Translate AlphOne
This page is for you if you speak a language other than English and want AlphOne to speak it too. You do not need to write code, and you do not need to use Git.
What you are translating
Section titled “What you are translating”AlphOne keeps every sentence the interface shows in a list, separate from the code. Each entry has an English original and a place for your translation. The English original is called the source string, and it never changes when you translate it.
There are four lists rather than one. The core interface keeps one, and each plugin keeps its own, so the WhatsApp plugin’s words live apart from the core’s. Most strings live in the core list, and the plugin lists are short.
The lists live in a file format called PO, short for Portable Object, which is the format the GNU gettext tools have used for decades. You will not have to edit those files by hand. A website does it for you.
Where the work happens
Section titled “Where the work happens”Translation happens on POEditor, a website built for exactly this. You sign in, pick your language, and you see the English on one side and a box for your language on the other. You fill in the boxes. Each of the four lists is its own project there, and the same account reaches all of them.
Join whichever projects you want to work on. The first one holds most of the words, and the other three are short.
- AlphOne, the interface itself
- Fields, the plugin for custom contact fields
- Importer, the plugin that reads contacts from a file
- WhatsApp, the plugin for WhatsApp conversations
Ask a maintainer to add your language if it is not listed yet. Any language can be added, and a language with a single contributor is welcome. A new language also needs a small change in AlphOne itself, because the server keeps its own list of the languages a reader may pick.
Things worth knowing before you start
Section titled “Things worth knowing before you start”Placeholders must survive. Some strings carry a marker like
%(name)s or %(max)d. These are holes the software fills in with a
name or a number. Copy every marker into your translation exactly as it
appears. You may move a marker to wherever your language needs it, and
you should when word order differs. You may never rename one, drop one
or add one. The repository checks this before your work ships, but a
correct marker saves everyone a round trip.
Context tells two identical words apart. English reuses one word for different things. Status means one thing for an account and another for a message. When a string carries a context note, translate the meaning that note describes. Your language may well need two different words where English used one, and that is the reason the context exists.
An empty box is safe. A string you have not translated yet shows in English. Nothing breaks when a list is half done, so partial work ships without harm.
Some words stay in English. The names AlphOne and WhatsApp are never translated.
Write the way the software speaks. AlphOne addresses the reader directly and plainly. Keep sentences short, and prefer the everyday word over the technical one when both exist.
What happens to your translation
Section titled “What happens to your translation”Nothing you translate goes live immediately, and that is deliberate.
Once a week, an automated job collects everything translated since the last collection and opens a single pull request against the repository. One request carries every language and every list that moved. If nobody translated anything that week, no request is opened.
A maintainer reviews and merges it, the same way code is reviewed. Your work then ships with the next release. A reader picks your language on their Language screen, and the interface answers in it from then on.
Translations are batched rather than sent one at a time so that reviewing them stays practical. It also means there is no rush. Translate at whatever pace suits you, and the next collection will pick your work up.
Marking a translation as needing review
Section titled “Marking a translation as needing review”A translation can be marked unverified, which gettext calls fuzzy. It means the words are there but somebody should check them. Use it when you are unsure, and a later reviewer will see that you flagged it.