~ubuntu-manual/ubuntu-translations-quickstart/booklet : revision 1

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<title>Translations Quickstart Guide</title>

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<firstname>David</firstname>

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<surname>Planella</surname>

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</affiliation>

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</author>

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</articleinfo>

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<para>Ubuntu is translated by a large community of volunteers that every day

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contribute to make the Operating System more accessible to millions of users

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in their own language.</para>

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<para>Ubuntu is Free Software, which means that you can also participate. Do

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you know languages? Come and join the Ubuntu Translators and make it

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possible to use Ubuntu in your own.</para>

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<para>Here you'll find a quick introduction that will help you getting

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started and guide you in your first stept to contributing to Ubuntu

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Translations in just a few minutes.</para>

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<para>One of the key values in Ubuntu is the low entry barrier for

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contribution, so that participating in improving Ubuntu is both easy and

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fun. Therefore you won't need much to start translating from day one: no

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need to install special tools and no previous technical knowledge. You'll

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be using <ulink url="https://launchpad.net/">Launchpad</ulink>, an easy to

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use yet powerful online translation tool.</para>

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<para>Here are the minimum requirements to start translating

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Ubuntu:</para>

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<para><emphasis role="strong">Internet</emphasis>: a device with

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Internet connection. This can be from home, an Internet cafe, a

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public access point... - basically anywhere you can use the Internet

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from.</para>

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</listitem>

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<para><emphasis>E-mail</emphasis>: a stable e-mail address that

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Launchpad can use to contact you</para>

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</listitem>

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<para><emphasis>Language knowledge</emphasis>: knowledge of English

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and the language you are going to translate. English will always be

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the source language.</para>

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</listitem>

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<para><emphasis>Spare time</emphasis>: some time to dedicate to the

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translation of Free Software. You decide how much you want to get

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involved - from some spare minutes to some hours a week </para>

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</listitem>

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<para><emphasis>Be collaborative</emphasis>: be keen to work

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collaboratively and be part of the awesome Ubuntu translation

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teams!</para>

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</listitem>

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</itemizedlist></para>

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</section>

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<title>First Steps</title>

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<para>Before you can start translating, you'll need to set up Launchpad

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and tell it which language or languages you are interested in translating.

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This will take just a few minutes and you'll only need to do it once.

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</para>

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<title>Creating a Launchpad Account</title>

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<para>The first thing you'll need is a Launchpad account. This will

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allow you to translate Ubuntu online using an intuitive web interface,

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and will also give you access to all of the free tools from the

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Launchpad software collaboration platform.<itemizedlist>

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<para>To create a new account, simply go to the <ulink

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url="https://launchpad.net/+login">account sign-up page</ulink>,

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click on the <guibutton>Create a new account</guibutton> link and

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follow the instructions.</para>

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</listitem>

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</itemizedlist></para>

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</imageobject>

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</mediaobject><note>

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<para>For more information about how to personalize your account,

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check out the <ulink

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url="https://help.launchpad.net/YourAccount/NewAccount">Launchpad

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help</ulink></para>

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</note></para>

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</section>

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<title>Telling Launchpad About Your Preferred Languages</title>

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<para>Once you've set up your account, you'll only need to log in and

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tell Launchpad which languages you're interested to translate into.

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</para>

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<para>To set your preferred languages in Launchpad, go to the

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<ulink url="???">Launchpad Translations page</ulink> and click on

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the <guibutton>Change your preferred languages</guibutton> link.

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Once you've done that, you'll be ready to start

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translating.</para>

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</listitem>

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</itemizedlist></para>

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</imageobject>

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</mediaobject></para>

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</section>

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</section>

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<title>Starting to Translate</title>

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<para>At this point you've got a Launchpad account and you're all set and

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hopefully eager to start translating. What we need to do now is to find

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the Ubuntu applications we want to translate, get familiar with the

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interface and submit the first translation suggestions. </para>

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<para>We'll start by going to the main <ulink

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url="https://translations.launchpad.net/">Launchpad Translations</ulink>

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page. There you'll see that Launchpad allows you to translate two

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categories of software: <guilabel>Operating Systems</guilabel> and

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<guilabel>Projects</guilabel>.</para>

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<para>We're interested in translating Ubuntu as a collection of integrated

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applications, so we'll go to the <guilabel>Operating Systems

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</guilabel>category and we'll click on the latest

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<guilabel>Ubuntu</guilabel> version.<mediaobject>

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</imageobject>

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</mediaobject>The next step is to choose the language to translate into.

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You should only initially see the language or languages chosen as

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preferred. On that page you can also see some translation

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statistics.</para>

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<para>Click on the link to your language to proceed to the translatable

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applications.</para>

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</imageobject>

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</mediaobject>On the next step the full list of translatable

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applications for Ubuntu is shown. These applications are often named

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<emphasis>templates</emphasis> using the translation jargon, and are the

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translatable units which you can work on to localize Ubuntu in your

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language.</para>

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<para>You can browse through the list of templates to explore and get

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familiar with them. Do not get overwhelmed by how many of them there are:

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you'll find that taking things step to step and working in a translation

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community, completing translations is easier than it seems.</para>

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<para>There are several statistics on that page, most of which are self

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explanatory. The most important for now are the green colour in the graph,

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which means translated messages in the template, and red, which means

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untranslated (or need review, more on that later).</para>

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<para>As a new translator you should concentrate on completing the

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<guilabel>Untranslated</guilabel> messages (or

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<emphasis>strings</emphasis> in translation jargon). Navigate to a

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template with untranslated strings and click on the link with the

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number.</para>

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<para>If you already know the Ubuntu application you'd like to

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translate, you can use a quicker way to go to its translation page.

