First Steps

Before you get started

As you can imagine, coordinating translations for a project as large as WordPress can be complicated! Volunteers and community leaders have put a lot of time and energy into creating documentation to help you get started as quickly and efficiently as possible.

In order to take advantage of those resources, it is recommended that you:

  • Check your 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/’s website for any documentation about how to translate and where to communicate with other translation contributors.
  • Actively communicate with the other people in the team for your locale. This way, your translation efforts will be more efficient and have better total quality.
  • Review your locale’s Style Guide or Glossary to make sure your translations help to maintain consistency across the locale.
  • When translating, keep the general expectations on translations in mind.

If you are new to the Polyglots community, introduce yourself – either in your local Slack or in the global #polyglots channel on the WordPress.org Slack. It is a good way to connect with other translators and to get initial feedback or advice on what to do next.

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Contributing your first translations

You can start suggesting translations by following these simple steps:

  1. Log in to WordPress.org or create a new account.
  2. Go to translate.wordpress.org.
  3. Find your locale and click Contribute Translation.
  4. Select the type of project (WordPress coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress., Themes, Plugins, Patterns, MetaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress., or Apps).
  5. Click the Translate Project button for one of the listed items.

    WordPress core translation project list screen
  6. Select one of the items under Set / Sub Project (Clicking on the number under Untranslated will bring you directly to the untranslated stringsString A string is a translatable part of the software. A translation consists of a multitude of localized strings.).
  7. Here, you will see a list of strings. To contribute your translation, click the Details link on the stringString A string is a translatable part of the software. A translation consists of a multitude of localized strings. to translate. You can also double-click the row to open the translation editorTranslation 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.

    Select a string to translate
  8. Enter your translation, then click Suggest new translation

    Translation suggetion screen

Great! You made your first contribution to WordPress!

Once you’ve made some suggestions, you’ll need to reach out to your team and have them reviewed. For more information, you can check this page next.

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Video

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Resources

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