Help:Wiki Translation
From MobileRead
This page describes the method that can be used to translate the English language pages into other languages.
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[edit] Basic Steps
- Determine the language code for the desired language: Acceptable codes are listed under Supported Languages. This article will assume that French is the desired language with a code of /fr.
- Open the page that you plan to add a new language page for and tap the edit button.
- At the top of the page add a line with the word: {{languages}} if it is not already present. This will identify the page as being multi-lingual.
- Select all of the text on the page.
- Create a new sub-page with exactly the same name as the page you copied except with a /fr at the end (correct language code). For this page it would be: Wiki Translation/fr. Note that the page name must be in English.
- This can be done by placing the desired name in the search box on the left and hitting Enter on the keyboard or tapping the Go button.
- A second way is to look at the URL line in your browser window and just add the /fr (or appropriate language) to the end of it.
- Paste the contents of the English page into the new page and then translate the contents.
- The translation of the page name itself can be at the top of the file just below the languages entry.
- Save the resultant page. The languages selection at the top permits switching between the two pages to compare the results.
[edit] Rules for Translation
- Please create a wiki account and always login if you want to help with the translation.
- To the extent possible the full English page should be translated on the language sub-page. There can be some English left on the page if needed.
- Links on the page should be to the English page. If there is a multi-language link the wiki software will pick the correct page. To make the text read ok you can create the link with a link page followed by a | (pipe) and then enter the text you want to be displayed.
- There must always be an English page. If you need a totally new page for a different language you should also create an English page as well.
- Pages that are basically indexes of links to other sites do not need to duplicate the full English page but can just include the links that support the desired language. For example the e-book stores page for the French version might just include the boiler plate at the top and then just sites that support French language eBooks.
- If there is a category on the original page you may want a French language category as well. If you do then you need to make a French language entry for the desired category using the /fr suffix. This page should contain a translation of the top information from the English category page. If this is the only French page for the entire category then there is no need to create a special category page for it.
- Currently the languages bar is being placed at the top of the page to call attention to it. This policy may be changed to placing it at the bottom in the future if we have a lot of these pages.
- While multi-language support is primarily for the main pages it can, by extension, apply to all pages on the site. In particular User pages should use the same feature if you decide to build your own user page. (Which is highly recommended by the way.)
[edit] For more information
- See the Mobile Read Policy page for details on our language policy.
[edit] Tracking changes
Please use the discussion page to make a note of the source language (preferably English) used to produce this translation and the date of the last page change of that page. Later if there are changes to the source page you can use the history tab to find out what was changed and thus figure out if there is a need to update the translated language page. Update the date on the discussion page when the main page is revised.
[edit] Languages supported
For now we support English (main page), French /fr, Spanish /es, German /de, Dutch /nl, and Russian /ru. Other languages can be added. Please request them Forum Feedback if and only if you are able and willing to make the translation.
