View source for Translating:MediaWiki

[[File:Mediawiki-logo.png|right|MediaWiki logo]]
{{Project subtitle|id=mediawiki|ns=8}}
[https://www.mediawiki.org/ MediaWiki] is open source wiki software on which this site runs, and which can be translated here. Support for translating hundreds of MediaWiki extensions is also available.

Translators may add <tt>MediaWiki</tt> to their babel box or include [[Template:User MediaWiki|<nowiki>{{User MediaWiki}}</nowiki>]] to add themselves to [[:Category:MediaWiki translators]].

== Glossary ==
A brief explanation of some terms used in this document:
; MediaWiki
: The software that powers Wikipedia and many other websites. It allows people to edit pages in collaboration.
; Wikimedia
: The organization that maintains Wikipedia, Wikidata, and several other websites, as well as the MediaWiki software.
; Message
: A translatable string.
; Message documentation
: While translating, documentation about the message is shown on the sidebar next to the translation. It is also known as "qqq" in MediaWiki developers' jargon.

== Translation flow ==
You made some changes here? This is what happens then and how long it takes to take effect.
;Export threshold: Messages do not start to be exported to MediaWiki until at least 13% of the core MediaWiki messages in that language have been translated ([[gerrit:291231|used to be 18%]]): under such amount, the export scripts automatically skip the language in question and developers won't add support for the language on MediaWiki. The threshold corresponds to the number of all most used messages in MediaWiki or more; see also [[Translatewiki.net languages]].
;Wikimedia sites—Wikipedia, Wikidata, Wikisource, Wikivoyage, etc.
:Interface message changes should be reflected in projects within 48 hours. Everything else (magic words, special pages...) may take from days to months.
;Wikia
:Wikia usually uses customised stable revisions of the MediaWiki software. Consequently, the localisation of the MediaWiki core product, and ''standard'' MediaWiki extension from the main repository have a stable localisation state.
;Everything else 
:New translations are shipped with each new MediaWiki release (1.'''x''') and usually with maintenance releases too (1.x.'''y'''). There are only a few releases per year, and many sites do not update often. Since version 1.16 onwards it is possible to install the [[mw:Extension:LocalisationUpdate|LocalisationUpdate extension]], which speeds up the process a lot.

===Why translate on translatewiki.net===

MediaWiki is one of the few software packages that allow its users to translate it using itself. Thanks to translatewiki.net, however, localising it is even easier and more efficient.
In addition to the [[Project:About#Why use translatewiki.net|general advantages of this wiki]], compared to local translation:

* '''Your translations are used on [[mw:Sites using MediaWiki|every MediaWiki wiki]]''', this includes [[meta:Special:SiteMatrix|every Wikimedia wiki]], see [[#Translation flow]].
* You can localise '''namespaces''' (Help, User, Talk, ...), '''special page names''' (Recentchanges, Allpages, ...), and '''magic words'''.
*: The message groups above cannot be localised in a normal wiki, because they are buried deep down in the software. Here you ''can'' localise these message groups, and later on your changes can be used in every installation of MediaWiki again. See [[#Translation notes]] below.
* You can '''translate new messages faster''' than on a local wiki.
*: We always have the latest version of the software. This means new messages show up much faster than on any other wiki and you have more time to translate them before they arrive to your wiki. This can also mean translatewiki.net uses an unstable version, but problems are usually solved quickly.
* The only drawback is that your translations will not show up on your local wiki immediately, but after a few days to weeks; or, if you are using a release version, after the next update. However, for the previous point, there's no reason to be in a hurry: just check new messages regularly and translate them in time.
*:See [[FAQ#How is the work done on translatewiki.net connected to other wikis?]].

== Extensions ==
All MediaWiki extensions are supported as long as they are in Wikimedia's [[mw:Git|Git repository]] or in GitHub and their developers are supportive enough of translators.

If you don't want your extension to be added to translation, because you're going to soon change many messages completely or to delete the extension altogether, please state it clearly somewhere so that we don't add it when it's still too soon. In both cases, cc [[User:Raymond|Raymond]] to a changeset on gerrit if you feel your extension's case might have been neglected.

