The No Trace Project is an international project and welcomes translations in all languages.
Translation workflow
Most of our content can be translated using an instance of the Weblate localization platform. See the Translate with Weblate section for more information. The following content can be translated with Weblate:
- The homepage and some related pages.
- The interface of our database of resources, but not the resources themselves.
- The interface and content of the Threat Library and Ears and Eyes.
- The interface of the Anti-Repression Talks.
Other content, such as the resources themselves and the blog articles, cannot be translated with Weblate. To translate these or if you have any questions, contact us:
notrace@autistici.org (PGP)
Translate with Weblate
Create and configure an account
To translate with Weblate, you need an account. To create an account:
- Access the registration page. Fill in the form with an E-mail address, a Username, a Full name and the answer to the math question to prove you're not a robot. Of course, we recommend that you do not use your real name here, you can even repeat the username in the full name field. Then click the Register button.
- Check your email inbox, you should receive a message with a link to activate your account. Access this link and choose a password for your account.
- Configure the languages you want to work with. Choose the Weblate Interface language. Translated languages are the languages to which you can translate. Secondary languages are displayed as references during translation to make your work easier. Then click Save.
- Configure your notifications: add «No Trace Project» to your Watched projects. Then click Save.
- If you like, you can send us an email at notrace@autistici.org to tell us what you'd like to translate or any questions you may have.
Components
On Weblate, our content is divided into several components. Each component contains items called «strings», which simply means a grouping of words or characters. Different components match different parts of our website:
- The «Core» components match strings that are used throughout the website, as well as the editorial policy and the present page.
- The «Resources» components match the interface of the Resources.
- The «Threat Library» components match the Threat Library.
- The «Ears and Eyes» components match Ears and Eyes.
- The «Anti-Repression Talks» component matches the interface of the Anti-Repression Talks.
Once all the components that match a part of the website have been translated into a language, let us know at notrace@autistici.org and we'll activate that language for that part of the website.
Translate a component
To translate a component:
- Access your Dashboard. It lists all the components that you can translate, depending on the languages you have configured.
- Click the pencil icon next to the component you want to translate.
- Translate the strings one by one. When you've translated a string, click Save and continue. If you're not sure how to translate a string, click Skip to translate it later or leave it to another translator.
- When all its strings have been translated, the component is translated and displays a green checkmark in its «Translated» column on your Dashboard.
Screenshots
Some strings are accompanied by screenshots. The purpose of screenshots is to show you the context in which a string is used to help you translate it. If a string has screenshots, you can find them in the right sidebar when translating the string (or below the translation panel if you're on mobile) under String information and Screenshot context.
Glossary
The «glossary» component is a special component that does not match any part of our website. Its purpose is to codify how certain recurring terms should be translated so that they are always translated the same way throughout our content. When you translate a string, if it contains one or more glossary terms, those terms are highlighted and their glossary translations can be found or changed in the right sidebar (or below the translation panel if you're on mobile) under Glossary.
The glossary can be translated either all at once or as you come across glossary terms while translating other components. If there's a recurring term you'd like to see added to the glossary, you can contact us.
Content updates
When our content changes, we may add a new string or modify an existing one. When this happens, the new or modified string is marked as «unfinished» or «untranslated» and should be translated again, and the corresponding component stops displaying a green checkmark in its «Translated» column on your Dashboard.
Translation guidelines
Required language skills
In order to provide good quality translations and make our project more accessible to more people, if you want to translate our content, we ask that you have:
- A good understanding of the language you are translating from (usually English, but you can translate from other languages as well).
- A professional or near-professional level of proficiency in the language you are translating into (if you are a native speaker of that language, it should be fine!)
Special formatting
Our content often contains special formatting that must be kept in the translation. Such formatting includes:
- Text surrounded by «*» characters: this indicates that the text will be rendered in italic or bold. These characters must be kept in the translation.
- Headings beginning with «#» characters: these characters must be kept in the translation.
- Links of the form «[link text](https://example.com)»: the link text (in square brackets) must be translated but the URL (in parentheses) must remain the same.
- Footnotes of the form «[^footnote text]»: the footnote text must be translated, unless it is a URL.
In addition, any line breaks in an original text must be kept in its translation.
Gender neutrality
If a person's gender is not specified in an original text, please do not specify it in its translation. If necessary, we ask that you try to find a gender-neutral translation that works in the language you're translating to, whether you mention multiple genders or none at all, alternate between genders, or whatever you prefer.
«No Trace Project»
The name of the project, «No Trace Project», must not be translated. It must read «No Trace Project» in all languages.