Translation guide
The CouchSurfing Wiki, an informal workspace which anyone can edit.
- Translation - Translation guide - Missing languages - Wishlist
PAGE TO BE UPDATED
Contents |
Screenshot
- What is a screenshot ?
- A screenshot is a copy of what is on your computer screen at a certain moment.
- Why make a screenshot ?
- If you are working and notice a bug, it's one of the best way to show others exactly what's happening on your computer. Things might appear differently on other system, so a picture is worth a thousand words!
- How to make a screenshot in Windows ?
- Use the PrtScn (Print Screen) key. When you hit the key, it copies an image of your screen in the "clipboard". If you just want to have an image of the program window (not your whole desktop), hold Alt + PrtScn.
- The image is then ready to be pasted into any graphics program. You can use "Paint" for it (in your Start Menu > Accessories > Paint).
- Once in Paint, press Ctrl-v . This pastes the image in the program.
- Go in File > Save and choose where you wish to save it. Please change the file type to JPEG or GIF as it takes less space and is quicker to transfer.
- Your image is ready to be used either in Mantis or to be sent to translations at couchsurfing dot com
- How to make a screenshot in Mac ?
- Use Cmd + Shift + 3 to print the entire desktop
- Cmd + Shift + 4 will allow you to drag the area that you what to take the screenshot
- Cmd + Shift + 4 then hit the Space bar will show you a camera as icon, and it allows you to make an entire application window as an image, even if it's in the background
- All images will be in PNG format, to change just open in Preview and save as the format you prefer. To add the image into the web, just choose one of the dozens free image host websites like www.imageshack.com and then use the URL of the image in your posts using the html tag IMG.
More information on Apple's Tutorial page [1]
Using variables
Each time you see in a fragment something between ${ and }, it's a variable and you have to keep it like that, but you can place it somewhere else in the translated text of the fragment.
Example:
"Back to ${user_name}'s profile"
Translated (french):
"Revenir sur le profil de ${user_name}"
On the website, it'll show:
Original: "Back to Pierre GADNON's profile" Translated (french): "Revenir sur le profil de Pierre GANDON"
If you need to use a variable in a fragment that doesn't have any, please post about it in the Translation - General group.
Using & contributing to the CS Wiki
- You do not need to create an account to see the CS Wiki, but you need to find your way to the pages you need to use. Best is to bookmark them and ensure they are correctly categorized and gathered together. If this is done properly, you should be able to see all translation-related CS wiki pages. If not, mention it publicly, so we can correct that!
- To start editing it, you first need to create an account. Click on the Log in / create account link in the upper-right corner of this page to start the process.
- Once this is done, you might want to take time to read this page as it is an introduction to the CS wiki. Then you should read that one that explains how to create a new wiki page.
- You do not have to become experts on wiki formatting, but just to understand how it works from a basic point of view. Here are concepts & function that should be understood when working with the CS wiki:
- Page divisions and title hierarchy
- Bold, Italic
- Internal and External Links
The very basics of these can be found in the Wikipedia Cheatsheet
- Test the functions in the SandBox. In all wikis there is a SandBox which is a place to play: edit it the way you want, test how it looks, have fun. You should not do many tests on the other pages. If you do so, use the fucntion "Show preview" as much as you can to prevent saving versions
Language Database
On CouchSurfing, all languages can be associated with a distinct number.
In addition to that, we associate the Alpha 2-Letter code (ISO 639-1) for that language, sometimes followed by a dash and a 2-letter code for the specific dialect or regional variation.
This is not fully exact: we sometimes use ISO 639-2 and ISO 639-3 for regional languages. This part needs to be clarified. Also add info about translated versions and dialects.
Examples:
29 - en - English 35 - fr - French 72 - ms - Malay and also 165 - fr-be - French (Belgium) 166 - fr-ca - French (Canada) 167 - fr-fr - French (France) 168 - fr-lu - French (Luxembourg) ... etc
Of course, we wouldn't want a person speaking French (France) not being able to find a French-speaking Couchsurfer in Singapoure because the person speaks French (Belgium). So each dialect is associated with a Parent Language (in this case, language 35 - French) and the system doesn't detect a "language barrier". If there is no Parent Language, we associate it with the value 0.
Other elements of the database associated with each language:
- Presence in the drop-down menu (fully_translated_language)
- Presence in the translation tool (is_translatable)
This explains why you need to have "French" in your languages to translate "French" in the drop-down menu, otherwise you would translate the website in French (France) which is not visible to members. And so on for all other languages.
To make it convenient for the Translation Team, we blocked access to many dialects in the translation tool. If it's not the case for your language and you think other translators might be confused, please let us know.
Links:
- Missing_languages: Working page for adding languages - needs updating
- List of ISO 639-1 codes
