[bd-users] The Farsi translation

[DM Smith]

Eric Mabotja wrote:
> .... I tried bible desktop
> and now I don't know what to do. I just need the scripture quotations 
> thats it. I do have a PDF that is very
> confusing. I don't understand this language, I can't type it. Is it 
> possible you can help in this regard. This
> Gospel literature we are making is not for us, its for the people of 
> Iran. We don't make any money out of
> it.
>  
> I am not rushing this, if you can't please let me know. One thing I 
> know there will be away, I can't give up
> on it, if there is no way, there is anoter way.
>  
> Please advice how you can assist. Just the scripture quotations, the 
> translation is done.
Eric,

First, please use the mailing list. The answer to your question is of 
benefit to everyone.

I am a software engineer. I only speak English. To me Farsi is just a 
bunch of squiggles on the screen. The only thing I can do is offer 
advice about BibleDesktop (BD), which I am told, works wonderfully for 
Farsi. If there are bugs in the program, please be specific and I will 
fix them.

You will need the nightly build to work in Farsi. This version is 
"unstable" and any given day, it may not work correctly. After all, I am 
making changes for the next release.

In BD, you will need to get and print the manual which you can get by 
clicking on "Help" at www.crosswire.org/bibledesktop. This will be 
critical for you to be able to use BD when you set it to display in 
Farsi. (Memorize that English is the second choice of the first drop 
down. You will need that to get back to an English interface).

In Tools >> Options >> Application, choose "Persian" from the list. 
Also, set the application font to Arial and make the font bigger. Do the 
same font change for Tools >> Options >> Bible Display. Then click on 
OK. Then quit and restart the application. The default font won't show 
Farsi correctly. (This is a bug in the font, not in BD.)

When the application is restarted, it will be entirely in Farsi. Which 
also means that everything is reversed from left to right into right to 
left. From top down things are unchanged. If you are like me, you'll 
find it won't be easy to navigate. This is the importance of the manual. 
It is complete for 1.0.7 and as far as I know, for the nightly build as 
well, with one exception, to the right of the Show Passage and Search 
text boxes the "Go" button is swapped.

Fortunately for you, lookup of a verse reference in the "Show Passage" 
text can be in "English" as well as Farsi. You may need the manual to 
locate this field on the screen. The trick is that you need to use a 
well defined set of Bible book names (see: 
http://www.crosswire.org/wiki/index.php/DevTools:OSISBookNames), using 
the osisID. These are the first column. Such as Gen, Exod, 1Tim, .... 
There is very little leeway in entering these. They are not case 
sensitive, so "Gen" and "gen" are okay. You cannot shorten them, so "ge" 
will not work. If the name has a leading number, you can put a space 
between it and the name, if you wish. But if you do, you will see the 
number jump after the name. This is not a bug, but how "bi-directional" 
text works. So, I would recommend using "1tim" and not "1 tim". If you 
enter something that does not work, make sure you are accurately using 
the osisID.

To revert to English, search for a file named desktop.properties and 
delete it. (You can use your operating systems search function to find 
it.) Or navigate to where you set the program to Persian and change it 
to English. You don't need to change the font, unless you want to.

If you are unable to use BD in this fashion, you will need someone who 
speaks Farsi to sit beside you and help you with BD.

I hope this helps.

In Him,
    DM Smith