Improved translations are… well, hopefully… along the lines of fixed grammar/spelling, removal of awkward or outmoded language, more accurate translations, and so on. I really have to take people’s word for it, since I don’t know all of the languages myself 😉 “Better” is subjective – some want a translation that matches a certain dub verbatim, while I prefer one that matches the English dialogue, faithfully translated. But other improvements may be presentation (appearance, timing), or other things – those are usually done by me.

My release philosophy is based on this: Of all the possible improvements I mentioned, it’s possible that no matter how long I wait, none of them will happen. Even the most committed volunteers can simply have lives that are too busy for translation work, and I don’t begrudge them for it. But I also have several real and significant improvements already done and ready to release. So the longer I wait for one set of improvements, the fewer people may have access to another set of improvements. For example, the Traditional Mandarin subtitles could use some work, and people who want them may benefit from a longer wait. But there are no Bengali subtitles in the current version at all, so people who want them would certainly benefit from a shorter wait.

All of this points to a release early, release often approach, which would be great if I had the time and a less terrible Internet connection to manage it… but I don’t. Instead, the question that usually drives a release is “Will I regret releasing it as-is, and just release a newer version only a few months later?” If the answer to that question leans closer to yes, I’ll hold off. And right now, that’s where we are.

Project Threepio 11.0 will have several all-new languages, as well as many other improvements. It will definitely be a major and worthwhile release. But I really don’t want to do it twice in a row.