Language subcommittee/Handbook (requesters)

From Meta

←Language subcommittee

Language subcommittee (Guide for requesting users)

This page explains the procedures for making requests for new languages. For the policy that governs such requests (including criteria for approval), see the Language proposal policy.

Contents 1 Making a new request 1.1 Wikisource & Wikiversity 2 Localization 2.1 BetaWiki 2.1.1 Getting started 2.1.2 Translation 2.2 What needs to be localized

[edit] Making a new request

1. Read the Language proposal policy. Requests that do not meet the policy will be rejected.
2. Register an account or log in on Meta.
3. Go to a page with the name "Requests for new languages/Project Language name", where the language name is English if it exists (for example, "Requests for new languages/Wikipedia French").
4. Create the page with the following template:

   ==French Wikipedia==
   {{ls-header|open}}
   {{New language proposal
    |language  = [[w:French language|French]] (''français'', fr ISO 639-2)
    |links     = [[incubator:Wp/fr|development wiki project]]
    |external  = [http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/ai-ia/fi-if/index_e.cfm International Francophonie]
   }}
   
   Replace this line with your opening argument in favour of the new project.
   
   ===Arguments in favour===
   * 
   
   ===Arguments against===
   *
   
   ===Other discussion===
   
   

5. Provide the following information (change the example above):
   • language
     • The English language name; if an article about the language exists on the English Wikipedia, link the name to that page.
     • The native language name in italics, if different from its English name.
     • A valid ISO 639 code. You can often find this code in Wikipedia's article on the language, or by searching ISO639DB
   • Relevant pages and external links.
6. On Requests for new languages, add "{{subst:ls-newrow|Project Language name}}" (for example, "{{subst:ls-newrow|Wikipedia French}}") under "Open". "Project Language name" must match the name of the page you just created; if it adds a red link, check that you spelled it correctly.

[edit] Wikisource & Wikiversity

• Wikisource: The multilingual Wikisource accepts content in languages that do not yet have a subdomain (see instructions). Feel free to place pages there at any time; they will be moved to the subdomain if it is created.
• Wikiversity: See a list of existing Wikiversities. Discuss new language versions of Wikiversity at the Wikiversity Beta multlingual hub. For more information, see the wikiversity-l and foundation-l archive (August 2006, particularly this post) mailing lists.

[edit] Localization

"Localization" means to translate the MediaWiki interface. This is one of the requirements before a wiki is created, but you do not need to do this before making a request or starting a test project.

[edit] BetaWiki

The following is a summary of the process on BetaWiki; for more in-depth documentation, see "Translating:Intro" on BetaWiki.

[edit] Getting started

1. Register an account or log in on BetaWiki (a wiki whose purpose is MediaWiki localization).
2. Create a user page on BetaWiki; mention information like what languages you can write, what languages you will be localizing, and a link to your main wiki user page.
3. Request "translator" rights, which will let you localize on BetaWiki.

[edit] Translation

See "Translating:Interface translation" for more information.

1. Go to "Special:Translate" on BetaWiki.
2. Set the options so that the sentence at the top of the page is: "I want to [View all untranslated messages from] [MediaWiki messages] in language [<your language>] with limit [100]".
3. Click on the first link in any box in the left column to view that message. A red link means that the message is not yet translated (the message will be shown in the default language).
4. Enter the translation, and save. To change it, edit it as you would any other wiki page.

[edit] What needs to be localized

While it would be even better to translate the entire interface, for a first project in a language you only need to localise the "MediaWiki messages (most used)". These are the messages that are of most importance to our readers.

For any subsequent project in a language, all the MediaWiki messages and the messages of extensions used by the WikiMedia Foundation need to be translated. It is expected that the community of the first project has maintained and improved the localisation and consequently it should be no hardship.

By ensuring that there is a central localisation for the localisation, the localisation will be available on all Wikimedia Foundation projects. You will be able to navigate other Wikis in your own user interface. Another benefit is that MediaWiki as a product will provide better functionality for users of MediaWiki outside the Wikimedia Foundation. It is for this reason that we ask you to translate the non-WMF extensions as well, this is done voluntary and not a requirement.

• WMF extensions