Step-by-Step Guide to Translating WAI Resources

Thank you for taking the time to contribute to WAI accessibility resources translations!

This resource will guide you through the important steps to creating and reviewing translations.

Before starting your work, please take the time to read the information in Translating WAI Resources, and verify that you are willing to contribute under these policies.

GitHub

We encourage you to use GitHub, especially if you intend to become a regular translator.

Discussions, collaboration with reviewers and progress tracking are more easily managed in GitHub.

Translating Resources

Step 1: Find a resource to translate

Have a look at our priorities

For suggestions on which to translate first, see Priorities for Translations.

Or pick a resource according to your preference

You are welcome to translate any current WAI resource that you think would be useful in your language.

The easiest way to find a resource to translate is to head over to the dedicated translations sitemap for your language.

Translations sitemaps display the structure of WAI website, and indicate for each page:

  • If a translation in this language has been published, and its current status ( Up-to-date or Needs update);
  • If a page has no translation available in this language, and therefore welcomes a volunteer translation.

Step 2: Inform us of your intent to translate a resource

When you have found a resource to translate, you must indicate your interest, and wait for a reply from WAI team. We’ll check that the file isn’t currently being translated by someone else, and that it isn’t about to be updated.

Please wait for reply from WAI team before starting a translation.

Recommended / quickest way

  1. From the translations sitemap for your language, click on the “Volunteer to translate this page” link, displayed next to the resource you intend to translate.
  2. It will automatically pre-fill a GitHub issue with some useful information.
  3. Read and submit the issue.

Alternatives:

Step 3: Start translating

Initial setup

  1. Log in to your existing GitHub account, or create one .
  2. Get to the repository of the resource you will translate.
    • Near the bottom of each page on the WAI website, there is a “Help improve this page” box. The middle button is “Fork & Edit in GitHub”. That gets you to the repository.
    • If you have followed the recommended way to declare your intent, the link to the repository has been automatically added in the GitHub issue description.
  3. You can directly work from there.

For further guidance on using GitHub to translate a WAI resource, follow the dedicated guide.

Translate the resource

Step 4: Preview and check your translation

We have enabled a preview with Netlify so you can check your file and make edits.

  1. Open a draft Pull Request in the GitHub repository of the resource, with [IN-PROGRESS] at the beginning of the title.

  2. After you submit the pull request, a preview will be generated.
    • At first it will say “👷 Deploy Preview for wai-repo-name processing.”.
    • When done, it will say “✅ Deploy Preview for wai-repo-name ready!” and a “Deploy Preview” link will appear.
  3. Click on the preview link:
    • Check everything listed in Reviewer Guidance;
    • Eventually, commit some fixes;
    • At this point, if you encounter some technical problems, ask for help from WAI team.
  4. When your auto-review is done, go to the next step.

Step 5: Ask for reviews

Translations are reviewed before they are published.

  1. Change the state of your pull request to “Ready for review” and change the beginning of your Pull Request title to [READY FOR REVIEW]
  2. Communicate your Pull Request is ready for review in the GitHub issue created at step 2.
  3. Review discussions take place directly in the GitHub Pull Request. Work together with reviewer(s) to:
    • fix issues;
    • accurately convey the meaning from the English version;
    • consider different dialects.

If you have any questions about the wording, please report them in the GitHub issue so that WAI team and other volunteers can help.

Step 6: Wait for publication

When the review is done, WAI team will:

  • do some final checks;
  • merge the Pull Request;
  • publish the translation on WAI website.

Please note these steps may take some time depending on other ongoing priorities.

Priorities for Translating WAI Resources

Reviewing Translations

Translations are reviewed by volunteers and WAI team before they are published.

Step 1: Find translations ready for review
  1. Explore the WAI Translations GitHub project
    • Look into the “Ready for review” column to find translations ready for review.
    • You can filter the view by clicking on your language in the “Language” column.
    • If you have trouble using this board view, you can look at the equivalent table view
  2. Communicate you are volunteering to review, by leaving a comment in the corresponding issue.

Step 2: Review the translation

Follow Reviewing translations step-by-step guide.

  1. Emails sent to group-wai-translations@w3.org are not publicly visible. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

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