Translation Workflow

This page attempts to define the workflow for migration to the new translation system and for using the new system.

Migration

Tasks and notes for English-speaking Editors

Urgently required - On all pages, an empty line should follow headings and sub-headings. This should be checked before the markup discussed next is added.
Smilies cause problems for translators. Please replace any with [[Image:Face-smile.png]]
Links such as [[Translation_Workflow]] also cause problems for translators. Please replace such links with the equivalent of [[Translation_Workflow|Translation Workflow]].
Any image that is referenced as [[File:somename.png]] should be changed to the more specific [[Image:somename.png]]
Check that the page has a Category statement as in

[[Category:System]]

When editing of a page is complete, one of the Administration group will add

   < languages / > 
   < translate >

to the top of the page, and < /translate > at the bottom. There should be no spaces inside the angle-brackets.

It is no longer possible for other contributors to tag a page for translation. This is because pages were being marked for translation far faster than translators could handle.

Markup should generally be excluded from tagging. This is achieved by the use of multiple tags, for example:

|<imagemap>
<translate>Image:Okular.png</translate>|48px
default <translate>[[Okular|Okular]]</translate>
desc none
</imagemap>||'''<translate>[[Okular|Okular]]</translate>'''
:<translate>KDE's universal document viewer.</translate>

Any page that is seen to be seriously and hopelessly out of date should not be marked for translation during the migration period. Those pages can be translated afresh at the later stage.
Where images are seen to be out of date, they should be amended before marking for translation.
Pages with 'Manual' in the title will be re-marked for translation when the author tells us that it has significant changes for a newer version.
Pages that are known to be 'hot topics' of the moment should be prepared first, as they are the ones most likely to be visited in the short term.
When marking a page for translation, the old-style language bar should not be included and
The Category marking should be included
When editing pages that are already marked for translation, you will see section markers similar to . Usually each paragraph is one section. You should not change the markers, unless you fully rewrite a section, in which case you should remove the old marker. When adding new sections, you don't need to add marker to it – the marker will be added automatically when your changes are approved for translation. If you want to move a section, move also the section marker with it.

Tasks and notes for Translators

You must request that your user account is added to the group of Translators. Only listed Translators, logged in, can see the prompts and create translations.
Ensure that a table of Category translated words for your language exists. You can check using the links on http://userbase.kde.org/Translation_Help_Needed
During the migration period it is expected that we will need to keep the old language-bar as well as showing the new one. This will inevitably look a little messy, so we'll keep the period as short as possible. The idea is that you, or anyone with enough understanding of the language to recognise what is being said, can access the old version and simply copy/paste the relevant sections into the new translation page.
Pages to be worked on should be prioritised.

Group 1 - pages relating to the current 'hot topics':

Akonadi

Akonadi 4.4/Troubleshooting

KAddressBook 4.4

Akonadi and AddressBook

Group 2 - pages most immediately needed by newcomers:

Welcome to KDE UserBase

Please concentrate on these pages first and let us know on #kde-www when you are satisfied with your language translation of those pages.

Some pages were translated very early on in the life-cycle of KDE 4.x and never updated. It's probably best to ignore these for the first run through, so we will not mark such pages as ready for translation.
If you are fluent in languages other than English, you can take advantage of translations in those languages (if any), by going into your preferences and adding those languages to your list under section Editing.
The final line of a page will normally be a Category statement. Please leave the word Category untranslated, and translate the category name according to the tables listed on Translation_Help_Needed
It would be helpful if, when you have translated a page, you put a 'Watch this Page' on the associated discussion page (for example, Talk:Glossary/de). If points are being made that should be included in the documentation, please draw the attention of the administration team.

Using the new Translate extension - on-line Translation

An English-speaking editor marks the page as ready for translation.
A logged-in Translator sees "Translate this page" at the top of the page.
Clicking on that link takes you to a page, Special:Translate, where you can choose whether to view every section or untranslated sections relating to the page. This is useful if you need to do it in consecutive sessions.
1. You then need to select your language from the drop-down list.
2. Clicking on the first blue link begins the translation process. If you have JavaScript enabled, you will see a dialog that allows you translate each section on at a time.
3. If JavaScript is not enabled or does not work, the first link will go to normal edit page, with some extra features like the source text to translate. You can speed the process by opening multiple pages to browser tabs.
When you have finished, or run out of time for the current session, return to the page with list of sections either by closing the translation dialog or selecting "Return to List" from translation page. You can then use the link above the section list to return to the English page. Your language code will have been added to the list of translations for the page.

Using the new Translate extension - off-line Translation

The Translate extension offers the possibility of exporting to a .po file which can be used by tools such as Lokalize. If you choose to do it this way, please be aware of the possibility of someone else working on the same page. Unless we come up with a better solution, I'd suggest that we get a template rather like the {{Being_Edited}} one. We have yet to experiment with how this can be achieved, since the page is not created until you actually start the first translation of a page.
You can download the po file by choosing "export in Gettext format" task in the page with list of translatable sections.
To import translations you need to have right XYZ, and then you can go to Speical:ImportTranslations and follow the instructions. We are still working on this part of the process.

At almost all times there will be someone on irc.freenode.net, #kde-www, who can answer questions.

It's inevitable that we will find glitches at first. The developers are working with us to fix them. Meanwhile, please watch the Discussion page attached to this page, so that you are aware of issues.

Getting a Better Understanding of the Process

For a fuller description of the process, read the description on the developers' website