I celebrate the completion of the translation of ‘Producing Open Source Software’ into Galician for several reasons.

First, because the appearance of the translation is itself a manifestation of open source principles. No central plan dictated which translations would be made — rather, the translators themselves decided, answering to no authority but their own, and organizing the work as they saw fit.

Second, because the incorporation of texts from other languages is a crucial component of language health and preservation; this is as true of Galician as it is of English, Chinese, or Bengali.

And third, because the translation of a work ultimately enriches the work itself. This is especially true of a freely licensed work, because the readers of the translation may, over the long run, contribute not only commentary and interpretations but even modifications that the original author (and original readers) would never have thought of.

For all these reasons, I am grateful to the translators: Juan Álvarez, Roberto Vieito, Andrés Maneiro, Pedro González, José Puente, Pablo Sanxiao, Francisco Puga, and Nacho Varela.

— Karl Fogel