{{Anchor|translation-notes}}<!-- for links from external pages-->

== Translation notes ==
*For an English glossary of MediaWiki specific terminology see [[MetaWikipedia:Glossary|Meta-wiki]].
*MediaWiki translation supports [[Plural#Plural_in_MediaWiki|plural rules]], [[grammar]] functions and [[gender]]. See also the general [[Localisation guidelines]].
*Contacts:
**For MediaWiki core and main extensions: none defined, see [[mw:Developers/Maintainers]] and [[mw:Gerrit/Navigation#System messages]].
**For Semantic MediaWiki extensions: [[User:Kghbln|Kghbln]].

=== Recommended process for translating MediaWiki ===
Translators of other projects can ignore this list.

* first translate the {{SpecialTranslate|group=core-0-mostused|most often used messages}}
* complete the {{SpecialTranslate|group=core|core messages}}
* check if you should translate any {{SpecialTranslate|group=core|task=optional|optional messages}}
* do a consistency check (terminology, formal/informal) on your localisation
* translate special page names, magic words and namespaces on <tvar|adv-tran><nowiki>[[</nowiki>Special:AdvancedTranslate]]</> '''(temporary disabled; see [[phab:T109235]])'''
* translate the {{SpecialTranslate|group=ext-0-wikimedia|extension messages used in Wikimedia wikis}}
* translate the {{SpecialTranslate|group=ext-0-all|remaining extension messages}}
* do a consistency check (terminology, formal/informal) on your localisation between core messages and extension messages
* start maintaining your language's localisation on a regular basis. At least once per month is recommended.

Read on if you want to know more. Reading on is not required, although advised for a proper understanding of more advanced localisation features. You could spend a few days translating, though, and come back when you think you need more information.

=== Wiki syntax ===
Many messages use symbols such as <nowiki>==, ===, [[]], {{}}, *, #</nowiki>, and so on. This is wiki syntax, also known as "wikitext" or "wiki markup". This is not a requirement, but it is recommended to be familiar with some wiki syntax by editing a few pages on another wiki site, such as Wikipedia, before translating MediaWiki messages at translatewiki.

The most common and basic elements wiki syntax that you should know:
; <nowiki>[[target]]</nowiki> : Square brackets create a link to the word in the brackets.
; <nowiki>[[target|text]]</nowiki> : When a pipe (|) is used in a link, the link will point to page whose name appears before the pipe (target), and the readers will see the text that appears after the pipe (text). Usually, the "text" should be translated to your language, but the target must remain in English, especially if the target is a special page such as <nowiki>[[Special:RecentChanges]]</nowiki>. If in doubt, check the documentation.
; <nowiki>==, ===, ====</nowiki> : Repeated equal marks in the beginning and the end of the line are used to create headings of paragraphs. Simply copy them to the translation, and translate the text of the heading itself to your language. Make sure that the same number of equal signs appears in the beginning and the end of the line, and that it's the same as in the source message.
; <nowiki>{{template}}, {{magicword}}, {{#magicword:parameter1|parameter2}}</nowiki> : In wiki sites curly braces are most often used for inserting [[:mw:Help:Templates|templates]], pieces of text that are stored once and are included repeatedly on many pages. They are also occasionally used for magic words. In messages on translatewiki templates are not used frequently, however many messages include magic words. The most frequent magic words in messages are <nowiki>{{plural}} and {{gender}}</nowiki>. For more information, see the section on magic words on this page. If a magic word begins with #, it must appear in the translation. Usually, the names of templates and magic words must remain in English, but parameters can often be translated. When in doubt, check the message documentation or ask at [[Support]].
; <nowiki>*</nowiki> : When the asterisk (*) appears in the beginning of a line, it creates an item in a bullets list.
; <nowiki>#</nowiki> : When the [[:w:en:Number sign|number sign]] (#), also known as hash mark, octothorp, hex, pound, etc., appears in the beginning of a line, it creates an item in a numbered list.

=== Magic words and language features ===
Most of what you will be translating is English text. However, some parts will be more technical: these are variables, also known as placeholders, and "magic words". Here are the main ones that you need to know.

==== $1, $2, $3, etc.: variables ====
Many messages must show things that are not known during the time of the translation. The value is known only when the message is shown to the user. Common examples of things that are shown instead of $1, $2, $3, etc. are usernames, page names, file names, and various numbers. The documentation explains what will these variables be replaced with. Examples:
* The message is "You received a message from $1" and the documentation says: "$1 is a username". When the the message is shown to a user who received a message from the user Amire80, the message will say "You received a message from Amire80".
* The message is "There are $1 pages in the category $2" and the documentation says: "$1 is the number of pages and $2 is a category name", then when you look at the category "[[:w:en:Category:19th-century Russian monarchs|19th-century Russian monarchs]]", the message will say "There are 7 pages in the category 19th-century Russian monarchs".

