Translations are too difficult to contribute

[heidiwenger]

I mean just look at all the hoops one (with no knowledge on Git) has to take for contributing on translations:

---

"Git How-To

Some skill with git is necessary. If you wanted to add an Esperanto translation:

Fork the repository on GitHub to your account
git clonethe URL to your repository
cd projectto move the terminal working directory inside the project
git checkout -b esperantoto create a new branch named esperanto
Open the project folder in VS Code and make all your changes (ie: code .)
git add i18nto add your changes
git commit -m 'i18n(eo): Add Esperanto translation'to create the commit
git push origin esperantoto push the changes to your fork
Use GitHub to create Pull Request from your fork's branch to our repository

If you made a mistake and want to amend it:

Make your changes
git add i18n
git commit --amend
Then git push origin esperanto --force
Your pull request will be automatically updated with the new commit"

---

Is there a reason why there can't just be a website such as Transifex, Weblate or Crowdin to login on and start translating? That is obviously what needs to be done for Pop!_OS to serve more people, right?

English is not something everyone automatically talks, and the threshold for those who speak it but are technically not so knowledgeable, are put off by the complexity to even get started on translations!

This was not addressed for other user in Pop_OS subreddit last year.

Thanks.

[mmstick]

If you don't know how to use git, you could paste your changes in an issue as you've done just now. I haven't yet heard any complaints about the process until your issue just now.

English is not something everyone automatically talks, and the threshold for those who speak it but are technically not so knowledgeable, are put off by the complexity to even get started on translations!

Unfortunately, good understanding of English is a necessity for translating English software.

[heidiwenger]

If you don't know how to use git, you could paste your changes in an issue as you've done just now. I haven't yet heard any complaints about the process until your issue just now.

Well, that is the primary reason in my understanding for surprisingly many for not to use Pop!_OS. The dreadful translations or lack of altogether. There seems no common forum for Pop!_OS such as many distros do have in Discourse? Pop!_OS seems have no "issues" tab on Github? There is only this "docs" and its issues.

So, it's not that surprising YOU'VE not heard about it. If you deal with people who don't understand English much, you'd know that Pop!_OS's translations on so many other lanaguages are subpar. Community would help in no time to get Pop!_OS translated on, say, Esperanto!

One reply on this statement of pointing out the overtly technical hoops one has to take to get with helping on the translations:

"You're absolutely correct. Sadly, devs of all sorts of projects, software and OSs love to dig themselves into platforms not being really accessible to "normal" people. Contributing to any project not involving coding shouldn't require a degree in computer science, but that is the status quo."

So, many could help as they are talented with languages, but they are zero tech savvy. Could register on a Weblate (or similar) though and start to fill in lines of text (translating).

Unfortunately, good understanding of English is a necessity for translating English software.

Yes of course, i can understand it also (as i'm writing this). The translations for Pop!_OS would be 100% and accurate in few days with a simple, straight forward translation solution for those who understand and speak English and want to translate for their mother tongue, for example Estonian, for Estonians. An Estonian would then use Pop!_OS even without the requirement on knowing English at all, would he/she not? Simple.

I'm sure you get where i'm getting at as so many other Linux distros do have a simple Transifex, Weblate, Crowdin or similar and the translations are flying in all the time :-)

[mmstick]

There seems no common forum for Pop!_OS

Our forum has 50,000 members and I'd generally consider Reddit to be something that's already accessible to a lot of people: https://www.reddit.com/r/pop_os/

Pop!_OS seems have no "issues" tab on Github?

Not sure what you mean. People have always been directed to https://github.com/pop-os/pop/issues and there is a Support panel in GNOME Settings which directs here and to the official chatroom. Plenty of ways to reach out for guidance.

So, it's not that surprising YOU'VE not heard about it. If you deal with people who don't understand English much, you'd know that Pop!_OS's translations on so many other lanaguages are subpar. Community would help in no time to get Pop!_OS translated on, say, Esperanto!

Hey, I've put a lot of effort into making Pop projects translatable. There is a translation guide on the Pop subreddit under the Guides section of the community links, and I've personally put effort into making most of our Rust projects translatable.

So, many could help as they are talented with languages, but they are zero tech savvy. Could register on a Weblate (or similar) though and start to fill in lines of text (translating).

The problem is that you do need to be tech savvy to make software translatable. It's a big challenge to add translations to projects which are patched and regularly rebased with upstream updates. It's also currently a challenge to make GNOME JS extensions possible of being translatable. For Rust projects I'm already using Project Fluent. As for Weblate, I don't personally have any experience with any of these services, and they appear to require monthly service fees to get started. If you have experience setting up infrastructure like this then it'd be helpful to help us out.