Welcome to the Discogs Community Translation Team!

Thanks for joining the Discogs Community Translation Team! (Not on the team? Get started here)

Translator Terminology:

As a translator, you understand the importance of having a shared vocabulary. So let’s start by defining a few terms:

- Transifex: The translation platform Discogs uses to manage translations.

- Project: There are several “Projects” within the Discogs Transifex account:
  - - Discogs.com Localization: this project includes the main discogs.com website content, as well as system messages
  - - Login Localization: this project includes the discogs.com authentication service (strings related to account creation and login).
    - Discogs Identity Provider: this project will eventually replace our “Login Localization” project, once we upgrade our login and account creation code.
  - - Database Guidelines & Help Center: this project includes all Discogs help documents, including the full Database Guidelines. You can learn more about this project on our Translating the Database Guidelines page.
    - There may be other projects visible from your Transifex dashboard. Check the Announcements section under the Project in Transifex, or feel free to ask in the i18n Group if you need more information about a project.

- Resource: Each Project has different “Resources” that require translation. For the Database Guidelines & Help Center project, each Resource is a different section of the Database Guidelines or help document. The Discogs.com Localization Project includes only two resources: all website strings are contained in eitherthe i18n/messages.pot (master) or the i18n/messages_js.pot (master) Resource.

- String: A string is a sequence of characters. A string can be a word, phrase, or even a full paragraph. It can contain numbers as well as variables, and even HTML tags. “Save settings” and “Please look at %(url)s for more detail.” are both examples of strings.

- Discogs Community Translation Team: The Discogs Community Translation Team works together to translate Discogs content. The Team is broken into language groups. The team includes Discogs Community Members (Reviewers, and Translators) as well as Discogs Staff (Team Managers and Coordinators).

- Reviewer: Reviewers play an important role in ensuring translation quality. They check translations to make sure they’re error free and meet our quality standards. Once a translation is reviewed, it cannot be edited by a Translator.

Adding your first translation:

Open the Discogs Transifex dashboard, and select a project (Discogs.com Localization is a good project to start with.

Click on the “Translate” button (if prompted, select the language you want to translate into)

Select a Resource or simply select “All Resources”

Click on the “Untranslated” filter (there is a quick filter for “All”, “Untranslated” and “Unreviewed”)

From the strings list on the left, select an easy string to translate (for your first translation, avoid the strings with numbers or HTML placeholders). Your selected string will appear on the right-hand side in the “Untranslated String” area. Type your translation into the “Type your translation here” area.

Click “Save Translation“. Hurrah! You have added your first translation!!!

How do I translate a string that includes code?

You will notice that many strings include HTML placeholders. For example:

If the string includes HTML placeholders, be sure to preserve those placeholders using whatever method works best for you:

Click on a placeholder in the source string area. This copies the placeholder to wherever your cursor is in the translation area.

Copy the entire source string (click the double rectangle “copy” icon) and translate around the placeholders.

While typing a translation, use the Ctrl+Alt+number keyboard shortcut, where number is the number in the placeholder.

Transifex will provide a warning if you ever forget to include those placeholders, so don’t worry about it too much. Here are some other tips for working with HTML placeholders.

What if I don’t understand the context of a string?

Please ask! Any time you ask for context it will also help other translators, because Discogs staff will add information and screenshots for clarification. The more questions you ask, the better translations will be, so please don’t hesitate to ask questions.

Within Transifex, you can write a comment connected to a string to ask for clarification. Click into the “Comment” section, Click on “Add Issue”, type a question or comment and click “Add Issue” again.

Important: Discogs Staff is only notified if you select “Add Issue”. Discogs Staff will generally reply within 1 business day, and you should receive a Transifex notification (and possibly an email depending on your Transifex notification settings) when they reply.

Further Tips for Translators:

Communicate with other translators and the Discogs Transifex Team Manager in the Discogs i18n Group. Click the “Notify Me of Replies” button for threads you want to follow.

Transifex has many guides to help Translators, here are some of the most helpful:

Thank you for your assistance with translations! Your dedication gives millions of users around the world better access to Discogs. With your translation help, we are able to further the Discogs mission and build the biggest and most comprehensive music database and marketplace!

NEXT: Read Advanced Tips for Discogs Community Translators.

Chat with other Discogs translators and staff in the Discogs i18n Translation Team Group.

Transifex Manager / Coordinator:

Hello! I’m Kirsten (username = Weetzie) and I help manage translations and internationalization at Discogs. You can contact me at any time with questions or suggestions! Discogs Profile & Transifex Profile

Transifex Reviewers:

Each language team has at least one community Reviewer. Reviewers are experienced with Transifex and knowledgable about Discogs. They are often good people to turn to when you have a language-specific question. Reviewers often add translations, but also have the ability to mark a translation as “Reviewed”. They can also “Unreview” and change a previously utilized translation. Click into your language from the Transifex Team page to see a list of Reviewers.

Transifex Translators:

Anyone who joins the Discogs Translation Team starts out as a Translator. Click into your language from the Transifex Team page to see a list of Translators.

Questions?

Just ask! The Database Guidelines – Translator Questions thread is a good place to start if you have general questions about Transifex or translating the Database Guidelines. If you have questions specifically for other translators fluent in your language, you might want to start in the “flagged” thread specific to your language in the Discogs-i18n Translator Group:

Discogs Localization