This is a page of frequently asked questions ( FAQs ) based on general questions from the Support page and from the experiences of users. Please add new tips from your own experience.
When translations, new or updated, are 'committed' what happens is that the master copy of wiki software kept at MediaWiki.org is updated. This process is explained on Translating:Process#Getting things into Wikimedia, other MediaWikis, and other products. This master copy on MediaWiki.org is used:
The steps on the way from translatewiki.net to your home wiki are:
If a particular message has already been translated (customised) on a wiki then an update from translatewiki.net will update the default message but not the actual customised message used by the wiki. If you look at the list of all messages on the wiki in Special:AllMessages, you will see the new default from translatewiki.net above the message which was customised on the wiki itself. The wiki will use the customised message in its interface and sometimes this is what you want because the customised version is specific to the needs of that wiki. To use the new default message either:
Every now and then, we will create a "language pack". With such a language pack, you can update a MediaWiki that is on the latest stable release. As these messages are also committed to SVN, a subsequent release of the stable version will include the latest language pack. You can find the language pack here.
When you have MediaWiki release 1.15 or higher installed, it is possible to run the LocalisationUpdate extension. This extension will add to your localisations when the local English message and the message in SVN are exactly the same.
The LocalisationUpdate extension is now enabled for all Wikimedia projects. New localisations that become available in SVN will become available to Wikimedia projects within 24 hours. Localisations get into SVN from translatewiki.net typically within a day and at worst in two days. When the system messages in English are the same as the local messages, they will now be inserted in a file and are available for use in all our projects in a timely manner. This is a huge improvement from the old practice where the localisations became available with new software. This could take weeks, even months.
A control page is set up by the developers when work starts on any language eg Portal:It, for Italian (It). This page contains links to general information about the language and to recent changes to the language interface translation on translatewiki.net. It also contains a list of the wikimedia projects in the language and records the users working on the language.
The list of 'maintainers' (users working on a particular language) is on Translating:Languages (as explained on Translating:How to start). The name of your language on this list should be in blue because it should have a wiki link to the Portal:XX page (for language code XX). If it is not on the list then go to the category of language and message pages on Category:Languages or go to the list on all pages Special:prefixindex/Portal:.
If there is more than 1 maintainer of a language then you can use the talk page of the Portal to discuss the translation amongst that language translation group, eg. Icelandic talk page.
Once you have acquired translator privileges to work on one language you can also work on other languages. You don't have to request translator privileges each time you want to work on another language. However, in order to let others know that you are working on a different language, please remember to add your name to the list of translators on the portal for that language and then your name will be added automatically to the list of maintainers of that language on Translating:Languages. Please add some information about your knowledge of the extra language to your user page.
Links to the translation tool such as the link in the sidebar usually give the list of messages to translate in your default language, as set in your preferences - like this - Special:Translate. But it is possible to create links to the language tool (Special:Translate) in a particular language. The translation tool links in the language portals are linked to the messages in the language of that portal. The translation tool has a 'Language' box at the top of the page which tells you which language you are in now and where you can choose a different language to work in.
translatewiki.net is slowly putting together pages of information on the system messages which should be useful to the translator - information on context, etc.
To read information on a particular message click on the 'edit' tab on the message. This edit page contains a box headed 'Information about message ...'. Information pages carry the extension /qqq for example MediaWiki:Lockbtn/qqq. Documentation is continually added to the /qqq pages. You can follow additions and changes to the documentation by viewing recent changes to /qqq pages. Doing this helps to check that the assumptions we make when translating were correct.
The manual on the Mediawiki site also has some information on the messages. Go to mw:Category:Interface messages to browse this information.
Each mediawiki extension should have a description page in the 'Extension' namespace on the Mediawiki site, for example Extension:Icon. This is a list of pages in the 'Extension' namespace on Mediawiki. Unfortunately, the descriptions are sometimes very technical, written for software engineers, not for translators!. Sometimes the information (qqq) page for a message will include a link to the relevant description page on Mediawiki, but not always.
Sometimes an information page is created for an extension here on translatewiki.net, in the 'Translating' namespace, for example Flagged Revs extension. This is a list of pages in the 'Translating' namespace.
There are two basic approaches.
{{PLURAL}}, or other such constructs. In doubt, just use shorter search string.No. The messages on the translation tool cannot be sorted alphabetically because this would use too much of the system resources.