Put these variables in the place where the corresponding words or numbers appear in your language. It doesn't have to be the same as in English.

Note that you must always use the Western Arabic numerals: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0. If you language uses different numerals, such as ١ ٢ ٣, १ २ ३, ߁ ߂ ߃, etc. remember to switch your keyboard and use the Western Arabic numerals 1 2 3, etc., in variables with the dollar sign ($).

==== PLURAL ====
If you see something like <nowiki>$1 {{PLURAL:$1|page|pages}}</nowiki> in a translatable message, this means that the word will be shown according to the value of the variable $1. Note that you must not change the "PLURAL:$1" part, but you must translate the "page|pages" part.

Different languages have different grammatical rules for plural forms. English has one form (singular) for the number 1, and the plural form is used for zero and for all the other numbers: ''0 pages'', ''1 page'', ''2 pages'', ''10 pages'', etc. Polish uses singular for number 1, and different plural forms for numbers 2, 3, 4, and numbers from 5 and up. The translation to Polish will be "<nowiki>$1 {{PLURAL:$1|strona|strony|stron}}</nowiki>"; note that there are three forms, and not two, like in English. The output, depending on the number, will be:
* when $1 is 1: ''1 strona''
* when $1 is 2: ''2 strony''
* when $1 is 4: ''4 strony''
* when $1 is 5: ''5 stron''

The rules are defined in a standard called [[:w:en:CLDR|CLDR]], which has information about many languages. If information about plural forms in your language is not defined, or if it is defined incorrectly, see the page [[CLDR]] for tips about how it can be fixed.

If your language has no plural forms at all, then simply write something like <nowiki>$1 {{PLURAL:$1|page}}</nowiki>.

For more technical information on PLURAL, see the page [[Plural]].

==== GENDER ====
Many messages depend on the grammatical gender of the users who are mentioned in them, masculine or feminine. Each logged in user can select their gender in their user preferences.

Here is an example of how gender is used in messages. The message is "<nowiki>$1 {{GENDER:$1|mentioned}} you on {{GENDER:$1|his|her|their}} talk page</nowiki>", and the documentation says "$1 - user's name".
* If you use MediaWiki in English, the verb "mentioned" will be the same everywhere, because English verbs don't change with gender, but the pronoun will be chosen according to gender:
** When user Jack, who set his gender to "he" (masculine) in the preferences, mentioned you, you will see the following: "Jack mentioned you on his talk page".
** When user Jane, who set her gender to "she" (feminine) in the preferences, mentioned you, you will see the following: "Jane mentioned you on her talk page".
** When user Lee, who didn't set their gender in the preferences, mentioned you, you will see the following: "Lee mentioned you on their talk page".
* If you use MediaWiki in Polish, the verb changes, but the pronoun in this sentence is the same. The translation to Polish is <nowiki>$1 {{GENDER:$1|wspomniał|wspomniała|wspomniał(a)}} o tobie na {{GENDER:$1|swojej}} stronie"</nowiki>
** Jack wspomniał o tobie na swojej stronie.
** Jane wspomniała o tobie na swojej stronie.
** Lee wspomnieli o tobie na swojej stronie.

If <nowiki>{{GENDER}}</nowiki> is used in the English message, but different gender forms are not needed in the translation to your language, just write GENDER with one form.

Do not translate the word "GENDER" into your language. It's a technical magic word, and it must remain in English.

For more technical information on GENDER, see the page [[Gender]].

==== Other magic words ====

If you need to refer to the name of the site, you can use the magic word <nowiki>{{SITENAME}}</nowiki>. (It usually appears in the source message.)

If your language uses inflection or special punctuation, you should talk to the developers about implementing some support for it. Once this is done you can use forms like <nowiki>{{GRAMMAR:genitive|{{SITENAME}}}}</nowiki> to refer to the sitename in genitive.

You may also see [[:w:en:HTML|HTML]] tags such as <nowiki><strong></nowiki>, <nowiki><var></nowiki>, <nowiki><kbd></nowiki>, <nowiki><span></nowiki>, and others in messages. You should use them in the corresponding places in the translation.

