Polyglots Outreach Effort: March 2023

This will be the final post in a global outreach effort to various 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/ teams. There will be a retrospective and summary shared in the next few weeks.

The goal of this effort has been to learn more about which locale teams are active or inactive, how global Polyglots can better support other locale teams, and lessons we can share globally. 

You can read more about the effort in Starting a Polyglots Outreach Effort, and you can view outreach posts from previous months in the #polyglots-outreach tag on this site.

Locale Outreach

For this month, I’d like to reach out to the following 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/:

If you received a pingPing The act of sending a very small amount of data to an end point. Ping is used in computer science to illicit a response from a target server to test it’s connection. Ping is also a term used by Slack users to @ someone or send them a direct message (DM). Users might say something along the lines of “Ping me when the meeting starts.” from this post, that is most likely because you are listed as a GTEGeneral Translation Editor A General Translation Editor (often referred to as GTE) is a person, who has global access to validate strings on all projects for a specific locale. for one of the locales above. Hello!

I would like to learn more about your locale team: how you work, your current challenges, and any ideas you have for the future. To share this information, please answer this short survey. One or all of the GTEs from your locale team are welcome to share their answers. There is no deadline, so responses after the month ends are welcome, too! 

You can also leave a comment on this post or in the polyglots channel in the Make WordPress SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. mentioning @erica to chat one-on-one.

Team Building Resources

For this month’s team building resource, I suggest revising one of our existing Polyglots Handbook pages: How to give feedback.

Since that page was written, the discussion tool in GlotPressGlotPress GlotPress is the translation management software that powers Translate.WordPress.org. More information is available at glotpress.org. was developed. In addition to feedback best practices, this means there are also new and improved ways for where to provide feedback.

With that in mind, I’ve offered a few suggestions to streamline this page and included some basic information on the discussion tool. Edits, additions, and other suggestions are all welcome in the Google doc.

I also invite everyone to share how your locale team provides feedback. It can be helpful to see similarities and differences to understand global best practices and inspire new ideas in other locale teams. 

Progress and stats

As of this post, the Polyglots outreach effort has now contacted 48 locale teams. This means that, of all locales with a previous WordPress release, only 17 haven’t been contacted. 22 GTEs have responded to these posts, and an additional four Polyglots contributors have shared feedback on their experience. (You can view all progress and stats via the Polyglots Outreach Effort Trello board.)

I’ve decided to end this effort with this post because of the response received so far. With the feedback from 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 and contributors, now is a good time to pause, recap, and present my takeaways. If anyone is interested in restarting this effort in the future, you are more than welcome! I think it is always beneficial to chat with and globally share perspectives from various teams as much as possible.

Some numbers from last month: 

How to Help

Everyone is welcome to get involved in this effort! In particular, I welcome help with:

  • Outreach to the locale teams listed above. If you know any of the GTEs or contributors, leave a comment and help reach out!
  • Sharing feedback or writing team-building resources. You’re invited to share feedback on draft resources or sign up to write one of these resources for the next monthly post.
  • Writing a post for Make/Polyglots about your locale team. Many local efforts are impactful, but may not be visible to the global Polyglots community. If your team has a unique process that works well or is focused on a special project, please share! You are welcome to simply share your post on Make/Polyglots or leave a comment for help and feedback. 
  • Sharing your thoughts to help improve this outreach effort. These could be small suggestions – like changes to these monthly posts to improve outreach – or larger suggestions, like additional resource ideas or ways to engage more locale teams.
  • Anything else! If you’re unsure how best to help, just leave a comment, and we can chat to figure something out.

#polyglots-outreach