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Try this: start the application and then go to <menuchoice>

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<guimenuitem>Translate this application...</guimenuitem>

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</menuchoice>, which will open a browser for you and take you

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directly to the translation</para>

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</tip></para>

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</imageobject>

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</mediaobject></para>

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<para>Now you are finally at the step where you can submit your first

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translation suggestion. The translatable messages look like the one below:

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they are pairs consisting of original messages in English and translations

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in your language. In the web UI, <guilabel>English</guilabel> is the

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original to translate from, <guilabel>Current</guilabel> is the currently

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used translation, and <guilabel>New suggestion</guilabel> is where you can

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submit your translation.</para>

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<para>Try this: find a message you think you can translate and enter your

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translation in the text box. Once you've done that, scroll down to the

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bottom of the page and click on the <guibutton>Save</guibutton>

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button.</para>

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<para>You've now submitted your first translation suggestion.

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Congratulations!</para>

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<para>You'll find that the interface is very intuitive and

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self-explanatory, so try to get a bit more familiar with it before

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submitting more suggestions.</para>

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</imageobject>

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</mediaobject>Once you are comfortable with the basic functionality, you

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might want to explore other aspects:</para>

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<para><emphasis>Guidelines</emphasis>: at the top of a translation

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page there are often guidelines on the conventions for translating

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your language or on how the team responsible for translations works,

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accepts new members, etc. Do check them: they will make the

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translation process easier and will help you resolving doubts and

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getting in touch with other translators if you want to.</para>

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</listitem>

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<para><emphasis>Navigation</emphasis>: the

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<guilabel>First</guilabel>/<guilabel>Last</guilabel> and

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<guilabel>Previous</guilabel>/<guilabel>Next</guilabel> in the user

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interface will allow you to navigate through the messages in a

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template.</para>

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</listitem>

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<para><emphasis>Saving</emphasis>: remember to save your work by

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pressing on the <guibutton>Save</guibutton> button at the bottom of

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the page. Only then your suggestions will be recorded</para>

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</listitem>

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<para><emphasis>Filters</emphasis>: there are filters which allow

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you to view only a subset of the messages for easier navigation. Try

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using the drop-down box next to the <guilabel>Translating</guilabel>

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label. For now, you'll find the <guimenuitem>untranslated

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items</guimenuitem> and <guimenuitem>items with new

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suggestions</guimenuitem> the most useful</para>

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</listitem>

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<para><emphasis>Search</emphasis>: you can use the

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<guilabel>Search</guilabel> box to look for a string in a template.

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It is powerful and easy to use: it returns results for the searched

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strings both in the original and translated messages</para>

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</listitem>

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</itemizedlist>What you've just been doing now is to submit

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<emphasis>translation suggestions</emphasis>. These translations will not

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be used in Ubuntu until they have been first reviewed by another

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translator, which is where Ubuntu <emphasis>translation teams</emphasis>

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come in. You can learn more about them in the next section</para>

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</section>

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<title>Joining a Translation Team</title>

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<para>Translating Ubuntu is a rewarding experience: it allows you to bring

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a localized system in your language to potentially millions of people.

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This also carries a degree of responsibility: we want to provide the best

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applications with the best translations around, which is why we put an

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emphasis on their quality.</para>

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<para>Everyone with a Launchpad account can submit translation

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suggestions. While this is great for collaboration and for lowering the

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barrier to contribution, it is necessary to have some kind of peer

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reviewing mechanism to make sure these suggestions are correct and that

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the final user will understand them when using Ubuntu.</para>

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<para>The role of translation teams is to have a set of members who are

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experienced translators review these suggestions, accept them if

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appropriate and come back to the submitter for feedback. They also take

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care of helping new translators get their bearings on their journey to

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becoming full-fledged Ubuntu translators.</para>

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<para>Even if you don't want to join a translation team, it is always

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recommended to get in touch with them when you've finished submitting some

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suggestions, so that they are aware of them and they can review

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them.</para>

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<para>It's very easy to get in touch with them: on every translation page

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there is a link to the team. You can scroll down to the bottom of the page

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and click on the link after the <guilabel>This translation is managed

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by</guilabel> label, which will take you to the team's home page in

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Launchpad, containing info on how to contact them.</para>

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</imageobject>

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</mediaobject><note>

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<para>If there is no <ulink

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url="https://translations.launchpad.net/+groups/ubuntu-translators">Ubuntu

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translation team</ulink> for your language, you can <ulink

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url="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Translations/KnowledgeBase/StartingTeam">create

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one</ulink></para>

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</note></para>

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</section>

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<title>There's More</title>

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<para>This guide covers only the basic aspects of getting started

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translating Ubuntu. If you are interested in learning more, you can find

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much more information here:</para>

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<para><ulink url="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Translations/">Ubuntu

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Translations Wiki</ulink></para>

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</listitem>

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<para><ulink

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url="https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-translators">Ubuntu

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Translators Mailing List</ulink></para>

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</listitem>

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<para><ulink url="https://help.launchpad.net/Translations">Launchpad

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Translations Help</ulink></para>

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</listitem>

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</itemizedlist></para>

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</section>

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</article>