Never translate magic words and HTML tags. They must always remain in English, as in the source message.

=== Links to special pages ===

<translate>
Links to special pages in messages should always follow the syntax:
</translate>
 '''<nowiki>[[</nowiki>Special:'''''<translate>'''canonic-english-name'''</translate>'''''|'''''<translate>translated-link-anchor</translate>''''']]'''
<translate>
All '''bold''' parts should stay as they are. Do translate ''translated-link-anchor'' into your language. If there is no vertical bar ('''<code>|</code>''') followed by a link anchor (a descriptive text shown to the reader) in the original message, add them, using the ''canonic-english-name'' as the source of your translation.

Some languages allow you to use either of:
</translate>
 '''<nowiki>[[</nowiki>Special:'''''<translate>canonic-english-name</translate>'''''|{<!-- -->{#special:'''''<translate>canonic-english-name</translate>'''''}}]]'''
 '''<nowiki>[[</nowiki>Special:'''''<translate>canonic-english-name</translate>'''''|{<!-- -->{int:'''''<translate>some-message-name</translate>'''''}}]]'''
<translate>
which is ok to do. You run the risk, however, that amending these other translations may require amending messages that use them.

Also, subpages to ''Special:'' pages are left untranslated. Take the following message as an example:
</translate>
 '''<nowiki>[[</nowiki>Special:'''''<translate>canonic-english-name/subpage</translate>'''''|'''''<translate>translated-link-anchor</translate>''''']]'''
<translate>
Here the text "canonic-english-name/subpage" are left untranslated. Do translate ''translated-link-anchor''.
</translate>

=== Translating namespace names ===
Every page on a MediaWiki site belongs to a namespace.

The main namespace, also known as the content space or the article space, includes the main content pages of the site. For example, on Wikipedia the encyclopedic articles are in the main namespace, on Wikivoyage the tour guide pages are in the main namespace, and so on. Other namespaces are for pages of discussions, help, documentation, user pages, and so on. See details below.

The name of the namespace appears in the beginning of the page, except for the pages in the main namespace. For example, all the pages in the Help namespace have names such as "Help:Editing", "Help:Uploading", and so on.

Pages in most (but not all) namespace can have a corresponding talk page, and these talk pages are in namespaces of their own. The talk namespace of the main namespace is called simply "Talk", the talk namespace of the Help namespace is called "Help talk", and so on.

Namespace names can be translated. If they aren't translated, they will appear in the fallback language. English namespace names can always be used in links to pages instead of the translated names.

==== Namespace name explanations ====
In the tables below, only the translation of the names in the "Namespace name" column is needed. The explanation is provided only for the convenience of the translators.

The namespaces that are used on all MediaWiki sites:

{| class="wikitable" width="100%"
|-
! style="width: 20%" | Namespace name
! Description
|-
| Media || A general name for various media files stored in a common media repository. For example: image file, audio file, video file, etc.
|-
| Special || This is an adjective. It's a namespace for special pages, which automatically show information about the wiki, such as Recent Changes, History, Statistics, Blocking, etc.
|-
| Talk || The talk page for the main namespaces. Talk pages is where discussion about other pages takes place.
|-
| User || This is a user of the wiki. If there are masculine and feminine forms for the word "user" in your wiki, it's possible to add both.
|-
| User talk || This is the talk page of a user. It's used for discussing things directly with a person, where as article talk pages are for talking about an article.
|-
| ''Project'' talk || The word "Project" is replaced with the name of the project, for example: "Wikipedia talk", "Wikisource talk", etc. This is for talk pages where the wiki site's internal administration pages are discussed.
|-
| File || A file, usually photos, videos, music, and PDFs. These pages show the file and some information about it.
|-
| File talk || A talk page for discussions about the file.
|-
| MediaWiki || Each pages in this namespace stores a translatable message. If a page exists, its content overrides the translation in the source code and in translatewiki. The spelling of the name "MediaWiki" can be adapted to your language, but it's nevertheless a name, and must remain recognizable.
|-
| MediaWiki talk || A talk page for discussions about the message in the MediaWiki namespace.
|-
| Template || A piece of text or code that can be embedded in other pages. Common examples of templates are infoboxes, citations, tags at the top of the article, etc.
|-
| Template talk || A talk page for discussions about a template.
|-
| Help || This is a namespace for help pages, which explain the users how to use the website.
|-
| Help talk || A talk page about help pages.
|-
| Category || These are pages that describe a category that includes other pages.
|-
| Category talk || A talk page about category pages.
|}

