Adding a language for translation
That's sad to hear. How poor is the connectivity? They may get better results with the tux=0 interface. If that doesn't work, just let me know the usernames and I'll add the rights; usually we ask a first test import, but assuming you're keeping an eye on their edits it's more important for them to quickly upload their changes.
Hi Nemo, Thanks for the help and the offer for import rights. In the end they got by with the interface ok despite poor connectivity, so luckily we can avoid the bulk import route. They're making good progress over at the most used message group. So far they're up to 347 of 479, but the progress is reported as only 27% - any idea why? Do translations need to be approved to count? Yours
Strictly speaking you will need to translate 18% of the Mediawiki core messages to start exporting to MediaWiki. This is currently 544 messages, which is 66 more than the 478 most-used messages. See FAQ. Also, if one or two of the most-used messages are very very difficult to translate, then you could translate more of the core messages instead, for now, and return to the difficult ones later.