Launchpad Help > Translations > Translators and Translation Teams in Launchpad

Overview

The Launchpad Translators group is a set of teams and individuals working on translating software hosted in Launchpad. It is a confederation of translation teams, it is not yet another translation project.

We believe that people translating software in the same language should work in the same team, even thought they are working at different software.

There is one Launchpad localization team appointed for each language.

We encourage Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, GNOME, KDE, Mozilla, OpenOffice.org and all other translators dedicated to a specific project to join the localization team appointed for their language.

We also encourage project maintainers to appoint the Launchpad Translators group as the translation group for their project.

Project Maintainers

Every project needs high quality translation that convey with the cultural background and the already established guidelines of each language.

The Launchpad Translators group stands for those goals. Here you can find a list of steps to follow in order to use Launchpad Translations as the translation tool for you project and have it translated into many languages.

• Before proceeding, please take a moment and see how you can use Launchpad and what you should do in order to have your project translated. You can find these information at Translating your project help pages.

• Choose a translation permissions policy and appoint the "Launchpad Translators" group for doing the translation. Follow this link to find more info about Choosing permissions policy. We recommend using the Structured policy, as a measure to assure translation quality.

• The direct link to your project permissions policy is: https://translations.launchpad.net/<YOUR-PROJECT-NAME>/+settings.

• You can contact the Launchpad Translators Team for announcing things that affect all languages (ex. approaching release, major string changes, string freeze... etc.) or a specific language team for things affecting only one language.

• You can also send an initial message to the Launchpad Translators Team and let them know about your project.

• When you are due to release a new version of your project, contact the team and let them know when you would like to release: in this way translators can better organize their work. It is good to advise them at least two weeks before a release.

• If there are any translations errors or bug in your project please assign them to the Launchpad Translators team. We will look at the problems and assign them to the proper team or person.

• For your project Answers section, if people ask about specific translations or localization matters, you can assign those questions to the Launchpad Translators Team. We will try to analyze it and have a knowledgable person take care or it.

Translators

All members of a Launchpad localization teams should be knowledgable in translating software into their own language, be aware about the work of other localization teams and about other translation projects.

Below is a list of steps you might follow in order to start using Launchpad Translations for translating your favorite project or distributions.

• Before doing any translation work please take a moment and learn how to use Launchpad as your translation tool. For more information check the Launchpad Translations help pages.

• Consult the list of translations teams and check the team assigned to your language. If there is no team assigned for your language, please follow the required step to create a new one. Below you will find more information on how to create a new team.

• Follow the procedure for joining the team for your language. Before joining a team you might be asked to do some translation in order to test your translation skills.
• Follow the rules of your team, communicate and keep in touch with the team.

• You may want to join the Launchpad Translators mailing list and get in touch with other translators and teams.

Launchpad Localization Teams

Launchpad localization teams are the driving force behind the Launchpad translation process. Each localization team will translate and check translations on behalf of the language appointed to it.

Launchpad Translators Group will only have one team appointed to each language.

To check the current status of Launchpad Translators Group, please consult the list of Launchpad localization teams:

• If your language does not appear in the list, please consider starting a new team for your language.
• If your language is in the list, please consider joining that team (or request that your current team to be added as a subteam).

If the Launchpad localization team appointed to your language is no longer active, or in case you encounter problems joining or working with the team, please let us know by contacting the Launchpad Translation Coordinators.

How to start a new team and join Launchpad Translators

Here's how you can create a new team for your language and join the Launchpad Translators group:

• Create the team. Create a new Launchpad localization team. When giving a name to the team in Launchpad, please follow the convention lp-l10n-CC, where CC is your language code . We use iso-639 two letters code and if not available we fallback to three letters code. For instance lp-l10n-de would be the name for the German team (language code de)

• Moderated subscription. Make the subscription policy of the new team Moderated or Restricted. Only this way you can ensure the quality of translations.

• Team information. Add some brief information on the team's page. This should include:

  • A welcome note with the purpose of the team
  • A note on how to join the team
  • Links to the team's existing communication channels (e.g. mailing list, forums, IRC channel, wiki, etc)

• Team communication. The team should have a communication channel to coordinate the translation activities. This can be any of: a mailing list, IRC, forums, etc. This can be arranged after the team has been accepted, but it is a requirement.

• Guidelines. The team should have a set of translation guidelines. This can be arranged after the team has been accepted, but it is a requirement.

  • You can use the general Launchpad localization guidelines or adapt them for your language/team.

  • Let Launchpad know about your translation guidelines.

• Coordinator. The team should have a coordinator with a stable contact e-mail address visible to logged-in Launchpad users. The coordinator should subscribe to the launchpad-translators mailing list and forward any relevant announcements or information to the team. As the coordinator, you are the primary contact person for the team and the person who make things happen.

  • As the coordinator of a Launchpad localization team, it is higly recommended to join the Launchpad Translators mailing list.

• Apply. Send a support request for the Launchpad Translations Coordinators to appoint your team in the Launchpad Translators group. Please include a link to your team and a short note explaining how you have addressed the points above.

Except for creating the guidelines and setting up a communication channel, this process should not take more than a few minutes to complete. If you need any help or you've got any questions in any of the steps, feel free to ask, and we'll be happy to give a hand.