Pootle/FAQ

This page has been migrated to the Sugar Labs wiki. This is an archive (and likely, out-of-date) copy of material found at http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Translation_Team/FAQ . Please edit and comment on it there. If you disagree with its migration, please explain why on its talk page.

Please note that the old Pootle address of http://dev.laptop.org/translate does not work anymore. Please use http://translate.sugarlabs.org instead. All data and user accounts should work in the new Pootle installation.

General

How do I find the OLPC pootle projects?

See http://dev.laptop.org/translate.

I have a question that is not answered here - how do I contact you ?

You can find us in the IRC channel #olpc-pootle on irc.freenode.net. We also have a mailing list to discussion localisation related stuff - you can subscribe to the list by visting http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/localization. You can also #ask a question.

If you face a problem which is affecting the way in which you (or others) would normally work, please mail translate@rt.laptop.org, stating the problems you are facing. The request will get logged in our Request Tracker installation.

 You should use translate@rt.laptop.org for things like
 * Forgotten passwords
 * Error messages in Pootle
 * Pootle being unresponsive

Requests like addition of new languages, addition of new projects, etc, follow the old workflow, and they should be done via Trac at dev.laptop.org.

Things that you should initially try to resolve your problems

• Log out, and log in again, with the language choice at log in time being set to "Default"
• Avoiding searching or uploading for large files (e.g. Etoys). If you need to upload/merge a large file, mail translate@rt.laptop.org

Where do I find a list of language teams and their administrators ?

A current list of language teams, along with their administrators (if any) is available at Pootle#Sign-up.

There are so many projects. Which one do I start off with ?

It depends on the decision of the language team you are a part of. We recommend that you translate at least Glucose, Fructose (and Terminology, to ensure consistency) before moving on to the other projects.

I don't understand the nomenclature of the projects. Could you explain it to me ?

Here's a table for your reference:

Project Name	Description	String Frozen
Etoys	The entire Etoys package (excluding the example projects)	No
Fructose	A set of core activities which follow the Sugar Labs release schedule. This is the bleeding edge, development version, which will be stabilized every six months	No
Fructose 0.82	A set of core activities which follow the Sugar Labs release schedule. This is the 0.82 release	Yes
Glucose	The core Sugar libraries. This is the bleeding edge, development version, which will be stabilized every six months	No
Glucose 0.82	The core Sugar libraries. This is the 0.82 release	Yes
Honey	Non fructose activities (do not follow any regular schedule)	No
Pootle	The Pootle interface itself. Translate this if you want to see the Pootle interface in your own language)	Yes
Scratch	The Scratch package	No
Terminology	A set of common terms and phrases which occur in Sugar, useful for maintaining consistency and for defining a standard.	Yes
Update 1	Packages specifically for the old Update 1 release	Yes

You can also refer to this post in the localization mailing list for details.

Is it possible to edit more than one string at a time?

No. For on-line translations you can only edit one string at a time. Each project/language administrator has the power to enable off-line translations, but that needs to be coordinated and controlled; currently we lack the man-power (read administrators) to guarantee that workflow.

Can we use translation memories?

Pootle supports the concept of translation memories, although it is not currently active. See Pootle/Administration#Translation memory)

Can I translate off-line?

Depends. Initially, Pootle's ability to import PO files is not enabled, and it will be up to each administrator (language/project) to decide if it will be allowed, who will have said ability and set up the appropriate workflow.

How do I see/test/check my translations in action ?

There are several methods to do that. See Localization/Testing for the details.

I do not know English well enough to translate from it to my language. Can I get the original messages in any other language

Pootle can show you the translations in an intermediate language while you translate. In order to see that, select the intermediate language as your interface (UI) language while logging in.

How do I switch keyboards for languages written in Non-Latin alphabets, or for Latin keyboard layouts such as French AZERTY or Dvorak?

You can either set up multiple layouts in xorg.conf or use setxkbmap in the Developer Console.

How do I jump directly to the untranslated strings ?

From the project page of your language (eg: XO Core for Spanish), click on the Show Editing Function, and for each file, you will get a link called View untranslated which would take you directly to the untranslated strings.

dev.laptop.org

What is pseudo.po?

This file may appear in the git-project/po directory as a result of running a special pseudo-localization script that simulates a localization file where random (non-latin) characters have replaced the original text. This text is composed of two sections: the first one an assorted set of 'problematic' characters (enclosed between []) followed by a representation of the original text using non-latin glyphs (ie: instead of an 'A' you may see А Д; instead of 'B' В Ъ; 'C' could be С Ҫ Ը ح; 'a' - а д ձ ە; 'b' - в ъ ҍ ط; 'c' - ҁ ҫ ۦ; etc.)

This allows to spot two things: (a) forgotten / non-i18n strings, and (b) where truncation occurs in the GUI.

Trouble-shooting

I can't translate! (or) I only get the "Suggest" button and not the "Submit" button

Several possibilities:

1. Pootle account — by default, anonymous users aren't allowed to translate, so you need to register first.
2. Pootle language — in order to to have 'access' to a given project you need to have a language in your user options that is associated to the project
3. Pootle project — you must have the project in your list of projects in your user options in order to be considered as a non-anonymous translator
4. Language+Project rights — although projects are relatively open (suffices to be registered to be able to translate) those rights are specified by the administrator. If all of the above are satisfied please ask your language administrator(s) or ask in the mailing list.

Administrative

How do I add a project to be translated ?

If you are using the GIT services on dev.laptop.org, just file a ticket at http://dev.laptop.org under the component localization, mentioning the name of the GIT repository. If your project is hosted somewhere else, please file a ticket detailing how to access your project's version control setup, and we'll try to figure out a way how to best integrate your project's translation related files.

How do I start a translation team for my language ?

File a ticket at http://dev.laptop.org with your name, email address, Pootle username (if you have already registered), language name and language code. We will setup the relevant accounts and permissions for you. You should file the ticket under the component localization.

Do you have any document/guide for a language coordinator ?

The OpenOffice.org people have an excellent guide about Pootle - you can read it online at http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Pootle_User_Guide#Pootle_Userguide_for_Translation_Leads

Ask a question

Have a question that is not answered above? Add it below, subscribe and send an email to localization@lists.laptop.org, or try the #olpc-pootle IRC channel.

Faster navigation

• I would thank a way to go directly to the "need to translated" parts. In this moment I need to "travel" (clicking and clicking) trough all the "translated" parts until I reach the "not translated". I know: easy to say... hard to do. Just letting you know (for the records). Javier Rodriguez, Lima. Peru 3 March 2008.

This is possible with Pootle (although in the past it has sometimes failed due to timeouts for very large projects like Etoys). From a project translation page (e.g. the Spanish terminology page), click on Mostrar Funciones de Edición (Show Editing Functions) and then you will have an option to Ver No Traducidas (Show Untranslated) which takes you directly to the parts that have not been translated (or have fuzzy translations). You can use the Regresar/Saltar buttons (Back/Skip) as well as the others next to those to go to the next untranslated item without having to page through parts that are translated. Note that if you use direct navigation to edit another entry, you will lose the extra restrictions embedded in the URL (translate.html?fuzzy=1&editing=1&blank=1) and the buttons will now just back/skip to the immediately preceding/following entries, whether translated or not. To recover the restriction, go back and re-click the Show Untranslated link or just add &fuzzy=1&blank=1 to the current URL (or just reload the page if those are already in the URL). --@alex 00:05, 18 April 2008 (EDT)