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This page gives more information on my activities in localisation for the Debian GNU/Linux distribution. Please refer to the Debian main site for more information about the Debian project
I became involved in the localisation for the French language in 2002, starting to work with the French localisation team. Localisation is the action of translating software in a given language after this software has been properly internationalised, ie prepared to be used in different languages and countries.
The activities of the French localization team are well decribed in the French localisation page for Debian. The French team is probably the strongest localisation team in the Debian project, with nearly all of the Debian web site, Debian debconf translations as well as Debian specific software translated to the French language, with all these translations being actively maintained.
In 2003, the localization for the French language quickly bringed me into the Debian Installer project. Debian installer is the new installation software written for the release of Debian sarge with versatility and accessiblity in mind.
Localising the installation system of a Linux distribution is a key point to make it easy to use and improve the universality of free operating systems in the real competition with proprietary software.
I rapidly became involved in the general coordination of the internationalisation and localisation activities in the Debian Installer project. This culminated with the release of Deiban sarge on June 6th 2005, with an installation system available in 41 languages, covering abut 58% of the world population.
Obviously, I am also one of the contributors of the general activities for internationalisation in the Debian project.