Request to Support Assamese Language in Firefox

[Ariyan_Aditya_]

Dear Mozilla Firefox Localization Team,

I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to propose the addition of Assamese one of India’s classical languages to the list of interface languages supported by Firefox. As a native speaker of Assamese, I have observed growing demand within our community for a fully localized browsing experience that reflects our linguistic heritage.

Background and Rationale

Cultural Significance: Assamese is spoken by over 15 million people in Assam and surrounding regions. Enabling an Assamese interface would demonstrate Firefox’s commitment to linguistic diversity and accessibility.
Community Support: A dedicated group of volunteers from the Assamese Wikipedia and open‑source communities stands ready to assist with translation, testing, and ongoing maintenance.
Precedent: In the past, successful campaigns including those for languages such as Bengali and Odia have been driven by passionate user bases, resulting in official support and enhanced user engagement.

Suggested Next Steps

1. Initial Feasibility Study: Assess existing Assamese translations within Mozilla’s Pontoon platform and estimate the effort required to complete any outstanding strings.
2. Volunteer Recruitment: Engage local universities and language institutes to recruit translators and QA testers.
3. Timeline and Milestones: Establish a roadmap with clear goals e.g., 80 % translation coverage within three months, beta release by month five, and general availability by year’s end.

I would be grateful if you could review this proposal and let me know how the Assamese community might best collaborate with Mozilla to bring this project to fruition. Thank you for your consideration and for Firefox’s ongoing dedication to empowering users around the globe.

Warm regards,

Ariyan Aditya Boruah

Independent Firefox User

[Jon]

Thanks for submitting an idea to the Mozilla Connect community! Your idea is now open to votes (aka kudos) and comments.

[flodolo]

Firefox desktop was available in Assamese up to Firefox 68, when it was removed for lack of community support. That's why the locale is still available in Pontoon: https://pontoon.mozilla.org/as/firefox/ 

There is no need to have formal support, you can just go and start localizing. Out of the 3 steps you mention, volunteer recruiting is the one you really need. The next step would be to get in touch with the existing locale manager (Mohsin) to coordinate. Once you start reviewing and localizing, get in touch with the localization program manager for Firefox desktop to get Nightly builds for testing.

With that said, there are requirements for a locale to get to beta and release, including having a team of localizers able to support localization over time. One non-intuitive initial step might be to localize Firefox for Android:

• It's smaller and will get you results faster. Getting Firefox desktop to release/beta will take months, if not years.
• It might be as relevant as desktop for Assamese users.
• It might help you attract contributors.