Translation Guide
We’re glad you’re interested in translating NUPP and making it available to a larger audience. This page provides you with the following:
- The content that needs to be translated
- Explanations about the translation process
Approach
Some people use machine translation (e.g., Google Translator) to translate everything into the target language and then review the output and make adjustments. Please don’t do it! It never results in a good enough text that the audience deserves.
Please accept this work only if you have the time and will to do a real translation that the audience would love and appreciate – one you would be proud of!
Initial arrangements
If you’re interested in translating NUPP, make sure you discuss it with one of the coordination team members or contact info@omimo.org first, because other volunteers may already be working on the same target language, in which case, we’ll make arrangements for you to join the existing team if possible.
Amount of work
The translatable content is 6200 words, which is equivalent to 12 pages of standard text.
Questions and problems
If you have any questions during the translation process, feel free to contact us:
info@omimo.org
The general approach
You don’t need to be committed to the words and sentences in NUPP; the only important thing is the meaning behind the words. So, feel free to use any construct in the target language that can communicate the meaning in a simple and clear way. If you have doubts about the meaning of something, let us know and we can explain it.
Translating key phrases
There may be different ways of translating a key phrase. Usually, the translation that is more common in the target language is preferred. If you’re not sure how to translate a key phrase, check the existing professional texts in your target language.
For example, if you’re wondering how to translate “wisdom of the crowd”, you can open its English page in Wikipedia, and then use the languages section on the sidebar to open the same page in your target language (if it exists) and see how it is translated: “wijsheid van de massa” in Dutch, “sagesse de la foule” in French, “saggezza della folla” in Italian, etc.
Source files
Here’s a compressed file, containing all the source files:
nupp.zip
One of the files is UI.txt, which contains the phrases used in the user interface. Other than that, there’s an introduction and 6 files for each of the principles. These files contain a metadata block at the top, followed by the main content below it.
Please do not change file names.
Metadata
The metadata is the block at the top of each file that starts and ends with --- (three hyphens).
Only the text in front of the “description” field needs to be translated (excluding the “description” key at the beginning).
Content
What comes after the metadata block is the main content, which is in markdown. Markdown is a simple way of formating text. Only 4 syntax forms are used in the text:
- Lines starting with
##are headers. - Lines starting with
*are bulleted lists. - Phrases surrounded by a pair of asterisks, like
**important word**, are bold. - Something like
[website](https://example.com)is a hyperlink with a visible text of ‘website’.
For hyperlinks, the visible text may need to be translated. The internal links shouldn’t change, as they automatically adjust to the target language.
Finally, remember that paragraphs are separated by one or more empty lines. If you start a new line without leaving an empty line before it, it will be merged into the previous paragraph.
Thanks, and good luck!