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DevynCJohnson
Guest
Launchpad is one of many important development websites for Linux software. Translating software to other languages helps to spread open-source software (OSS) across the world. Launchpad offers a platform for developers and translators to work together. If you know a spoken language and you wish to do some free translating for open-source software, then Launchpad may be the site for you.
To begin, perform a search for a particular piece of software you wish to translate. If you are not sure or do not have a particular preference, then go to the project page for Ubuntu to have some starting point (https://launchpad.net/ubuntu). Next, click the "Translations" button near the top of the page. You should then see a page with various languages listed. Find the language you know that you wish to assist. In this example, I will select German.
Next, a list of software is listed. At this point in time, it appears that the translations have been completed. If it were not, then you could either randomly choose a piece of software or select the ones that need translating starting from the top of the list and working your way down.
For this example, I will select the "unity-firefox-extension".
On the next screen, you may see a banner/box containing links to the rules and/or guidelines to translating. Follow those rules. As you can see, there are lines that contain the original English text "English: SOME TEXT" and underneath of that, the German translation "German: SOME GERMAN TEXT".
To demonstrate how to perform an actual translation, I will go back and select the Finnish language. The "unity-lens-friends" has one string of text that is untranslated (at this moment). To list the untranslated items, click the drop-down menu beside "Translating" and then click "untranslated items". Then, press the "Change" button.
NOTE: Before you can make or suggest a translation, you must login with a valid Launchpad account.
If I knew Finnish, I would type the translation and then press "Save & Continue".
HINT: Google Translate helps translators make sure they have the correct translation. However, Google-Translate is not perfect, so do not rely on it and do not use it as a supplement for translating. In other words, if you do not know the language, at least ask the project owners if they feel it would be okay to use Google-Translate.
The translations are usually reviewed by that projects translation team, so do not worry if your translation may be a little inaccurate, but still try your best and do not troll this site.
Other code-hosting sites offer translation platforms. With them, open-source applications can be made available to people of all languages.
To begin, perform a search for a particular piece of software you wish to translate. If you are not sure or do not have a particular preference, then go to the project page for Ubuntu to have some starting point (https://launchpad.net/ubuntu). Next, click the "Translations" button near the top of the page. You should then see a page with various languages listed. Find the language you know that you wish to assist. In this example, I will select German.
Next, a list of software is listed. At this point in time, it appears that the translations have been completed. If it were not, then you could either randomly choose a piece of software or select the ones that need translating starting from the top of the list and working your way down.
For this example, I will select the "unity-firefox-extension".
On the next screen, you may see a banner/box containing links to the rules and/or guidelines to translating. Follow those rules. As you can see, there are lines that contain the original English text "English: SOME TEXT" and underneath of that, the German translation "German: SOME GERMAN TEXT".
To demonstrate how to perform an actual translation, I will go back and select the Finnish language. The "unity-lens-friends" has one string of text that is untranslated (at this moment). To list the untranslated items, click the drop-down menu beside "Translating" and then click "untranslated items". Then, press the "Change" button.
NOTE: Before you can make or suggest a translation, you must login with a valid Launchpad account.
If I knew Finnish, I would type the translation and then press "Save & Continue".
HINT: Google Translate helps translators make sure they have the correct translation. However, Google-Translate is not perfect, so do not rely on it and do not use it as a supplement for translating. In other words, if you do not know the language, at least ask the project owners if they feel it would be okay to use Google-Translate.
The translations are usually reviewed by that projects translation team, so do not worry if your translation may be a little inaccurate, but still try your best and do not troll this site.
Other code-hosting sites offer translation platforms. With them, open-source applications can be made available to people of all languages.