The order in which messages are presented is the same in which they appear in the original .php file, at least for single file message groups. Usually, the messages near the bottom of the list are the newest messages.
If you spot a spelling or grammar error in the original English message, or you would like to suggest a better way of expressing the message, then please put a message on Support. You should explain why you think there is a problem with the current message and propose your alternative. The proposed change will then be discussed in the usual way and, if agreed, then one of the developers will change the message.
When an English source message is changed, the developers mark the current translations of the message !!FUZZY!! which means that they will appear in the 'Review changes to' section of 'Special:Translate'. See localisation guidelines for an explanation.
If you are using the messages from another wiki, eg Wikipedia, to update messages on translatewiki.net then you will notice that some messages have been deleted. They have a warning message 'Warning: You are recreating a page that was previously deleted'. If you come across any of those then you can skip over them in translatewiki.net too. These messages are old messages that are no longer used. If the message has –old in the title then that also usually means that the message is old.
Obsolete messages are not included in the translation tool or in the localisation statistics. However, you may still come across them by accident. When searching for any keyword using the search box at the top left, obsolete messages containing the keyword in question will show up in the search results the same way current ones do, with no way to distinguish between them from the results list.
On the translation page itself the English original message will be missing for an obsolete message, and in the classic/non-Javascript editor, the link "In other languages" at the left will also be missing. There is no need to translate or edit obsolete translations.
Beginning with MediaWiki 1.12, translatewiki.net allows you to translate messages for old, stable releases. These additional translations go into the appropriate language packs.
If you find issues inside a message that would need fixing with previous releases, other than message texts themselves, do not report them, there will be no such fixes. You can, however, look whether a problem persists in the current development version of MediaWiki, and have it fixed there.
Where i can translate MediaWiki:Cite text to (for example) Indonesian?
I have two distinct source messages but when translated, they become identical. What shall I do?
There are some messages which are left blank on the default system messages. They are not included in the list of messages to translate on translatewiki.net. These messages are specific to each site; they will be different according to the type of site, the site policies, etc. An obvious example is the site notice. If the message MediaWiki:Sitenotice is changed from '–' to ‘Welcome to Wackywiki’ on a particular wiki then ‘Welcome to Wackywiki’ appears at the top of every page of that wiki. If you look at MediaWiki:Sitenotice in the list of Special:Allmessages here at translatewiki.net you will see that the default message is a single minus sign '-' (which gives a blank message) but there is probably text in the customised message shown below the default; this is the text which appears at the top of every page at translatewiki.net.
So if you come across any messages on your home wiki which have a default of '-' then you won’t find them on the translatewiki.net translation tool. On your home wiki, they can be left blank or used, according to the needs of your wiki. Here is a list of these blank messages together with some examples of how they are used on some wikis. If you know of good examples of these messages in action, please add them.
There are some messages which are not included in the translation tool because they are customised by WikiMedia for all the Wikimedia projects. They are blank in the source code available to download from Mediawiki by anyone else (that is, outside of the Wikimedia Foundation). These messages can be translated on each wiki. Here is a list of these messages, together with the message as customised by Wikimedia for all its projects (please add to the list):
I just wasted some time trying to locate Vector-simplesearch-containing ("containing..."). The text appearing in the search box on hu.wikipedia is tartalmazza… so I figured searching for "tartalmazza" in the MediaWiki namespace would yield the message but apparently it doesn't because the indexer thinks the ellipsis character (U+2026) is part of the word (searching for tartalmazza… works).
Also, if the message contains wiki syntax, then a search of the output (the message that appears on the interface) won't work.
Aren't localized namespace names part of interface translation? ([1]). (can't these be used in translated messages?)
Language names are not localised here, usually. They are imported from the Common Locale Data Repository (CLDR) which is run by the Unicode Consortium. The Unicode Consortium is a non-profit organisation which develops standards for software localisation in any language. It is an open-source project. The data is imported via the MediaWiki extension CLDR, which is updated whenever the CLDR issues a new release.
