Appropedia seeks to develop conventions for the translation of articles that already exist in one language. This page will be used to outline and develop those conventions.
Steps in translation
- Identify a page for translation
- Determine the page name for the translated article (see the Tools for Translation section )
- Do some checks to be sure that there is not already a translation
- In theory, a template at the top of the original should mention if the page is available in other languages
- Copy/paste the wikitext contents of the original article to a new article.
- Copy/pasting the original wikitext makes it easy to maintain the original structure, plus images and tables, etc.
- You may find this process is simplified if you have two active browser windows or tabs
- Open the first page for editing
- Click in the edit window
- Select all (usually Control-A)
- Copy to clipboard (usually Control-C)
- Type the new page name in the search box
- Click Go
- This will take you out of the edit window of the original page
- Assuming the page did not previously exist, you will land at the Search page
- Click on the red create this page link to begin editing the new page
- Click in the edit window to be sure the cursor is located there
- Paste the clipboard into the edit window (usually Control-V)
- Enter an edit summary ("created new page to begin translation", or similar)
- Click Save page
- Copy the name of the new page so you can insert it in the next step
- Insert a "this page is also available in language X" template at the top of the original article
- This template should provide the link to the new page
- We will need to develop this scheme a bit down the road when the number of languages grows
- If you were working from a list such as Appropedia:Articles to translate, update that page
- Insert a "translation in process" template at the top of the article
- The template should include a link to the original article
- Place the appropriate language category at the bottom of the article
- Begin translation, section by section
- As each section is translated, insert the translated version and remove the original language version
- This process allows for translations that require extended time, and for translators to operate independently on a given article.
- Once translation is complete, all the original language will be gone
- Change the "translation in process" template appropriately
- Replace/modify the template to indicate that the translation needs validation
- If you are able to self-validate the translation, then skip the above step and go directly to the next step
- When the translation is validated, change the template to the "this article available in other languages" template, pointing to the original (and others, if available)
Templates for use in translation
- Template:Trans avail requires a parameter that consisting of one or more page references, each followed by a language code in parentheses.
- Template:Trans underway requires a parameter for a wikilink to the original page.
- Template:Trans validate, like "Trans underway", requires a parameter that is a wikilink to the original page.
Tools for translation - Herramientas para la traducción
Various free web-based tools may be useful for providing bulk translation of content. Such tools provide fair but not 100% reliable translations. We recommend that you use these tools if you are literate in both languages and can verify or correct the resulting translations.
- Babelfish translation: English to 12 others including Spanish
- CurtB has found this slightly more reliable than Google.
- Google's main translation page, handles 12 languages
- Google's English to Spanish translator page
External links
- Alain Desilets - focuses on usability of wikis, and on tools for collaborative translation of wiki sites.