These namespaces are used in frequently used extensions, and should be translated as well:
{| class="wikitable" width="100%"
|-
! style="width: 20%" | Namespace name
! Description
|-
| Module || Modules are pieces of code that can be embedded into pages. They are similar to templates, but they are written in a programming language and not in wiki syntax.
|-
| Module talk || A talk page about a module.
|-
| Gadget || Gadgets are pieces of JavaScript code that can be written on a wiki site by the site's editors to enhance the site's functionality. They are stored as wiki pages.
|-
| Gadget talk || A talk page about a gadget.
|-
| Gadget definition || The gadget definition space is used for configuration metadata about a gadget.
|-
| Gadget definition talk || A talk page about a gadget definition.
|-
| Topic || A single discussion on a discussion board built using the Flow extension (also known as Structured Discussion). The word "topic" can be translated as in "a ''topic'' of discussion".
|-
| Page || In Wikisource sites, the page namespace shows a single page from a file that represents a book, such as PDF or DjVu, and allows people to transcribe it to a digital text.
|-
| Page talk || A talk page about a page.
|-
| Index || In Wikisource sites, the Index namespace describes a file that represents a book, such as PDF or DjVu, and maps between page numbers and different parts of the book.
|-
| Index talk || A talk page about an index.
|}

=== AdvancedTranslate ===
Before 2015, it was possible to translate names of namespaces and special pages in translatewiki on the page [[Special:AdvancedTranslate]]. Unfortunately, it had to be disabled for technical reasons. See [[gerrit:211677]].

While the page is disabled, you can get these translated by using one of the following options:
* file a request on [[Support]],
* directly [[mw:Special:MyLanguage/How to report a bug|request it on Phabricator]] (file a bug for the MediaWiki extension in question), or
* [with some command-line skills] do it yourself with [[mw:Gerrit/Tutorial|gerrit]].

In some rare cases where an extension doesn't support translation of namespaces, translation needs to be done with a local configuration setting for each wiki instead. See [[#Namespace name aliases]]. The developers will tell you if this is the case, answering your request.

=== Namespace name aliases ===
:''As of 2015, AdvancedTranslate is [[gerrit:211677|disabled]].''
Since [[mw:Localisation#Namespace name aliases|namespace name aliases]] cannot be localised via {{SITENAME}}'s [[Special:AdvancedTranslate]] because of their highly technical nature, you must make a request at [[support]]. Please list pairs of alias names, and their corresponding English namespace names. As a rule of thumb, whenever you alter namespace names via [[Special:AdvancedTranslate]], and there is a wiki using the affected language as its default language, do report it!

=== Sitename/project namespace on Wikimedia wikis ===
If the sitename at your project is not localized, you should contact the other contributors at your project and find consensus about translation, then open a request at Phabricator; see [[m:Requesting wiki configuration changes]].

=== Other technical issues ===
On MediaWiki, much more can be localised: see [[mw:Localisation#What can be localised]].

{{Project template|id=mediawiki|category=MediaWiki translators|threshold=0|interval=
;Wikimedia Gerrit: Translation updates are exported to version control every day
;GitHub: {{int:twn-projectpage-exports-1}} (Export threshold is {{Default export threshold}} %)
}}

=== Historical statistics ===
* [[/statistics/1.20|1.20]]
* [[/statistics/1.19|1.19]]
* [[/statistics/1.18|1.18]]
* [[/statistics/1.17|1.17]]
* [[/statistics/1.16|1.16]]
* [[/statistics/1.15|1.15]]
* [[/statistics/1.14|1.14]]

=== Other statistics and information ===
*[[/Statistics_in_time|Group statistics in time]] - gives an overview of the number of languages that pass translation milestones in time (discontinued October 2010).
*[[Project:MediaWiki_localisation_in_the_50_most_spoken_languages|Mediawiki localisation in the 50 most spoken languages of the world.]]
*[[Main Wikimedia extensions]] explains how this message group is defined.
*[[/Most often used messages]] explains how this message group is defined.

[[Category:Supported projects]]
[[Category:Wikimedia]]