Help:Translator Orientation

From Gospel Translations

Current revision as of 15:28, 27 September 2007

Note: A good first step, even before learning all of the technical stuff below, might be to go to the Community Portal and see if others are already working in your language. If there are, then you should be able to ask them for help with the orientation process too, since this really is a community effort!

Getting Started

There is no shortage of guides on the web for using wikis like GospelTranslations.org. In fact, many of you will already be familiar with the interface because of using Wikipedia. But even if you're not, the guides below (mostly from other sites) should get you started in no time.

In order to add a translation to our library, you'll need to be able to do a few things:

1. Edit an existing page
2. Format text using the special "wiki markup"
3. Apply templates to your pages

Browse through the content below, and you'll be ready to go. And while you're learning, feel free to try things out in the Sandbox, which is your place to make mistakes!

Above all, it will probably be helpful to check the New Translation Checklist at the bottom of this page to make sure you have covered all of your bases. Happy translating!

Orientation Topics

Formatting the wiki

• The quick reference guide from Wikipedia should be enough to get you started
• This document explains how to create automatic citations within your documents--a must for this kind of wiki!
• How to make links on the wiki--maybe not necessary until you're doing more advanced work

Wiki templates

• NeedsReview. This is a template you must use when you finish a translation. You include it at the top of your page by inserting the text {{UnderReview}}
• Master Header. This is another template you have to use, which gives credit to our copyright holders (a good thing to do) and puts a "Language bar" at the top of each page. To use it, you include this text at the top of your page (after the code for the Under Review template, if necessary):

<noinclude>
{{MasterHeader
|author= (enter the name/s of the author/s)
|partnerurl= (the website address for the publisher or copyright holder)
|partner= (the name of the publisher or copyright holder)
|editor= (if there is no editor, just enter 'n/a')
|other= (if there is special info about the resource, enter it here)
|categorytopic= (the main topic of this article)
|mediatype= (book, article, or sermon)
|levels= (the number of forward slashes (/'s) in the page title (the part of the URL ''after'' gospeltranslations.org/wiki/)
}}
</noinclude>

• In Process. This is a template you include on the page where the translation will eventually go so that people know it's being worked on. You insert it by typing {{InProcess|user=YOUR_USERNAME}}

Advanced lessons

• A guide for making templates

New Translation Checklist

• Did you enter your user name in the task area on the Translations page?
• Did you notify Andrew to create a page to hold your new translation?
• Did you put up the InProcess template (for while you're working)?
• Did you put up the NeedsReview template (for when you're finished with a first draft)?
• (optional) Did you post your progress/update as news on your Translation Portal?