Përshëndetje, learning Albanian but I’ll be shy for now 
Ada & Zangemann (A&Z)
Ada & Zangemann - A Tale of Software, Skateboards, and Raspberry Ice Cream is a beautiful book written by Matthias Kirschner and illustrated by Sandra Brandstätter. It’s a tale for children (and adults) about empowerment through Free and Open Source Software. It’s placed under a Creative Commons license, which allows to reuse and remix it.
Original Translation
The book, originally in German, was translated into French by students of different levels across several schools in France, coordinated by the German language teachers’ association in France. I proposed the idea of doing the same in Albania, to translate the book from the French language to the Albanian language. Although it is a bridge translation (using an intermediate translation), the idea makes sense to make the book accessible in Albania, and reproducing the method employed in France, which ultimately allows students to discover the values of FOSS and how it can be empowering. The French embassy was seduced by the idea, proposed it to different franco-albanian sections (Tirana, Durrës, Elbasan and Shkodra), who accepted and are enthusiastic about the project.
What’s the current status ?
Translations are about to begin. A system of pads was created to help with the translation, with the text distributed between the different schools. The translating process should last until the end of May. An editor at the French Embassy will helpfully proofread the final version.
Activities
This is the opportunity to do some nice activities. Here are some ideas:
- A presentation about FOSS (adapted for a young audience) at the school in Tirana (I’m happy to go to the other schools to reproduce the same workshop)
- Wikipedia contribution workshop at KubFranceTirana : contributing to an article either about a French personality in Albania, for example, or about a woman from the world of computing with little or no page in Albanian (e.g. Alice Recoque, a French pioneer who has no page in Albanian; or Margaret Hamilton, for example).
- In Italy, NOI introduced children to Scratch (link). Maybe that can be done here too ? I heard about Microblocks as well.
What happens when the Albanian text is ready?
The book
- The text will be formatted according to FSFE’s processes. I will cover that with FSFE.
- The text will be uploaded to the multilingual online version of the book.
- Finding a publisher : propose to the French publisher who did bilingual versions, or find a publisher that understands CC licensing in Albania.
- Funding : I’ll go and talk with the programming school 42 that is opening up here in september 2025 for funding : normally, they should be very interested, since it’s 1) a French programming school 2) opening in Albania 3) the book is an Albanian translation of the French version, and the story applies very well. So the idea would be for them to order X amount of copies. Other tech companies in Albania could be solicited as well. Crowdfunding is also possible.
Audiobook
- Recording of the audio book, possibly by students from the faculty of foreign languages in Tirana, an Albanian actor or actress, students from the schools, or members of LLcc.
- The EduLab Podcast Center opened within the Albanian Ministry of Education and Youth with the support of the British Council. Maybe recording can also take place at KubFranceTirana, which would be a great activity. Other options are open.
- It would be best to talk with Gabriele Ponzo who did the Italian audio book with different actors.
Movie
- The voiceover of the movie can’t really be the same as the audiobook because movie needs the audio to be in sync. As Matthias says, ‘It might require you for some languages to make minimal changes to the text (e.g. we shortened some “Toni, Marie, and Konrad” into “her friends”. If you want to have both with minimal work it might be better to do the voiceover and use this as audiobook as well. If people want to have fun, it is good to have two independent versions.’
- There is the possibility of having a studio in Berlin studio (For ~3600€) to organise a professional speaker for the language, do the recording in a studio, and then do make the whole movie for us in that language. This is expensive and we’ll probably do it ourselves.