desktop environment and graphical user interface that runs on top of a computer operating system. It is composed entirely of free and open source software...
and some installation and configuration tools of Mandriva
Mandriva
Mandriva S.A. is a publicly traded Linux and open source software company with its headquarters in Paris, France and development center in Curitiba, Brazil. Mandriva, S.A...
and Fedora.
Web-page
The main Internet site for Softcatalà is only available in Catalan. It offers all the information about the group and explains its reasons and objectives.The web page consists of six different sections:
- Pantry: Links to software resources organized in different sections (Internet, multimedia, image, language...) for Windows, LinuxLinuxLinux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
and MacMacintoshThe Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
. - Forums: Forums focused on solving doubts related to the language used by programmers.
- Spell-checker: On line spell-checker available in general Catalan and also in ValencianValencianValencian is the traditional and official name of the Catalan language in the Valencian Community. There are dialectical differences from standard Catalan, and under the Valencian Statute of Autonomy, the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua has been established as its regulator...
. It only corrects orthographic mistakes. - Translator: Ruled-based machine translator based on the technology by ApertiumApertiumApertium is a rule-based machine translation platform. It is free software and released under the terms of the GNU General Public License.-History:...
and Scale MT. It offers the chance of translating from Catalan to Spanish and vice versa. There are also new version which are being tested (French, English and Portuguese to Catalan and vice versa) . - Lists: some mail lists belonging to llistes.softcatala.org.
- Projects: Projects in which Softcatalà is involved, including OpenOffice.org, MozillaMozillaMozilla is a term used in a number of ways in relation to the Mozilla.org project and the Mozilla Foundation, their defunct commercial predecessor Netscape Communications Corporation, and their related application software....
, GNOME, UbuntuUbuntu (operating system)Ubuntu is a computer operating system based on the Debian Linux distribution and distributed as free and open source software. It is named after the Southern African philosophy of Ubuntu...
, Open Thesaurus-ca...