Meta:Babylon/Translations

This is a short introduction to varying ways you can help out as a translator on the Wikimedia projects.

Software
Announcements
Documentation

You can also translate content on other Wikimedia projects, such as Wikipedia, Wiktionary, and Wikisource, and other Wikimedia projects.

Before you start, please create an account if you don't have one.

Software

Introduction

It's important that the tools we use to edit – things like the edit buttons and menus on the Wikimedia projects – are translated into the language of the wiki. This makes sure everyone who reads it can edit and feels at home because it's in their language. Making sure that MediaWiki, the platform we build our wikis on, is available in as many languages as possible is a central task for Wikimedia translators.

Finding things to translate

MediaWiki translation is done at translatewiki.net. You need to create a user and do some test translations first. Then you simply pick the relevant project. The most obvious one is MediaWiki, but you can also find other Wikimedia projects there, for example Revision scoring and Wikimedia mobile apps.

Sometimes requests for translation will go out on the Wikimedia Translators mailing list, but most will simply be added to the system.

Finding help and support

There is a support forum on translatewiki.net.
There is a collection of help pages on translatewiki.net.
There is a glossary with Wikimedia terms. It is translated to a few, but not most, languages, but can explain some expressions if you're not familiar with them.
You can ask questions at the MediaWiki internationalisation mailing list.
You can ask questions at #mediawiki-i18n^connect on IRC .

Announcements

Introduction

Announcements are information that is sent out to the Wikimedia communities to make them aware of things that is happening. It can be important technical updates, requests for feedback and invitations to take part of different movement-wide decisions. These are often time-sensitive and are posted on Meta mainly so the translators will have a place to work. There's little point in translating old announcements; they have already been posted on the content wikis and possibly been translated by other editors in discussions there.

Finding things to translate

Most requests for translations of announcements will go out on the Wikimedia Translators mailing list.

Finding help and support

An announcement is usually written by a specific person. The person who asked for the announcement to be translated will usually be able to answer most questions about it.
There is a glossary with Wikimedia terms. It is translated to a few, but not most, languages, but can explain some expressions if you're not familiar with them.
You can ask questions at the Wikimedia Translators mailing list.
You can ask questions at #wikimedia-translation^connect on IRC .

Documentation

Introduction

Most documentation for the Wikimedia movement lives either on MediaWiki.org (if it explains the technology we use) or here on Meta (if it explains the movement, who we are and what we do).

Finding things to translate

You can find pages marked for translation on special pages with list of supported languages, on Meta and on MediaWiki.org. To find your language, enter the language code and press show statistics. However, be aware that many requests there are no longer as relevant as they once were. Occasionally you will stumble on a page for an event or process that took place in 2013 but where the page is now kept mainly for historical reasons. Translating this is probably not the best spent use of your time. To find untranslated things, enter the language code for your language.

You can sign up for notifications at Special:TranslatorSignup. Some requests are also sent out at the Wikimedia Translators mailing list. For most languages there's an enormous backlog and just browsing important documentation on Meta or MediaWiki.org is likely to make you stumble across things that are not translated into your language.

Finding help and support

There is a glossary with Wikimedia terms. It is translated to a few, but not most, languages, but can explain some expressions if you're not familiar with them.
Introduction to the Translate extension with examples on MediaWiki.org.
There is a talk page at Meta talk:Babylon.
You can ask questions at the Wikimedia Translators mailing list.
You can ask questions at #wikimedia-translation^connect on IRC .

Wikipedia articles and other content

If you want to translate articles or other Wikimedia content, see information about content translation on MediaWiki.org. Many language versions have their own guidelines for translations; you can find a list here. Translating articles isn't much different from other ways of creating content.

Links

Meta:Babylon is the translation hub on Meta
Special pages with list of supported languages on Meta and on MediaWiki.org can help you find others who translate to your language
Add yourself to the list of currently active tech translators.
Short introductions for translators who are new to the Wikimedia movement
Tips for translating MediaWiki software