Getting Started at a Contributor Day

This guide is intended to help you get started contributing to 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/. at a Contributor DayContributor Day Contributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/contributor-day/ https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/.. Below is an outline of what the Polyglots team does and how to quickly get started translating WordPress and related projects. If you need any help, talk to your contributor day organizer, or ask in the #polyglots channel on 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/..

Intro to Polyglots

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Team Responsibilities

The Polyglots team is large and has a few major responsibilities:

  • Translating WordPress coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress., plugins, themes, and 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. projects (translations used at various 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/ websites) into many languages (see the projects to translate page)
  • Translating support documentation
  • Helping translators get started and train their own contributors

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Common Tasks

As a member of the polyglots team, some common tasks that you’ll carry out are:

  • Translating WordPress stringsString A string is a translatable part of the software. A translation consists of a multitude of localized strings. into your language
  • Taking part in and representing the local community at meetups and WordCamps
  • Mentoring new 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
  • Creating translation documentation
  • Creating/updating a glossary/style guide for a specific language to ensure translation consistency
  • The 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/ Managers and General Translation Editors: Update the WordPress blog in the local language with relevant posts

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Prior Knowledge

To be involved with the polyglots teams, you might need the following knowledge:

  • Understanding of WordPress
  • A good grasp of the English language
  • A good grasp of the language you want to translate WordPress into

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Polyglots Tools

  • translate.wordpress.org (our translation platform)
  • Local sites (called “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. e.g. pt.wordpress.org for Portuguese). See Teams list for a list of the currently defined language versions

See the Tools page and its subpages for other useful options.

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First Steps

If your language is already being worked on, the easiest way to get involved is by translating strings. To do this, follow the steps described in the How to translate page.

Once you make translation suggestions, you are part of the translation team as a contributor! Over time, you can get more involved as a 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 for the pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party/theme you just translated, or take up even broader responsibilities if you wish.

If your language has not yet been created, follow the steps on the Requesting a New Locale page to get things started (keep in mind that it can be a long process for the mentor team to set up a new language in the system).

The fastest way to get help on translating WordPress is to join the #polyglots channel on Slack. Log into your WordPress.org profile, then go to http://chat.wordpress.org for instructions on how to log into Slack.

WordPress Contributor Day: Polyglots Team flyer has all the essential information for mentors & contributors.

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Essential Resources

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