Hi,
I was thinking if it would be a good idea to make some sort of an announcement before an upcoming module release. This announcement would be some sort of a notice that targets the translation contributors and it would actually tell them that "Hey, in April 18th, a new version of the Foo module is expected, go ahead and update the translation for your language and either attach it in the project issue queue or commit it directly in the cvs (provided that you have an account).". So, as one understands, this would be some kind of a "warning" for translators to update their contributed translation for the latest version, so when the new version is released, the package would include the updated translation. Of course, there would be no obligation for either the module maintainer to keep up with his announced schedule or the contributor himself. It would be just a notice, that could be sent in the current list.
I recall that this had happened in the past for the update_status module of the 5.x branch, before the release of Drupal 6 and I think it was a nice idea, because I had the time to contribute the translation for my language, before its official release.
What do you think?