WeblateOrg
Kurdish dialects naming and its codes
Describe the issue
Hello, I want to point out an issue with Kurdish naming and its codes. First,
Which clearly is a big issue here since there are many versions of the same dialect, Kurds a group of people who live in different countries in the region of the Middle East (Syria, Iraq, Iran, Turkey). Kurdish is a diverse language spoken by the Kurdish people, and it consists of several dialects. Below is an organized clarification regarding the writing systems and the main dialects of Kurdish:
Writing Systems:
- Latin Script:
Used primarily for Kurmanji and Zazaki. Kurmanji employs the Hawar alphabet, a Latin-based script.
- Arabic Script:
Predominantly used for Sorani, Hewrami (Gorani), and some other related dialects.
The issue is that we can't name those dialects using directions like southern, northern, etc.... but instead using its real name for example Kurdish (Kurmanji)
As shown in those images, there are many dialects that are used in different parts of Kurdistan. And it's not possible to name them based on the main Branch location.
Back to the
we see that we have many codes, why we don't eliminate all this and replace them with the dialect's names? Because Kurdish (Kurmanji) who are living in Syria Turkey and Iran can understand each others, they use same words and almost everything, it is not a good way to create many Instances such as
Ku-Iq Ku-Sy Ku-Tr.
Also, on
there is
kmr only which is somehow fine, I ask to merge all Kurdish (Northern, Kurmanji, Kurdish) Ku-Iq Ku-Sy Ku-Tr into one Name Kurdish (Kurmanji) and the code to Ku instead of kmr, the same with Kurdish (Central, Sorani) to be called Kurdish (Sorani) Ckb-Iq Ckb-Ir. Into Ckb
Lastly, I want to show one of the Projects I worked on the name is
qView the code on Weblate is KMR.
While applying the language, the name is basically just
I hope that a fast fix will take place regarding naming and codes. @rojvv please mention any details that I didn't include in this report
I already tried
- [x] I've read and searched the documentation.
- [x] I've searched for similar filed issues in this repository.
Steps to reproduce the behavior
f
Expected behavior
No response
Screenshots
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Exception traceback
How do you run Weblate?
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Weblate versions
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Weblate deploy checks
Additional context
No response
Unfortunately, we don't have an internal expertise on this topic, so we rely on our community here. The languages defined in Weblate are based on community feedback, see for example:
- https://github.com/WeblateOrg/language-data/issues/3
- https://github.com/WeblateOrg/language-data/issues/153
- https://github.com/WeblateOrg/language-data/issues/103
- https://github.com/WeblateOrg/language-data/issues/2
It's up to the application maintainers to choose which language variants are appropriate for their use-case. If it is more appropriate to use Kurdish, Weblate has the definition for it: https://hosted.weblate.org/languages/ku/#information
Unfortunately, we don't have an internal expertise on this topic, so we rely on our community here. The languages defined in Weblate are based on community feedback, see for example:
- Change from Sorani to central kurdish #3
- Kurdish RTL problem #153
- Missing languages #103
- ckb_IQ: new Kurdish Sorani locale #2
It's up to the application maintainers to choose which language variants are appropriate for their use-case. If it is more appropriate to use Kurdish, Weblate has the definition for it: https://hosted.weblate.org/languages/ku/#information
Hello, Thank you for your response and clarification. I understand that Weblate relies on community feedback for language definitions, and I appreciate the effort to accommodate different linguistic needs. However, having multiple codes for essentially the same content creates unnecessary fragmentation.
For example, Northern Kurdish (kmr) and Kurdish (ku) often lead to identical translations. Wouldn’t it be more efficient to merge them under "Kurdish (Kurmanji)" to reduce redundancy and ensure consistency across projects? A unified approach would streamline the translation process for both contributors and application maintainers while maintaining linguistic accuracy.
As a translator since 2019, I have worked on over 20 applications and personally contributed around 23,000 words to Weblate. From my experience, I’ve noticed that many translations are duplicated across these variants, which could be avoided with better consolidation.
While I understand that Sorani (Central Kurdish) may require different handling, my main concern is with Kurmanji variants. Would it be possible to revisit this structure based on community input? I’m more than happy to provide any necessary information and assist in improving the current system.
Looking forward to your thoughts!
For example, Northern Kurdish (kmr) and Kurdish (ku) often lead to identical translations. Wouldn’t it be more efficient to merge them under "Kurdish (Kurmanji)" to reduce redundancy and ensure consistency across projects?
If the languages are not identical, it makes sense to keep both of them. It might not be needed for most of the project, but still, it might be useful for some and Weblate should not be the place to make the decision, but the project itself.
You can take a look at English as another example. We have definitions for a dozen of variants of it, while most projects will stick with using just one.
If you have a suggestion to improve the current naming of the Kurdish languages what would make it easier for the users to pick the right one, that might be the way to go.
Maybe @jwtiyar as author of https://github.com/WeblateOrg/language-data/issues/3 might have a useful input to this topic as well.
Thank you @nijel to let me know. I agree with @CYAXXX but only issue is that he propose to change kmr to ku which is not possible and should not be done in any way because of this issue we are suffering till now from this conflict, Because the projects that translated into kurdish for so many years, kurdish(Sorani) speakers named their project to kurdish (ku) which is wrong and other kurdish people who speak in kurdish (kurmanji) named their project to same name kurdish (ku), And this made conflicts to anyone who speak kurdish becuase he don't know which kurdish is it until he change the language. Otherwise iam agree the dialects should be distinguished to kurdish user then he knows what kurdish language is it, So kmr for kurdish (kurmanji) and ckb kurdish(sorani), i dont know why @CYAXXX suggests ku for kurmanji if already pointed out that kurdish name make conflicts. Central kurdish and northern kurdish also is very satisfied naming for these languages.
An example english is the name of the language but we have english (us), english(uk), English (aus) and so on also for Norwegian we have nynorsk and bokmali. Kurdish is same thing.
Best Regards
