FAQ

Table of Contents

Getting Started

Who translates WordPress.com? How can I get involved?
Anyone can help by suggesting new translations. Thanks for helping us spread the awesomeness of WordPress.com around the world!

What do I get out of it?
Our undying gratitude, deeper knowledge of WordPress.com, UI in your language, helping other bloggers who also speak your language, and bragging rights 🙂

How does translate.wordpress.com work?
translate.wordpress.com is our online translation platform, where any WordPress.com users can suggest translations. It is powered by an open source software called GlotPress.

We have provided some documentation for you on our What is GlotPress? page.

Language Management and Validation

Which languages are available?
You can find available languages for each project under its main page or a certain version.

Who decides which languages are available? I want my language added.
Please place a request in the Translations Forum. You should get in touch with your WordPress.org localization team and import wordpress.org and other available strings to get started.

Who determines how something is translated?
Project validators (including some of our multilingual staff) do — they have the rights to approve, reject, or change suggested translations and overwrite existing ones.

I found a mistake or want to propose a better translation. How do I get the translation updated?
Suggest the new translation in a respective project/locale and the validator will review it.

How are validators selected? I disagree with my validator.
You can find the list of criteria for becoming a validator here.

If you feel the need to adjust the translations for your language, open a thread in the Translations Forum to discuss the issue with other native speakers of the language. Keep the discussion in English, and include all relevant details and examples, so that the Staff can review it and intervene if necessary.

I am a validator, and I translated/validated a bunch of strings yesterday, but they are not showing up in my localized interface. Why?
Thank you for the hard work! Translations are deployed in batches of approximately 200, rather than on an ongoing basis. Once you have 200 new/updated translations, they will be deployed.

I used to be a validator, but seem to have lost the status. What happened?
We require validators to 1) be active, which means to translate, import, validate, or edit glossary at least once in a 90-day period. 2) set up the Two Step Authentication on his/her user account. Our automated system regularly removes the validator status from users who don’t meet both of these requirements.

If you’d like to become a validator again, please enable the Two Step Authentication and contact us. You can find the list of criteria for becoming a validator here.

I can see other projects (not just WordPress.com) in the project list. What are they?
They are projects we develop that can help you blog better. Click on each project for more information, and follow the main site link to learn more about each particular product.

Forums and Support in Your Language

I want to have forums in my language, and I am happy to help moderate. Also, I want to have support articles translated into my language. How can I do that?
Great, we are excited you want to help! Assemble a team of volunteers (at least three), submit your request as a team in the Translations Forum, and we’ll set you up and get started.

Translations and WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com

Are WordPress.com and WordPress.org translations related? How?
WordPress.com is a service which uses the free, open-source software from WordPress.org. As a translator, it is extremely important that you are aware of the differences between the two.

We also try to use the existing translations of WordPress.org here on WordPress.com. There are several good reasons for that:

  • WordPress.org translations are an integral part of the software we use;
  • WordPress.org translation communities are traditionally better organized for consistency and speed;
  • The existing WordPress.org translations have often been in use for a while. It is likely that they have been through several edits, and users are probably familiar with them.

These mean that there are a few points that you have to keep in mind:

  • Some validators for WordPress.org are also validators for WordPress.com, which means that they probably have the permissions needed to override WordPress.com’s translations with their own, in batch.
  • WordPress.com’s translatable strings, however, are a superset of the ones available for WordPress.org. There are about 3 times more strings on WordPress.com, because of all the functionality we’ve added to it. WordPress.org translators may actually never even see those.
  • Because of the above, we strongly recommend that you, as WordPress.com translator/validator, get in touch with your language’s WordPress.org localization team, with the goal of maintaining consistency across all products and strings.

Best Practices

Are there any tips for translating more efficiently?
There are a few. You can:

  • Leverage existing translations: import WordPress.org strings, importer plugins, etc. – good for consistency and also you won’t have to translate the same content twice!
  • Try our WordPress.com Community Translator, which lets you see strings in context.
  • Leverage the established terminology and style (rules for formal or casual voice, punctuation, etc.) by following the existing glossaries and style guide; if none exist for your language, help create them.

If you have a tip or best practices you’d like to share, please submit them to the Translations Forum!