Guide and tips to translating vBulletin into another language

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
This is a sticky topic.
X
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • Shane
    Senior Member
    • Oct 2000
    • 460
    • 3.8.x

    Guide and tips to translating vBulletin into another language

    This task can be enormous, but it can be done. Using the default text which is "English" you can translate it into your own lanuauge.

    Example:

    img_ code_ is_ x
    <a href="{1}" target="_blank">[IMG]</a> code is <strong>{2}</strong>
    If you are using a translatorwatch out that the HTML tags, the [BBCODETAGS] and the {replacement} tags aren't translated with the coding. However, text within () seems to transalate just fine. You might have to manually take apart each section to get an Accurate translation. So the only thing you should be translating is (from example) "code is" and just replace the translation text with the default text. Very simple.

    This does however require lots of time an engery making sure everything is done correctly. Be carefull because you might translate something into something that no one understands.
    Last edited by Shane; Thu 25 Mar '04, 8:31am.
    Shane
    CIO, FrakMedia.net
    Director of Information, BattlestarForum.com
  • Wayne Luke
    vBulletin Technical Support Lead
    • Aug 2000
    • 73976

    #2
    More information can be found in the Manual at:
    Translations provided by Google.

    Wayne Luke
    The Rabid Badger - a vBulletin Cloud demonstration site.
    vBulletin 5 API

    Comment

    • kentaurus
      Senior Member
      • May 2000
      • 361
      • 3.6.x

      #3
      Some tips for translators

      Hi everyone

      I have translated my forum since we started with ubb 5 and then decided to move to vbulletin 1. Over the years I have translated my forum at least 10 times, and that's a lot. The phrasing system of vbulletin is then the greatest feature for me because it means that I won't need to translate my forum anymore, not ever. Just some updates to phrases and that's it.

      Anyway, here are some tips I'd like to share with you. You decide if you take this piece of advice or not, It has worked for me.

      Don't translate for translating, translate "in context".

      Translating is nice, but in all languages a single word can have 2 or more meanings, and you can say almost anything in more than 1 way. This means that a single phrase can be meaningful in one context and completely senseless in another, "find post" is not always the same as "search post" or "lookup post"... see where it is used, do a search in the templates or in your forums for the phrase and make sure you and everybody will understand.

      Check for common used phrases in other programs

      Being creative is nice, but for translations is not always the best idea. Your users doesn't want to learn a new idiom, they want your forum to be easy to use and similar to what they've used in the past.

      I've noticed that a lot of my users use or have used hotmail/yahoo, and they are familiar with "login in" / "log out" or "sign in" / "sign out". Open hotmail in your language and check how they say "log in" and use it, there's nothing wrong with that and your users will find the button faster, I promise. It is nice if you want to use "enter the forum" or something like that but that will only confuse your users.

      For the editors, especially the WYSIWYG don't reinvent the wheel, check microsoft word, people prefer to see the description for "bold" the same as their text editor. Even if "center" is the same as "align center" for you, you are more likely to spend less time explaining the options to your users if they are more familiar with them. Again, almost everyone uses microsoft word, you can't argue with the facts.

      Browse your forums!

      This is important, browse your forums and check for spelling/grammar errors and most important, check that everything makes sense. If something doesn't make sense for you it won't for your users. Change it. Try everything to be as perfect as possible, you are only doing the translation once, and a lot of people will see it. If possible browse thoroughly, if not, test the options the users are most likely to use, those really have to be perfect.

      Don't forget to translate everything

      I use the admincp, but my mods use the modcp and not all of them know English, so I translated the modcp for them (I kept the admincp untranslated, though). I also never use the usernotes, but some of my mods do so I translated them. I don't really care a lot about the reputation phrases but I translated them also. Don't allow you users to pm or email you with a "this is not translated" message, be one step ahead them, if you use it, then it should be translated.

      Please! Use a dictionary

      Not everybody is a languages guru, you might not know everything in your own language, that's ok. And maybe you can't hire somebody to do your translation. If you are really, really unsure about how you should spell a word then use a dictionary, it takes only a couple of seconds. I hate to see spelling errors, even if I make them myself. The users aren't different.

      Last but not least, use what your users want to hear

      As I wrote before there are several ways to write the same idea, threads can be threads, or discussions, or topics; posts can be messages, subscriptions can be bookmarks or favorites. If your forum is new it doesn't matter a lot, use what is more broadly used, if you have been around for a while then use what your users want to hear, if you have been using "topic" for 3 years instead of "thread" I don't find any good reason to change it, unless it really makes a difference. You decide.
      CemZoo Wiki - The complete anime encyclopedia
      CemZoo Foros - Spanish Anime & Gaming Community (also browse our archive)

      Comment

      widgetinstance 262 (Related Topics) skipped due to lack of content & hide_module_if_empty option.
      Working...