Languages: the rest of the world, and the process that makes it possible #72

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opened 2026-09-06 20:18:32 +00:00 by tiagoagueda · 1 comment

tiagoagueda commented

2026-09-06 20:18:32 +00:00

Owner

Decision

milestone for 0.5.0 - all worldwide languages

Shape

Whatever is left once Europe, Africa, Asia and South America are carried: the rest of the
European continent if it has not been pulled forward (see the open question on the African
languages issue), North American and Caribbean languages beyond English, Spanish and French
— Haitian Creole, Navajo, Inuktitut, Greenlandic — and the languages of Oceania: Māori,
Samoan, Tongan, Fijian, Tok Pisin, Hawaiian.

This is where "every language" stops being a list and starts being a process. The point
of the milestone is not to enumerate the tail; it is to make adding a language something a
speaker can do without waiting for a release:

A translator does not need a developer. A catalogue arrives as a pull request, or
through whatever translation platform #43's second open question settles on, and the
language picker offers it as soon as it is merged.
The picker has to survive the size. A hundred languages is not a <select> somebody
scrolls; it needs searching, and it has to show completion honestly so nobody is
surprised by English in the gaps.
Partial catalogues are normal, not a failure state. Most languages here will never be
complete, and the interface should say so plainly rather than pretending.
Plugins carry their own catalogues, which is already the rule, and this is the
milestone where it stops being theoretical.

Classification

Enhancement. Not breaking.

Depends on

The earlier phases, and mostly the tooling they will have forced into existence.

## Decision > milestone for 0.5.0 - all worldwide languages ## Shape Whatever is left once Europe, Africa, Asia and South America are carried: the rest of the European continent if it has not been pulled forward (see the open question on the African languages issue), North American and Caribbean languages beyond English, Spanish and French — Haitian Creole, Navajo, Inuktitut, Greenlandic — and the languages of Oceania: Māori, Samoan, Tongan, Fijian, Tok Pisin, Hawaiian. **This is where "every language" stops being a list and starts being a process.** The point of the milestone is not to enumerate the tail; it is to make adding a language something a speaker can do without waiting for a release: 1. **A translator does not need a developer.** A catalogue arrives as a pull request, or through whatever translation platform #43's second open question settles on, and the language picker offers it as soon as it is merged. 2. **The picker has to survive the size.** A hundred languages is not a `<select>` somebody scrolls; it needs searching, and it has to show completion honestly so nobody is surprised by English in the gaps. 3. **Partial catalogues are normal, not a failure state.** Most languages here will never be complete, and the interface should say so plainly rather than pretending. 4. **Plugins carry their own catalogues**, which is already the rule, and this is the milestone where it stops being theoretical. ## Classification Enhancement. Not breaking. ## Depends on The earlier phases, and mostly the tooling they will have forced into existence.

tiagoagueda added this to the 0.5.0 milestone

2026-09-06 20:18:32 +00:00

tiagoagueda added the

enhancement

internationalisation

tier/4

labels

2026-09-06 20:18:32 +00:00

tiagoagueda added a new dependency

2026-09-06 20:18:33 +00:00

#71 Languages: Asia and South America

tiagoagueda referenced this issue

2026-09-09 10:41:56 +00:00

Where the list of areas of activity comes from #140

tiagoagueda referenced this issue from a commit

2026-09-16 14:54:51 +00:00

Stop the interface deciding in English what it says in every language

tiagoagueda referenced this issue

2026-09-17 19:30:34 +00:00

Occupations and skills should be ESCO, for the reason industries are NACE #266

tiagoagueda referenced this issue

2026-09-17 19:43:28 +00:00

Choose the next language by how many people speak it, not by which continent it is on #269

tiagoagueda commented

2026-09-17 19:44:15 +00:00

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Owner

Re-scoped by #269 and moved to 0.6.0.

Under speaker ordering the enumerated tail here — Oceania, the Caribbean, the North American
languages — stops being the point of this issue. Those languages are not next because of
where they are; they are late because of how many people they reach, and #269 says so
directly.

The second half is what survives, and it is the better half:

This is where "every language" stops being a list and starts being a process. The point
of the milestone is not to enumerate the tail; it is to make adding a language something a
speaker can do without waiting for a release.

Read this issue as the process issue it already half is. Weblate is running and holds the 21
components, so most of what that half asks for has somewhere to live.

Re-scoped by #269 and **moved to 0.6.0**. Under speaker ordering the enumerated tail here — Oceania, the Caribbean, the North American languages — stops being the point of this issue. Those languages are not next because of where they are; they are late because of how many people they reach, and #269 says so directly. The second half is what survives, and it is the better half: > **This is where "every language" stops being a list and starts being a process.** The point > of the milestone is not to enumerate the tail; it is to make adding a language something a > speaker can do without waiting for a release. Read this issue as the process issue it already half is. Weblate is running and holds the 21 components, so most of what that half asks for has somewhere to live.

tiagoagueda modified the milestone from 0.5.0 to 0.6.0

2026-09-17 19:44:15 +00:00