Expectations for translators and 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 were a common piece of feedback I received in the Polyglots outreach effort. Most, if not all, teams wanted to set clearer expectations for new translators; other teams struggled with translation editors who were no longer available to help grow the team.

This reminded me of my previous exercise with the Make/Training team to define a contributor ladder. While 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/. has clear roles—particularly because most roles are tied to permissions—I’m unsure of when expectations related to these roles were last discussed.

As a result of this feedback, I’d like to present my understanding of what a contributor’s progression may look like on the Polyglots team. In presenting this resource, I hope it can define current expectations for Polyglots contributors and potentially identify any gaps that may exist.

Current Polyglots Roles

When I think of the Polyglots team, this is how I see the team roles. If I align these roles with the concept of the contributor ladder, it might look like:

1. Translator (Connecting)
   1. Contributes suggested translations
   2. Communicates with local translation editors for feedback
2. Project Translation EditorProject Translation Editor A Project Translation Editor (often referred to as PTE) is a person, who has access to validate strings on a specific project (for example BuddyPress, WooCommerce or Twenty Fourteen) for one specific locale. A project translation editor can approve strings that are added by translation contributors. Per project translation, editors are appointed by a general translation editor after a request by the project author or by the contributors themselves. (Understanding/Engaging)
   1. Contributes translations 
   2. Responsible for maintaining specific translation projects in translate.wordpress.orgtranslate.wordpress.org The platform for contributing to the translation of WordPress core, themes and plugins., including translation review and feedback
3. General Translation EditorGeneral 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. (Leading)
   1. Sets priorities for their individual 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/ team
   2. Mentors and provides feedback to new translators
   3. Maintains translation consistency, quality, and related resources (Glossary, Style Guide) 
4. Locale Manager (Leading)
   1. Manages the locale’s 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. site, including adding or promoting users
   2. Often performs many of the same activities listed under General Translation Editors
5. Global Mentor (Leading)
   1. Helps set priorities for the global team
   2. Provides mentorship for any/all locale teams and translation editors
   3. Responsible for technical maintenance, e.g. new locale requests, communicating WordPress release schedule

In brainstorming the Polyglots team structure, two things stood out to me:

1. Some of the steps between roles are pretty large.
2. There’s a lot of responsibility for some roles.

With that in mind, I made a slightly revised map of the Polyglots team.

Revised Polyglots Roles

Contributors, especially translation editors, can ideally use many different skills at once to manage translations, maintain translation quality, highlight priorities, and still build the translation community. It’s a lot, especially with a small team!

Currently, the Polyglots Global Mentors have two sub-roles: a Global Mentor and a Tech Lead. Similarly, I’d like to propose distinct sub-roles for General Translation Editors: 

1. Translation Quality → Review translations and proactively provide feedback to translators.
2. Community → Recruit and mentor translators.
3. Documentation → Maintain team documentation, such as the Glossary or local Handbooks.
4. Marketing → Coordinate local marketing efforts, such as translating /news posts.

Exploring ways to highlight expectations for Project Translation Editors in each locale may also be interesting. When approving a PTEProject Translation Editor A Project Translation Editor (often referred to as PTE) is a person, who has access to validate strings on a specific project (for example BuddyPress, WooCommerce or Twenty Fourteen) for one specific locale. A project translation editor can approve strings that are added by translation contributors. Per project translation, editors are appointed by a general translation editor after a request by the project author or by the contributors themselves., would it be helpful to share if they’re also expected to review and provide feedback on suggested translations for your locale? What might those expectations look like? 

The benefits of outlining these specialties are that they highlight the many different roles translation editors play. Clearly outlining these tasks may make it easier for teams to decide if and how to divide these responsibilities. 

Feedback and improvements

While I recognize that more documentation won’t immediately help resolve the challenges that inspired this post, I believe it’s useful to agree on a definition and expectations for these roles. For the locale teams that are specifically struggling to add new GTEs when others are inactive, it’s particularly important to ensure everyone is clear on the expectations of their role. Things change, and stepping back from a position or inviting others to help is okay.

With that in mind, I would appreciate any feedback you have. In particular, I would like to know:

1. Am I missing any roles in these diagrams?
2. Does this match your experience with contributing to Polyglots?
3. Does this match your team’s structure?
4. Would you add any roles? Has your locale team added any roles?
5. What do you think of creating “sub-roles” for translation editors? 
6. How could this resource be useful to you?

I would love to use this to enhance existing documentation in the Polyglots Handbook, especially the Roles and Capabilities page. Your feedback on this post is welcome, either in the comments or in 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/. for any additional discussion. Ideally, I would like to collect as much feedback as possible within the next two weeks by Monday, May 8th, 2023.

Thank you to @casiepa and @harishanker for reviewing this post.