Translation Onboarding Guide

To achieve our goal of placing LiteFarm in the hands of 10,000 diversified farmers, it is crucial to
make the platform available in as many languages as possible. As a not-for-profit and open-source project, the support of volunteers is essential to realizing LiteFarm’s vision. If you are interested in using
your language skills to contribute to advancing sustainable farming, check out our translation onboarding guide below.

How does it work?

The process of translating the LiteFarm app is managed via Crowdin, a localization management platform that helps organisations and individuals efficiently translate products. Below are the steps required to complete the translation process successfully.

Joining the LiteFarm project in Crowdin

The first step to contributing as a translator is to join the LiteFarm project in Crowdin. There are two ways to do this:

Receiving an invitation

If you are already in contact with a member of the LiteFarm team, you probably received an invitation to join the project. Once invited, accept the invitation and log into Crowdin with the email address you were invited with.

Asking to join

You can also ask to join the LiteFarm project in Crowdin. After asking to join, please contact community@litefarm.org with a brief introduction of yourself and why you are interested in supporting LiteFarm translations.

Translation Process

This is a two-step process, and all the strings must be firstly translated, and then approved. If you have joined the project as a translator only, you will not be able to approve the translations, which will be reviewed by a proofreader. However, if you have proofreading permissions, you can approve the translations, completing the process.

Once you join the project, you can begin the translation process. Strings are stored in various files, and you have the option to translate them either file by file or all at once, regardless of which file they belong to. If you choose to translate file by file, be sure to select the language you will be translating.

Then, by checking the progress bar, select the files whose translations are not completed or have not been initiated.

The next step is to filter the strings that remain untranslated.

Then, translate the English string into the target language and save it.

Once you are done with the translations in this file, go back to the files page and select another file whose progress bar indicates that there are strings that need to be translated.

If you prefer to translate all the strings at once, click the arrow to the right of the progress bar. This will reveal the "Translate" button, which will take you to the "translate all" view.

This feature can be helpful if you want to double-check a translation but do not remember which file the string is located in. By viewing all the strings, you can search for a specific string using the search box.

There is one document that needs to be translated outside of Crowdin. You access the PDF here. Please download the file, and translate it into the target language.

If you do not have proofreading permissions, your contribution finishes here. Please contact our team to inform that you have finished the Crowdin translations and attach the PDF document file. In case you are also a proofreader, you should now approve the translations.

To approve the translated strings, you must first select the filter “Not Approved”.

Then, approve the translations.

It is really important to preserve the meaning of the strings. If you are unsure whether a term conveys the same meaning in English and in the target language, it is advisable to leave it not unapproved, and we will try to contact a proofreader. Incorrect translations might lead to input errors, which can affect farmers’ operations and/or research.

Once you have approved all the strings from all the files, the translation process is finished, please contact our team to inform that you have completed the translations and proofreading.

What if I am not sure what the context of the string is?

For several strings, the translation might be straightforward, but in some cases, you might need to understand the context of the string to translate it properly. By clicking on “View String in Context”, you will see the string alongside other strings, which can give you hints about the context of the untranslated string.

By examining the context of the string "Cheers," you will notice it appears alongside "Dear" and "The LiteFarm team." This suggests it is likely part of an email or message.

In some cases, screenshots will be available (blue selection) to help you see the strings within the app. It may also be useful to investigate the context directly in the app. However, if you are still unsure about the context for an untranslated string, please contact our team asking for clarification.

Thank you so much for helping us to achieve our goal of putting LiteFarm in the hands of 10,000 diversified farmers worldwide!

The LiteFarm team