WordPress.com is being translated into over 80 languages. Most of the translation is being done by our rockstar volunteers (thank you!).
This style guide is a resource for translators, to make the localized WordPress.com experience just as great as the English one. See also the Translation Resources for language-specific style guides, glossaries, and other aids. We also strive to make our style consistent with that of WordPress.
WordPress.com Writing Style
We aspire to the following writing and translation principles:
Easy to understand. WordPress.com translations should be easy to read and understand, even for non-technical users. Strive for friendliness, clarity, brevity, and active voice.
Make it your own. The tone should reflect that of the original English writing. Focus on conveying the meaning and sentiment of the English, rather than providing a word-for-word translation. Some jokes and references might not work for all countries — in this case, you might want to omit or replace them with what will make sense for your locale. For example, we frequently use informal language like “Howdy,” a southern American English colloquial greeting. We use “Thanks for Flying with Us” in a few places, a casual and welcoming reference to how airlines often thank their passengers. The default WordPress install includes lyrics from “Hello Dolly,” a classic of American musical theater.
Keep it modern. Ensure that you are up to date with the latest online and linguistic developments. Use modern terms and phrases and avoid anything that could be seen as old-fashioned.
Brand, Upgrade, and Feature Names
WordPress: WordPress is always written as “WordPress” and should not be translated or transliterated. WordPress.com also remains WordPress.com (do not translate). WordPress and WordPress.com have different meanings.
WordPress.com theme names (e.g. Twenty Sixteen) are not to be translated.
Jetpack is a WordPress plugin that brings WordPress.com features to self-hosted WordPress sites. Its language is active, simple, and clear; without jargon. The tone is knowledgeable, friendly, informative, and problem-solving. The voice is that of your friendly neighborhood development team who works hard for your site.
Channels: Jetpack.com, @Jetpack on Twitter, Jetpack on Facebook.
Date and Time Formats
You may come across abbreviated strings such as dddd, D MMMM YYYY LT. Those parameters are used to customize the displayed date and time according to the locale. Do not translate them literally. Re-arrange them, add text, or replace with other parameters (e.g. from 12-hour to 24-hour format) to create a timestamp in the correct format for your locale.
Here are the date and time formats you may see:
Moment.js strings (in WordPress): most used examples and the full list of parameters.
PHP date formats (in WordPress): full list of parameters. Here are some examples of converted dates:
Y/m/d g:i:s A is converted to 2014/01/15 6:20:40 PMj F, Y @ G:i:s is converted to 15 January, 2014 @ 18:20:40
Unicode date format patterns (in WordPress Android app, Simplenote iOS app): see examples and the full table of parameters.
HTML and Variables
HTML code/entities and variables (placeholders such as %1$s, %s, %d, etc.) can be moved around within a string but should not be translated or modified. Some placeholders include English words, such as %(author)s or %(days)d, and the entire placeholder (including the English word) should be kept intact and not translated. Rare exceptions are noted in locale-specific translation guides as applicable.
Character Encoding
WordPress.com .po files use UTF-8 encoding. Using Unicode characters is acceptable, if the character is part of the target language (for example, “é” in “Sécurité”). For symbols (arrows, quotes, dashes), both are acceptable: either HTML symbol entities (such as ← or ”) or direct input of arrows, quotation marks etc from the locale-specific keyboard.
Translated .po files need to be in Unicode/UTF-8 format without BOM (this requirement is relevant when importing .po files into GlotPress).
Terminology
WordPress.com uses terminology specific to the WordPress brand. To see a list of common WordPress.com terminology and its definition, see the English glossary.
