I know I said I would be less active, but this is really important. My family's original language (though I learned English first) was Malayalam. I looked in the list of languages and there was no Malayalam. I looked for letters that looked like it, but there were none! I know a few people who know it on Scratch, and it would make me feel a little more welcome on here. Even though I may not speak it and was born in the US, I think it is important to add it.

It would also be great to add it to the language block too.

bump

If we add a bunch of new language letters to the sprite library, the sprite library would become way “too big”. That could be fixed, for accented letters such as é or î, but having them be separate costumes of the existing e and I sprites. But this couldn't work with other languages with different alphabets.

My solution: make there specifically be a “Malayalam” sprite that contains every letter (or at least the most common ones) from that language. The same could be done with Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. That way, people who speak those languages (or want to use them for a project) could use letters from their language while people who speak languages with the Latin alphabet (most of Scratch) would not have to deal with a huge sprite library.

That being said, I don't know if most regular fonts even support Malayalam characters, so I wouldn't be surprised if this doesn't get added.

MythosLore wrote:

If we add a bunch of new language letters to the sprite library, the sprite library would become way “too big”. That could be fixed, for accented letters such as é or î, but having them be separate costumes of the existing e and I sprites. But this couldn't work with other languages with different alphabets.

My solution: make there specifically be a “Malayalam” sprite that contains every letter (or at least the most common ones) from that language. The same could be done with Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. That way, people who speak those languages (or want to use them for a project) could use letters from their language while people who speak languages with the Latin alphabet (most of Scratch) would not have to deal with a huge sprite library.

That being said, I don't know if most regular fonts even support Malayalam characters, so I wouldn't be surprised if this doesn't get added.

I mean to the editor in general. I don't think it would work in the sprites. It could for the editor like all the other languages there!

bump

support

BenjiWoof wrote:

I mean to the editor in general. I don't think it would work in the sprites. It could for the editor like all the other languages there!

The original unedited post mentioned an earlier topic suggesting sprites for every language so I assumed this was the same thing. Assuming you are suggesting for this to be added as a font in the vector or bitmap costume editors, then it would make a lot more sense to add since it would only require adding one new font that supports this language.

That being said, do characters from this language not work in the other fonts in the costume editor?

bump

MythosLore wrote:

BenjiWoof wrote:

I mean to the editor in general. I don't think it would work in the sprites. It could for the editor like all the other languages there!

The original unedited post mentioned an earlier topic suggesting sprites for every language so I assumed this was the same thing. Assuming you are suggesting for this to be added as a font in the vector or bitmap costume editors, then it would make a lot more sense to add since it would only require adding one new font that supports this language.

That being said, do characters from this language not work in the other fonts in the costume editor?

Malayalam is supported in the Sans Serif font in the costumes editor. I did mean the editor and only mentioned the sprites because the post made me think of the idea. Sorry for the confusion!

support! I feel like every language should be usable!

Why ST didn't you add Malayalam?!
(from the US, but i believe that everybody should use scratch to teach themselves coding, even if they don't like it, it will make them smarter)


The missing sprite has caused mayhem! Can you get the sprite?
Just an 11 year old doing normal scratcher stuff

BennettLovesOreos wrote:

support

thanks!

Thank you @dizzyboy42 and @CaptFrIEdshrimp ! It is so encouraging to have people support me and adding this language!

mtaka4 wrote:

dizzyboy42 wrote:

support! I feel like every language should be usable!

Then that's a dupe.

Nope! That topic is about adding it to the sprites. I am talking about it for the entire editor. Even though there was a message suggesting that there, it was different than what I am talking about. It is not a dupe for anyone coming here!

The problem with translations is that I don't think ST has control over that. Even if they do, there is a lot to translate.

Bitebite12 wrote:

The problem with translations is that I don't think ST has control over that. Even if they do, there is a lot to translate.

I thought they did, but yes it is very complicated. I would be more than happy to help if this gets approved (limited availability though).

Check out the Translating Scratch forum and Translating Scratch into Other Languages topic.

MythosLore wrote:

My solution: make there specifically be a “Malayalam” sprite that contains every letter (or at least the most common ones) from that language. The same could be done with Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. That way, people who speak those languages (or want to use them for a project) could use letters from their language while people who speak languages with the Latin alphabet (most of Scratch) would not have to deal with a huge sprite library.

The issue with this is, there are so many languages out there with non-Latin alphabets. It just feels a little discriminative for ST to add a select few and not all the others, and it's better for there to be none rather than for people who speak languages like, say, Urdu, to feel left out. They could, of course, add all of them or atleast add the ones that have alot of people who speak them so that it's a little more understandable why they got added and the others didn't.

starlightsparker wrote:

MythosLore wrote:

My solution: make there specifically be a “Malayalam” sprite that contains every letter (or at least the most common ones) from that language. The same could be done with Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. That way, people who speak those languages (or want to use them for a project) could use letters from their language while people who speak languages with the Latin alphabet (most of Scratch) would not have to deal with a huge sprite library.

The issue with this is, there are so many languages out there with non-Latin alphabets. It just feels a little discriminative for ST to add a select few and not all the others, and it's better for there to be none rather than for people who speak languages like, say, Urdu, to feel left out. They could, of course, add all of them or atleast add the ones that have alot of people who speak them so that it's a little more understandable why they got added and the others didn't.

While I disagree with “none is better than some”, the post you quoted is a post from when I misunderstood the suggestion and is not about the act suggestion.

TimothyLawyer wrote:

Check out the Translating Scratch forum and Translating Scratch into Other Languages topic.

Oh I didnt see those. Should have posted it there. How will I transfer it without people screaming at me saying its a dupe? I also am not over 18. Also which one?