User:Lisa Lowe/CTintroprotypepage

(re-thinking about a new CT overview/intro page here; Sept 09; Lisa Lowe)

languagebar: English....French.....etc

Community Translation Project

• Introduction

While Second Life grows, the number of residents joining from countries all over the world is rapidly expanding. Many of them do not even speak or only speak a littlebit of english (the original and base language as the creator of Second Life - Linden Lab - is an American company). As you can imagine, therefore there will be a greater demand for translations. Many different things will be translated into multiple languages, for example the viewer, blog articles, Knowlegde Base articles or articles on this Wiki. Next to that, Linden Lab strives for creating websites in many languages also.

Accomplishing all this is an extensive task wich will take time and it requires the language skills of many. Most of this work is actually done by volunteer residents like you and me. At the moment many are already working on it and Linden Lab has called it the Community Translation Program. Within this project, several Linden's have been appointed to keep track of the different tasks involved.

As mentioned before, there are all kinds of translations to be done. Sometimes complete articles, sometimes just some sentences or even little words for example as used in the Viewer. There is a large group of residents working on all this already for quite a while. You may have seen many things translated already, thanks to them. But as it is such a huge task to accomplish, new translators are always welcomed. And it is always great fun to see your own translations into sthe everal parts of Second Life later on!

• This is huge project! How all this is done?

Step by step ofcourse. It is next to impossible to do it all at once. Besides that, the translations have to be professional and of good quality, as they also represent the company Linden Lab. Within the Community Translation Projec group, you will find many different language specific groups also. Translating articles in a way they can actually be understood in the given language also, can be quite a task and often involves several residents debating extensivly about it. It's a real community effort!

Linden Lab chose several languages to start the whole project with. This means that for some languages there already are websites, viewer translations and many KB-articles translated, while for other languages they just started on translating the viewer and some articles. While all this was done, the procedures for translating so many things with so many people from different nations have evolved also over time. What works for one language group, not always works fine also for other language groups. We all learn from it by doing.

• What is required?

Well, obviously you need to be able to read english and interprete the contents of the given texts to be able to translate them. Some (e.g. technical) articles can be a challenge, but you can also get a lot of help with that. Often while translating things, you will learn a lot also! Next to that you have to be able to phrase things correctly into your own language in a style that represents Linden Lab. The way english articles are written often is a good guidance for that. Also some Style Guides have already been developed for certain languages. Usually within a certain language group agreements are made on how certain specific SL words are translated or the opposite. Words that should not be translated at all to keep things understandable for the general user of SL in the given language.

• I would love to help also. Where do I start?

That's the easy part! Join the CT-group. The CT-group usually holds weekly meetings where Lindens keep you up to date with what is going on and where there is plenty of room also for discussing things (usually this is a lot of fun with so many languages spoken). The Linden's will point out where to find articles or other things to translate and how to proceed with that. Often for your language, you can usually join a language specific group with fellow translators also. Although it can be quite handy and fun to debate about correct translations, it not required to help out (we understand about group limitations that may prevent you joining them). The best way to get started is to come to the meetings and get to know your fellow translators. They are often most willing to help you out with every little detail involved. Your involvement can make a great difference!

• Procedures for translating

Slowly some standard procedures have been developed for translating things. Most of it is in plain text, but the Second Life Viewer is a complex piece of software. Sometimes it involves files with a different layout (for example xml) and then it may sometimes be required to install additional (usually free) software on your machine to get things done. The Second Life (P)Jira is mostly used for bug reporting, but it also contains a special entry for the Community Translation Project. Things to translate are often offered as Jira entries. Usually with an attached file. In other cases shared documents are created (like for example in Google Docs), so several residents can work on things together at the same time, no matter where they are (this for example is done for translating the Viewer menu's etc.). What is chosen usually depends on what is most suitable for the given task. Notifications about what to do and where to find it will be given in the CT-group (can also be received by email).

• Languages, groups and members

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• Style Guides

• The (P)Jira

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