Overview of localize.drupal.org

Last updated on
17 July 2020

The text that you see in Drupal's user interface is in English by default, such as the "Log in" button and the "Add new comment" text. These pieces of text (or "strings", in programming terminology) are known as "user interface text" or "interface text". They are written into the software of Drupal core and add-on modules, themes, and profiles, and they can be translated. Since interface text is common to any site that uses the same software, most software projects maintain a centralized repository where the community collaborates on translating interface text into languages other than English. For the Drupal project, this translation server is at localize.drupal.org.

This page gives an overview of how localize.drupal.org works. To find individual tasks and roles related to translating user interface text on localize.drupal.org, visit the Contribute to translation page. You can also watch this video for an overview of the translation process.

Detecting translatable interface text

Developers of Drupal core and contributed modules, themes, and profiles use the Localization APIs in the source code to mark interface strings as translatable. As Drupal runs, if you have the core Interface Translation module installed, translatable interface strings are detected and stored in the database so that site  administrators can translate them within the site.

In addition, outside tools run regularly on new releases of Drupal core and contributed software to extract the translatable strings and store them on localize.drupal.org. You can download the translations from localize.drupal.org to your site, rather than having to translate everything yourself.

Translation groups on localize.drupal.org

Translations into each language on localize.drupal.org are organized by groups, each having their respective leads. It is common for these groups to accept new members automatically, and promote active members to be leaders/moderators of the group. To join a group for your language:

  1. Make sure you are logged in to drupal.org.
  2. Visit the localize.drupal.org home page.
  3. Click on a language.
  4. Click on Overview in the tabs near the top.
  5. Click the Join button in the sidebar.

If you want to translate a language which is new to Drupal, or if you want to move an existing team to localize.drupal.org, follow the procedure in the sidebar of the localize.drupal.org front page, under "Set up your group here".

Translation process on localize.drupal.org

The main functionality of localize.drupal.org is the web translation interface, which allows contributors to translate interface strings. Contributors can work with various filters to focus their work on just specific modules or even specific versions of specific modules. By default, translators add suggestions which are then vetted and approved or declined by moderators. Strings can have multiple suggestions at a time, and even translated strings can receive further suggestions to help fine-tune translations. Therefore the lifecycle of translations is generally from suggestion to approved translation. Moderators can submit approved translations right away.

Normally, when you have just joined a group, you can only submit translation suggestions. Suggestions will not be included in downloadable translations, and will need to be approved by an authorized user before becoming a translation. Different groups have different policies for giving team members additional permissions. More information: More granular group permission control deployed

It is also possible to work offline. See the Working with offline translation files section for more information.

Finally, it is also possible to participate in translations remotely. The localization client module which comes with the Localized Drupal install profile can be set up to share your translations with the community. The client is a great tool for touching up on community provided translations, and you can be part of the community by submitting your fixes at the same time, without special effort to look up the strings on localize.drupal.org.

Importing translations to your site

Localize.drupal.org also runs a regular build process which generates exported versions of the moderated translations in PO format. You can download translation files from the localize.drupal.org download page, and import them into your site.

Downloading all the translation files for every contributed project on your site can be tedious, so Drupal can do it automatically. In Drupal 8 and later, if you have enabled both the core Interface Translation module and Update Manager modules, you can configure translations to be updated automatically whenever you install a new module, add a new language to your site, or update software.

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