Translator’s Handbook

Welcome to the Translator Handbook!

The translators handbook will teach you everything you need to know about the Polyglots teamPolyglots Team Polyglots Team is a group of multilingual translators who work on translating plugins, themes, documentation, and front-facing marketing copy. https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/. and how we translate WordPress into different languages.

About the Team #About the Team

The polyglots team is responsible translating WordPress is in hundreds of languages. It’s a big job, which is why we need help from native speakers to make it possible.

The polyglots team consists of volunteers from around the globe who take care of translations for a specific language (see a list of translation teams). Find out how you can become a part of your local team or how you can create one and help translate WordPress into your language.

The polyglots team can be reached at the polyglots blog and on the #polyglots channel on the WordPress Slack.

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Translating WordPress #Translating WordPress

The easiest way to start translating WordPress is to go to translate.wordpress.org. Everyone can translate, as long as they are logged into their WordPress.org account.

On translate.wordpress.org, you will find a list of every language available for translating WordPress. If you speak one of the languages listed and it hasn’t been completely translated (listed at 100%), you can see the untranslated stringsString A string is a translatable part of the software. A translation consists of a multitude of localized strings. and suggest translations.

Before your translations become part of WordPress, they will need to be approved by a translation editor – a trusted member of the polyglots community who can also appoint new translation editorsTranslation Editor Translation editors can approve translations for projects. The GTE (General Translation Editor) and LM (Locale Manager) roles can add new users with the "Project Translation Editor" role that can approve translations for specific projects. There are two different Translation Editor roles: General Translation Editor and Project Translation Editor.

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Translation Tools #Translation Tools

On the official site for translating WordPress – http://translate.wordpress.org, The Polyglots team uses a WordPress plugin called GlotPress that turns WordPress into a translation management system. It allows collaborative work by translation contributors and translation editors and is the recommended tool for translating WordPress, plugins and themes.

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RosettaRosetta The code name of the theme for the local WordPress sites (eg. bg.wordpress.org is a “Rosetta” site). All locale specific WordPress sites are referred to as “Rosetta sites.” The name was inspired from the ancient Rosetta Stone, which contained more or less the same text in three different languages. Sites & Forums #Rosetta Sites & Forums

Rosetta Sites are gateways to local communities. They are the version of WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ in a specific language. They are also the place where you can download WordPress in that language, find more information on the team of translators and see examples of websites that have been built with WordPress in that language.

Local forums are the place for discussions and support in a specific language.

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What is InternationalizationInternationalization Internationalization (sometimes shortened to I18N , meaning “I - eighteen letters -N”) is the process of planning and implementing products and services so that they can easily be adapted to specific local languages and cultures, a process called localization. This is the process of making software translatable. Information about Internationalization for developers can be found in the Developer’s handbooks.? #What is Internationalization?

Internationalization and localizationLocalization Localization (sometimes shortened to "l10n") is the process of adapting a product or service to a particular language, culture, and desired local "look-and-feel." (commonly abbreviated as i18nInternationalization Internationalization (sometimes shortened to I18N , meaning “I - eighteen letters -N”) is the process of planning and implementing products and services so that they can easily be adapted to specific local languages and cultures, a process called localization. This is the process of making software translatable. Information about Internationalization for developers can be found in the Developer’s handbooks. and l10nLocalization Localization (sometimes shortened to "l10n") is the process of adapting a product or service to a particular language, culture, and desired local "look-and-feel." respectively) are terms used to describe the effort to make WordPress (and other such projects) available in languages other than English for people from different localesLocale Locale = language version, often a combination of a language code and a region code, for instance es_MX denotes Spanish as it’s used in Mexico. A list of all locales supported by WordPress in https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/, who have different dialects and local preferences.

The process of localizing software has two steps. The first step is when the developers provide a mechanism and method for the eventual translation of the program and its interface to suit local preferences and languages for users worldwide. This process is internationalization (i18n). WordPress developers have done this already, so in theory, WordPress can be used in any language.

The second step is the actual localization (l10n), the process by which the text on the page and other settings are translated and adapted to another language and culture, using the framework prescribed by the developers of the software. WordPress has already been localized into many languages (see our list of teams for more information).

This handbook explains how translators (bi- or multi-lingual WordPress users) can go about localizing WordPress to more languages.

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Terms #Terms

Throughout this handbook, we’ll use a few terms that you might want to familiarize yourself with.

• Internationalization: As mentioned above, internationalization is the method in which we make WordPress available in different languages and regions.
• Localization: Localization is the process of translating software to a different language. This term is often used interchangeably in this handbook with internationalization.
• LocaleLocale Locale = language version, often a combination of a language code and a region code, for instance es_MX denotes Spanish as it’s used in Mexico. A list of all locales supported by WordPress in https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/: A locale (as opposed to “local”) is the combination of a language and a regional dialect. Locales often refer to countries. For example, Portuguese (Portugal) and Portuguese (Brazilian). The default locale for WordPress is English (U.S.). To define a locale we either use a language code + a country code or the ISO 639-3 code of a language.
• Rosetta site: The local WordPress.org site for a specific locale. For example the Portuguese Rosetta site is pt.wordpress.org and the Bulgarian site is bg.wordpress.org.