To add or change localised language names for translatewiki.net and MediaWiki software you should go to CLDR and request corrections or additions to the language name data held there for your language. The simplest way to request something on CLDR is to open a bug request, for example "Cebuano" in Catalan, although new data should apparently be added using the survey tool. New locale bug requests can be raised from the tracking system home page, but you should first search the CLDR tracking system using the search box, to find other bug reports for your language. When requesting a change, you should provide references, preferably to on-line sources, so that the CLDR staff can easily verify your request. If you can't provide a reliable source, you may have to wait a very long time to get your request processed. Once fixed, the new language name translation is released in the next release of CLDR. New releases only happen about twice a year for CLDR, although major bugs are fixed in interim releases.
If a language name has not been translated into your language yet on CLDR, then the CLDR data file will contain the language name in the fallback language used in CLDR for your language; see this discussion on Sorbian.
If CLDR does not yet have a locale for your language, then you could request one at CLDR, so that other websites and programs can offer an interface in your language. However, if you cannot get a locale added to CLDR, or CLDR does not support the language name you wish to translate, you can request language name support for translatewiki.net and MediaWiki at Support on translatewiki.net.
Read more about CLDR at its page on translatewiki.net.
Messages are never blank in the finished translated software. If no translation has been completed for a message in a particular language then the project software displays the message which exists in the fallback language. The default fallback language is English, the language of the original messages. However, it is possible to set a different fallback language when a new language is added to translatewiki.net. This is useful when there is another language which is a more familiar second language than English to speakers of the target language. This is particularly useful where the alternative fallback and target languages share the same non-Roman script or direction. Where an alternative fallback language is set, a message which has not yet been translated will appear in the fallback language, in both translatewiki.net and the relevant project. If it has not yet been translated to the fallback language, then it will appear in English.
Messages not existing in English extremely rare. Usually, they point to undetected programming errors, most often typing errors in a message name. They appear as <message_name> or as <message_name> when displayed.
Language-dependent word conversions has a general introduction to the Plural function; why you need it, etc. See also Parameter substitution.
If the grammar for plural in your language is different from the grammar for plural in the language that your translation is based upon then you are going to need to have a special Plural function designed for your language. For example, if your translation is based on English, but the grammar for plural in your language is not [word/grammar for 1][word/grammar for all numbers except 1] then your LanguageXx.php file will need to include a definition for plural in your language. If you don't know computer code then all you need do is leave a message on the Support page describing how plural works in your language. Give an example for each number, or group of numbers, which has a different plural. Then ask a developer to code this for you.
As at February 2008 the sourcecode can cope with a language having any number of different groups of numbers (see Translating:Interface translation/guidelines).
If an English message uses the PLURAL function but your translation doesn't use it then the software will include this on the list of localisation checks - see examples on 'Localisation checks'. As yet, there is no quick fix to this. The long way round this is to type the PLURAL function as if you needed it, e.g. {{PLURAL:$1|word|word}} for a 2 option PLURAL function and a variable $1. There is a quicker way which is to type {{PLURAL:$1|word}} - you only need to type the word once.
If your language does not need the PLURAL function at all, then explain this on the Support page. You may be able to get the check software to ignore missing PLURALs in your language.
There are languages that use grammar variations on totally different criteria than "one", or "several". Compare with English: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th.
GRAMMAR is a parser function in MediaWiki which operates with other magic words to produce the correct grammatical form of a magic word. See Grammar for more details.
At http://browsershots.org/ you can test URLs on their appearance in different browsers and on different systems.
Here is an attempt to explain some of the terms used on wikis and other websites. See the glossary on Wikipedia for a list of terms specific to Wikipedia. If you can't find a word on the Wikipedia glossary or below, please ask on Support.
There is a set of templates which you can use to make internal links to messages. These links link to the edit page of the message in the language that the reader has set as their main interface language (the default language). These templates are written as follows:
Example: Writing {{msg-voctrain|Voctrain_Hello_World}} gives Voctrain_Hello_World ("HELLO WIKI!").
The current text of a MediaWiki message in your default language appears in brackets after the link. If you don't want the current text to appear please add the parameter "|notext=Yes" (or "notext=1") to the template, after the message title. Example:
You can also use an ordinary internal link to link to a particular message in a particular language. Example: writing [[mwlib:043dd90b8ffc8d85153fb1c96bda4bb72aa8fdb2-rendering/en]] gives you mwlib:043dd90b8ffc8d85153fb1c96bda4bb72aa8fdb2-rendering/en. This is sometimes useful if the templates above don't work for some reason. But please bear in mind that linking to the English source message is potentially confusing, because it could lead to them being accidentally edited. For notes on changing the English source message see above.
