Language Pack vs. Official Localization

After shipping Firefox in ~75 localizations on release day, someone might ask if there are any more languages we could add?  Of course there are.  In fact, the Mozilla L10n-drivers team continues to receive a lot of requests to launch official translations of Firefox as new locales.  Coordinating the release of 75 locales takes sizable human and machine time, and managing the outreach can seem like a full-time job for more than one person.

Because we field many requests by volunteers interested in becoming an official localization, we have to find what is best for us and them.  That can mean promoting smaller localizations as language packs on our addons website.   Oftentimes, we find that a language pack might be the best possible solution for a new localization.

To make that determination, the l10n-drivers will work with the volunteer to assess not only how many users there might be, but also what productization elements might be included. By productization elements, I am referring to things like

1. embedded search providers such as Wikipedia, Amazon, etc.,
2. web protocol handlers like Yahoo as a  “mailto:” option, or 30 Boxes as a  “webcal:”, and
3. “live bookmarks“, which is an RSS feed for a local news provider that will be included in the bookmark toolbar.

Among many other things to do around release time, localizers are responsible for selecting each of the above for the localized version based on what they believe is best for local users.

Now, for new localizers who request that we add a version where Firefox already has prominent usage, it is important to determine if the services they are suggesting will be measurably different from what is already included in the predominant version in the region.  For instance, I recently asked a Breton localizer if his productization pieces would be dramatically different from what our French version already provides.  If the answer is no, a language pack might be the best best to serve this niche user base.  In this scenario, users download the dominant regional version, and then install the language pack to change the strings to the niche locale.  They use the productization pieces from the dominant version since those were determined to be the same for the niche user base.  (As an added bonus, with an addon like Locale Switcher or Quick Locale Switcher, a user can switch between language packs that are installed on his or her profile.)

In closing, it’s not bad to be a language pack!  I get the sense that somehow contributors might think it is.  We don’t diminish someone’s contribution to an arbitrarily lower level if they are not an “official” localization.  But, for the resource and demand reasons mentioned above, we often like to promote language packs as a solution.