All functions available in Transifex won't be explored here, please refer for complete and further information to the documentation guides here, it provides many ressources to begin as a translator.

Here we'll explore the most efficient way and the best practises to translate Valentina strings.

Prerequisites for translating.

you speak English (even if not bilingual),
you speak another or several of the 31 supported languages,
you understand how Valentina globally works (even if not in any detail/ every situation),
Internet active connection,
Valentina last release installed and set up with English + target language(s),
Transifex active personal account, how to create your account if you're new in Transifex.

Joining the translation team.

Joining the Valentina translation team is very simple: you just have to register in Transifex and ask to join the team.

Creating an account in Transifex.

Activate your account (follow the link provided in the email confirmation),
Choose your job role: "translator".

Joining the translation team.

Unless you were directly invited by the translation team by email, you must ask to join the project during the registration step:

Clik on "Join an existing project",
Enter "valentina" in the searchbar,
Ask to join and select the language(s) you want to translate to.

Note: you must be approved before joining the team, please wait for the confirmation email.

Setting up your account and preferences.

You can set up some specific preferences in the main dashboard as well as in the user settings page of your personal account.

Transifex GUI language.

The GUI language (Transifex interface) is provided in your language by default.

Click on the ? icon at the bottom of the left sidebar to change Transifex interface language.

uploads/switch-transifex-gui-language.png

Personal account settings.

Click on the project icon at the bottom of the left sidebar to acess to your profile, there you can set up:

personal credentials,
notification settings, if you don't want to be notified absolutely every project or translation change,
sign in settings,
etc.

Note: Be aware that deactivationg comments notifications makes work harder and less efficient for the whole team.

Staff status in Transifex project.

In order to understand who referees are and their respectives roles + permissions.

Administrator

Roman Telezhinkyi, id @dismine, Valentina main developer.

Coordinators

23 presently.

Coordinators manage each 1 or several translation teams.

They have the specific permissions for accepting/ excluding members in Transifex.

They are also translators and reviewers.

Reviewers

Translators, but can also review translated strings.

Note: Only reviewed strings are loaded in Valentina interface for validation requirements.

Translators

Can translate non reviewed strings. They can also make proposals if they see errors in préviously reviewed strings.

Note: Thus, if you have the translator status, don't try to review strings, please:

- Translate what has not been translated yet

- Comment previously translated and/or reviewed strings if you identify some translation error. Go to 'Comment' tab, tag in your comment @dismine (admin) and/or @your_coordinator_id, so they can be notified your comment and reply.

Translating.

Accessing to the groups of ressources.

On the project dashboard, hover over your language and click on "Translate" (the button text is provided in the language you set up for Transifex interface).

You get access to a page displaying presently 2 groups of resources:

"valentina.ts" for Valentina last 0.7.x version,
"valentina_0.6.x.ts" for Valentina 0.6 version.

You can also see how many strings have not been translated / reviewed yet in each group of resources.

Note: By default, we translate in priority "valentina.ts" (the last software version) as it has the urgent priority tag.

uploads/priority_tag.png

Filtering.

Using filters is very important, otherwise translation of strings will be soon discouraging.

The page we have accessed to displays all strings of the group of ressources, you can switch to 'non translated' or 'non reviewed' pages in the top menu.

uploads/valentina-ts-all-strings.png

Let's go to the 'non translated' strings page.

You can see that a first condition has appeared in the filters bar: "translated:no".

uploads/not-translated-strings-2.png

You could have accessed to all non translated strings by entering manually "translated:no" in the filters bar, or by selecting "status - translated - no" in the filters menu:

uploads/filters-menu_translated.png

If you watch the list of strings you obtain now, this is still a mess of unsorted words and expressions without any apparent logics.

So let's filter further.

At this step, launch Valentina and set the interface language in English in the Preferences settings.

In the Transifex page, click on the first non-translated string (at your convenience).

I have clicked on the string 'Passmark length:'

uploads/string-passmark_length.png

Rather than translating right away, let's look at the Context field provided in the center panel. The context is here DialogPatternProperties.

This provides us 2 important pieces of information:

the string is extracted from the pattern properties dialog box in Valentina,
we can translate all strings of this dialog box at the same time by filtering in context.

Translating.

Let's now enter in the filters bar in order to translate in context: context:DialogPatternProperties translated:no.

Enter the translation and save (the translation is provided in French in this example).

uploads/string_passmark-length_translation.png

Note: When translated, a turquoise circle must appear in front of the string.

Syntax and punctuation.

Please keep in mind that some characters and punctuation are very important to keep when translating.

For example, in such a string:

uploads/characters-1.png

First copy and paste source strings by clicking on 'Copy source string' in the translation panel:

uploads/copy-source-string.png

Such pre-formatted blocks must be kept as they are:

uploads/string-blocks.png

Punctuation must not be erased either changed (don't add neither delete spaces):

uploads/string-punctuation.png

Here is how the translation must look:

uploads/string-appropriate-translation.png

Issues.

If you encounter a specific issue with your permissions in the team or with the interface, please contact the admin in English (click on your avatar - Messages - Compose).

If you are not sure how to translate a specific string because of tecnical reasons, while being placed in this string, add an issue in English (in the right panel), you will be answered at the same place (and notified you received an answer according to your personal notification settings).

Comments.

You can as well comment your translation (in the right panel too).

Note: Please don't use 'comments' to report an issue, but only to ask advice to your coordinator or explain to the team why you chose some terms, for example.

Reviewing (for reviewers only).

Let's now enter in the filters bar: context:DialogPatternProperties reviewed:no. (don't keep the translated:no filter).

I obtain about 40 non reviewed strings, the first one is 'Pattern properties'.

uploads/string-pattern_properties.png

The center and right panels provide many information:

who translated and when,
previous suggestions for translation,
history of translation for this string,
a glossary if previously provided.

Note: If the author of the translation is TM, the translation is a mere suggestion made by the Translation Memory and inserted by the team while waiting for further reviewing. In this case, be careful not to grant the reviewed status to such a string without really checking in the Valentina interface that the suggestion is allright.

If the translation fits, click on 'Review', then a blue 'ok' icon appears on the reviewed string.

uploads/string-pattern_properties-reviewed.png

If the translation does not fit, enter the new text in the translation panel and click on 'save changes'.

If you are confident in the translation, review at the same time.

A reviewed string can be modified by clicking on 'Unreview', enter new translation, save changes, and 'Review' again.

That's it! You have translated and/or reviewed you first group of strings in context.

Thanks a lot for your contribution to the Valentina project!

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