Translating WordPress

Why translate WordPress?

WordPress is a free software project. Anyone can get involved to help it develop and grow. Every free software project needs volunteers — people who are willing to contribute their time to develop both the software and the project. Volunteers write code, design graphics, write documentation, provide support, and translate the software. That’s where you come in.

There are numerous ways your community could benefit from your translation. The most obvious way is that a translation enables people who don’t speak English at all to use WordPress. Others speak English but prefer to use the software in their own language.

Every translation of WordPress has the following:

  • A local homepage (we call it a “Rosetta” site), which consists of
    • a landing page
    • a blog
    • download section, where people can download all the releases of your translation;
  • An automatic update feature for all WordPress sites in your language. This means that every time a new version of your translation is released, its users are offered an upgrade in their dashboards.

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What do I need to know?

To contribute to a current translation or to start a new translation, you need a few skills:

  • You need to be bilingual – fluent in both written English and the language(s) you will be translating into. Casual knowledge of either one will make translating difficult for you, and may result in a confusing localizationLocalization Localization (sometimes shortened to "l10n") is the process of adapting a product or service to a particular language, culture, and desired local "look-and-feel.".
  • It will help if you are familiar with PHPPHP PHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. http://php.net/manual/en/intro-whatis.php., because occasionally you will need to read through the WordPress code to figure out the best way to translate messages in context.
  • You should be familiar with language constructs: nouns, verbs, articles, etc., different types of each, and be able to identify variations of their contexts in English.
  • The first time you start translating, you will only be suggesting stringsString A string is a translatable part of the software. A translation consists of a multitude of localized strings.. They will need to be approved by a General Translation Editor to get to the project. You can also get in touch with your current General 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 ask to become a part of the 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. team.

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Getting Started

  • If you are a new translator, read the How to translate page
  • If you are a new General translation editor or 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., please start from the General Expectations page
  • If you would like to get in touch with your current translation team, check out the Teams page.

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