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This article describes our existing localization projects, as well as what you need to do if you want to start a new MDN localization project.
Existing MDN localization projects
All MDN localization project teams should maintain their information in this table, so that interested contributors can contact the teams to offer their assistance.
| Language | Leader | Contributors | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| French | Benoit Leseul | Alain Boquet, Fréderic Chateaux, Vincent N. | (notes or URL to translation project team page) |
| Japanese | Potappo | Shimono Atsushi, Kurosawa Takeshi, Imanaka Masahiko, Electrolysis | http://mdc.mozilla.gr.jp |
| Polish | Tomasz Sokół | Marek Stępień | (notes or URL to translation project page) |
| Spanish | Nukeador | Superruzafa | We really need more traslators |
| Portuguese | Leandro Mercês Xavier | Matheus Smythe Svolenski | |
| Korean | Channy Yun | Korean Contributors | http://groups.google.com/group/mdckorea |
| German | Elchi3 | Your name here :) | We really need more translators |
| Greek | syssgx | syssgx | We need more translators |
| Russian | I don't know | Cobalt747 | We need more translators |
| Chinese (Taiwan) | BobChao | dwchiang | We need more translators |
| Simplified Chinese | yanzehua | ||
| Hebrew | Ziv Perry | We need more translators | |
| Romanian | Raul Malea | Romanian Contributors | We need more translators. See this bug. |
How do I start an MDN localization?
- Check if a wiki for that language already exists. Head to the Main Page and check the list of language links.
- Contact your locale's Mozilla l10n team and let them know that you want to start it.
- Sign up to our Mailing Lists and head to the #devmo IRC channel on irc.mozilla.org.
- Contact sheppy and create a bug in Bugzilla requesting that your language be added to the list of languages supported by MDN. This bug should be in the "Mozilla Developer Network" > "Infrastructure" category. It will be automatically assigned to the correct person.
- Wait. If your bug isn't responded to within three or four days, please add a comment to the bug asking for an "ETA" for completion.
- Use the MindTouch Localization Tool to localize the MindTouch Deki software itself if there's not already a localization available.
What should a localized MDN look like?
The basic structure of each of the localized wikis should be essentially the same. The main page (front page) should have the same basic structure and content as the Main Page on the English wiki. Topic and Technology pages should also be similar.
You are welcome to link to external local pages, write your own articles, and translate everything from the English wiki. If you do decide to write your own articles, it would be helpful if you could provide an English translation for the English wiki so it can then get translated into all of the other localized wikis.
Adding local resources you should keep NPOV rule. No links to commercial sites (like paid courses, web design companies, etc.). You should promote Open Standards and cross-browsing web coding over closed or proprietary methods wherever possible.
How do I organize a localization project?
There are lots of great tips from various existing translation teams; you should feel free to adopt any of these ideas you choose. In addition, please feel free to add your own suggestions as well. See this template in the Spanish wiki for an example.
- Use a template to identify articles that are in the process of being translated. The template should provide an information box that includes a link to the original version of the article. The template should also add the article to a "Need translation" category. This helps track articles that are in the process of being translated.
- Use a template to include articles that need to be translated in article lists with a flag or marker next to them indicating that the article hasn't been translated yet. This is a way to advertise important articles in need of translation. See this template in the Spanish version of MDN for an example.
- Make use of the "Needs technical review" and "Needs editorial review" tags, to mark articles that have been translated but should be double-checked for technical and grammatical accuracy.
- Use a "Trash" template to mark pages that need to be deleted. Since only admins have access to delete articles, this provides a way to mark that an article is obsolete until the admins get the page deleted.
- Be sure to include translations of these MDN "how to" pages, and include additional pages as necessary to explain your localization team's policies and practices.
Per-language RSS feeds
You can monitor RSS feeds for each language, so that you are alerted to changes on a given language's contents:
Policy
All materials created and translated for the MDN should follow our Copyright and Licensing Policies.
If you encounter problems of any sort -- technical, policy, or other -- please contact Eric Shepherd using the contact information on his user page.