This article describes how to handle the translations of existing articles as well as how to create new articles in your native language.
English is the primary language of the Slackware Documentation Project. Every Wiki article must at least have an English version. This is logical since Slackware Linux has an English-only installer and English-only documentation. The admin team also wants to prevent this project from getting stuck in a Babylonian mess.
That being said, there are many valuable contributors who simply don't want to write a text in a language that is not their native language. We don't want to frustrate all these potential writers, the more so since we count on each one of you for making this project happen. After some discussion on the admin list, we found a viable solution for this dilemma.
The wiki must already support your language for you to be able to contribute. If your language is not listed in the “in other languages” dropdown on the left menu, please consult the last paragraph of the
languages page first, which explains how to ask for a new language to be added to the wiki (in short, contact an admin or write on the discussion page of the languages page).
If you want to translate an existing article, so that is already written in English, follow these steps:
Navigate to the desired article.
In the left pane of the website, locate the “In Other Languages” box, and select your language.
You will reach a page telling you that the page doesn't exist. Click on the “create this page” tab on the top of the page.
Add a warning note to the page, saying “Work in progress (your name)”, and save it immediately. This will prevent double work.
Start translating, on your local editor or online with the Wiki's editor. Remember to stick to the template provided.
HINT: an easy way to keep the original document structure is to copy the original source of the article (not just the content). To do this, click the “view source” tab on the top of the original English article, and paste it on your editor. Just take care to keep the sources and tags section valid.
If you are using the manual way to create the translated page (adding your language to the document location in the browser's address bar), you must not change the name of the page!
For example, to translate
slackware:install into Brazilian Portuguese, just add the
pt-br: prefix in the
URL like this:
pt-br:slackware:install . Do NOT change the page name “
install” to its Brazilian Portuguese translation of “
instalar” ! Again, you should only translate the page's content, not the page name.
If you want to create a new article in your native language, it is important to first create the English version of the page, using an English word for the page. A page name like “instalar” is not an English word and therefore will not be accepted!
You can start with an empty English page if you want, with for example just a title and containing a warning that you are working on a translated version first. Then, follow the same procedure as described in Translating a page. You must also contact a translator via the mailing list.
Here's an example. Let's say you're French, and you wish to contribute a HOWTO about OCR text scanning, in French.
Find a suitable English name for the page, create it, and add a note saying “Work in progress on the French translation (your name)”.
-
Send a message to the slackdocs@alienbase.nl mailing list, asking for a translator for your language. Something in the line of: “Hello everybody, I'm busy writing a HOWTO about OCR text scanning in French. Can anybody translate my article into English once it's finished?”.
As soon as you find your translator, or an editor picks one for you - which shouldn't be too hard, since our numbers seem to grow daily - you continue the discussion off-list, until both the text and the translation are finished.
The English text gets published first, in the main section of the site. The Sources section mentions you as the author, and the translator as such.
Finally, your original text gets published in the French section of the site, mentioning you as the author again.
If no translator can be found for your language, a good practice is to put your article through an automatic translator like
http://translate.google.com/, paste the translated English text into the empty English page, and post on the
slackdocs mailing list for help to fix the English translation.
Creating the English version is a requirement if you want the site editors to accept the article in your own language.
You should add a warning or a tag to the English version that it is in need of proof-reading and editing (see also
Pages That Require Attention from an Admin).