Pootle

A lot of software translation in the Open Source world happens on a platform called 'Pootle'. It's fairly easy to understand because fortunately for us, the people who designed wanted a system that was really easy to understand.

First steps

Once you have an account, you log in and go to your language area, which will look something like this:

This view tells you various things, such as:

• which project there are
• what the progress is
• when someone last did any work

Select a project, for example Firefox for Android, by clicking on it. Almost always, the easiest way to get started is to use the Continue translation link. This automatically selects the next (or the next most important) phrase to translate.

The bit in the middle is the most important thing. Above it is the (usually) English text which needs to be translated. And your translation goes in the box below (marked with the arrow here):

To the left, sometimes there is useful information. Sometimes not. It depends on how nice the developers were feeling. Basically all you have to do is to type your translation in the box and if you're happy with it, click the big green Submit button.

That's it.