It is possible to add "/{{SUBPAGENAME}}" to the link after the page title. If the link starts from a page with the language code qqq then it will lead to a page with the language code qqq. Example: This link, [[MediaWiki:Hide/{{SUBPAGENAME}}|hide]], is on the page MediaWiki:Whatlinkshere-hidelinks/qqq. Click on the link "hide" to see where it takes you.
Yes, you can use interwiki prefixes instead of web addresses for writing links to external wikis and websites. The table of interwiki prefixes is here.
Some writers on the internet like to use abbreviations for things. If you have been puzzling over what these abbreviations mean then here are some which have appeared on translatewiki.net, with a guess as to what they mean!
If you come across unintelligible abbreviations in messages that need to be translated, please report them on Support so that the message can be changed.
"Bumping a thread" is the concept of reactivating a thread that has fallen down or off a "recent activity" list of threads so that it goes to the top of the list of threads with recent activity again; the aim of the bump is to make the thread seen again. This is usually the default. A "bump" in forums is often a "no text" message only containing "*bump*". The bump is done by ticking the tickbox 'bump this thread' at the bottom of the edit box, when you 'add a reply' to a discussion thread (when using "liquid threads").
Mediawiki developers have been asked to write text messages both before and after input boxes (including drop-down boxes) in future, so that translators can put text before or after, or on both sides, of an input box. However, it is not straightforward to fix the messages already in Mediawiki, and programmers on other software using translatewiki.net for localisation may not be aware of this issue. This is a flaw that may not be fixable.
Some suggestions for alternative wording which may help you if you have this problem are noted here:
Logs in Mediawiki are formed by using a string of messages, which are put in the correct word order for English. This is usually (time and date) (name of user performing action) (description of action) (notes or links to further actions) - see Special:Log for examples. At present this message order cannot be changed. Where a different word order is required, then it may be possible to reword, possibly not using complete sentences. For example, it may be possible to use a note form, something like... 'Action performed; description of action'.
Some language teams have written databases of localised terminology for use in their translation work, for example at Portal:Hu/MediaWiki they have a database of MediaWiki terms with Hungarian equivalents. On Meta there are also similar databases for translators, for example French glossary. Although the translators’ databases are kept at either translatewiki.net or meta the discussion and agreement of the terms could be happening on one of the wiki projects for that language, usually Wikipedia.
These databases are set up for translators. At the same time there is a need to develop localised glossaries of MediaWiki terminology which include explanations of the terms, as for example this Korean glossary on meta. Usually the translatewiki.net translators are also involved in writing the glossaries for localised projects and Metawiki. If there are links between these different glossaries, then it should be easier to make sure that new additions to one glossary are included on or copied to the related glossaries on other sites.
The principles of using consistent localised terminology are true for all projects. So projects which have specialised terminology specific to that project could do with a localised database of terms agreed by the translation team at translatewiki.net. If any other project database of terms has already been written, please provide a link to an example here.
Some lesser used languages do not yet have a large vocabulary connected to information technology. IT vocabulary is also expanding rapidly in all languages. Some languages have started to develop strategies to build localised technical terms. These strategies will be different for each language, depending on the availability of information technology to speakers of that language. Translatewiki.net translators usually use technical terms that are already in common usage. Where there are none, or no term has yet won general acceptance, then a strategy of discussion and using databases to build terminology, is sometimes used. Such a strategy would work best on a project which is as widely-used as possible, usually Wikipedia. Where a Wikipedia has a vocabulary database, then a resource link for translators can be added to the language portal on translatewiki.net.
None. The wiki originally started out as Betawiki on a domain name that had no relation to its name. When translatewiki.net moved to its own domain name, no "betawiki" domain names were available, leading to the registration of translatewiki.net.
mul, und, zxxI noticed that there is a language called "mul - Multiple Languages". What does that mean? How to translate to it?
There are language codes that do not refer to actual languages. They identify some specific special cases:
mul — content composed of various, or multiple, or mixed languages,und — undetermined — the language is undefined or unknown,zxx — there is no linguistic content, such as in an empty page, or a text-less photograph, or an orchestral piece of music.There are no translations to or from any of those.