English/Help/Translating Pen Pal Wiki
From Pen Pal Wiki
Please note: Pen Pal Wiki has changed direction slightly. This article covers one aspect of translating Pen Pal Wiki (pages with listings of people wanting pen pals), but doesn't cover other important aspects, such as an emerging system which allows registered users to have a user page categorised by interests, languages, age group, etc. Please be sure you understand exactly what is happening at the moment before you start translating, so that you can translate what most needs translating and what most likely will not quickly need retranslating. For more information see the project page.
This article will need revising or rewriting. Please feel free to do this if you can.
Pen Pal Wiki aims to be available in as many languages as possible. Your help in achieving this will be greatly appreciated!
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[edit] Translating Pen Pal Wiki
There are two main ways to translate Pen Pal Wiki. One's easier for you, and one's easier for someone else.
If you know enough about editing wikis, are confident you can edit a template without mucking it up, and have the time, please use the first way of translating.
If, for any reason at all, you cannot do it the first way, then you're welcome to do it the second way instead.
[edit] The first way of translating
The slightly harder way of translating Pen Pal Wiki involves setting up all the pages and templates for your translation yourself, based on another version (preferably the English one). You need to have a basic knowledge of editing wikis to do this. It's not that bad, so follow these instructions carefully and you shouldn't have any problems.
[edit] Page names
All of the pages you will be translating should be created using the following guidelines:
The names of most pages follow this template:
- Language/Page name
Examples:
- English/Under 18
- Français/Moins de 18 ans
Note that the name of the language is in that language. So it's Français not French, Español not Spanish, and Deutsch not German.
Each language on Pen Pal Wiki has its own main page, which is simply called the name of that language. Examples:
- English
- Nederlands
The main page, like all pages, features navigation links. You'll learn about these later on in the templates section. It can also feature a welcome message, news, advice on using Pen Pal Wiki, etc.
Some sections, such as Help, have subpages, in which case they follow this template:
- Language/Section/Page
Example:
- English/Help/Translating Pen Pal Wiki
[edit] Templates
Pen Pal Wiki has a number of templates designed to manage navigation between pages and languages. Perhaps the most confusing aspect of translating on this wiki is configuring and using these templates. Don't worry, it's not very difficult.
[edit] Language Template
To start with, you'll have to make a new template for your language. You do this by creating an article with a name following this template:
- Template:Language
Examples:
- Template:English
- Template:Italiano
This template will contain navigation links for your translation in a simple table. Just copy the coding from Template:English into the template for your language and adjust the links so that they link to the pages on your translation and have names in your language.
This template will be put into every page in your translation.
[edit] Universal Templates
Pen Pal Wiki has a template for every main type of page to link between all available languages. So far, the templates are:
- main (Main Page)
- -18 (Under 18)
- 18 (Over 18, THERE IS NO PLUS SIGN!)
- 30 (Over 30, NO PLUS SIGN EITHER!)
- school (Schools)
- success (Success stories)
- links (Links)
- help
You will have to edit each of the above templates (the easiest way is to click on the above links, wait for them to load, and then click on Edit).
On each of these templates, put a link to the corresponding page in your translation. If your translation is not yet going to have a corresponding page, link it to your translation's Main Page (ie. the name of the language).
[edit] Translating the pages (finally)!
On the first line of each page insert the template for your language, and on the second line insert the universal template for that page. Examples:
- {{English}}
{{-18}} - {{Français}}
{{school}}
On the third line of each directory page, insert the following coding, translating the writing which is not bold into your language, and adjusting the "Under 18s only" notice to suit whichever page you are translating (see the various English pages for an indication of what you should say on each page).
- '''[{{fullurl:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|action=edit§ion=new}} Click here to add yourself to this page] (Under 18s only)'''
Perhaps the last major rule is please don't translate the actual pen pal listings. Somebody on the French section probably doesn't want to be listed on the Russian section!
Aside from all that, use your common sense as to how various phrases and pages should be translated. Feel free to add relevant articles as you see fit.
[edit] The second way of translating
If, for any reason, you cannot use the above method of translation, you can just translate all of the pages you want to translate and leave your translation on New translations and hope that somebody else sets it all up for you. Your contribution will be appreciated.
[edit] Correcting, improving, and adding to translations
If a language hasn't been entirely translated, and it seems that the other translator(s) haven't translated anything for a while, feel free to pick up where they left off. If other people are actively translating, introduce yourself to them and offer to give them a helping hand; that way they'll be able to direct your efforts where they're most wanted and needed.
If a translation is clearly incorrect (and you know the language well enough to know that it's clearly incorrect), feel free to correct the translation. If it's something more picky, use your common sense as to whether you should mention it on a talk page first.
A new translation doesn't have to be identical to other translations. If you feel a help file, article, or other page is in order then feel free to add it. If you want to do something slightly more drastic like revamping the translation's main page, bring it up on the talk page to make sure that everyone else is happy with the idea.
