Talk:Fundraising 2009/Translations

I suppose you know that these slogans are almost impossible to translate, don't you? They're very English- and US-centric. --Nemo 10:34, 25 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, actually I as a Japanese cannot understand that and fail to grasp its nuance and meaning, while I have been trying for days... It sounds rather a phrase for obituary for me. Maybe it comes from our cultural difference, but anyway it's hard to translate. Or frankly saying impossible.

I heard not every American gets it, see http://wikipediaforever.org for your information. --Aphaia 16:50, 25 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

copy from mailing list:

um.... I understand Aphia's concern

in Chinese I can think of 萬歲 (Bensai in Japanaese?), but that's for Emperors & Cult of personality
and another one is 永垂不朽, that's for the dead
The only phrase is acceptable for me now is borrowed from a Chinese Christian hymn 薪火永傳
means the fire can be passed candle by candle forever :P

-- ※ JéRRy ┼ 雨雨 ※ 17:21, 25 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This is great feedback, everybody. I spoke with our creative team about the difficulty and they understand the difficulties in translations. The main point from the team was that they appreciate everyone's time and energy in trying to find the best words to convey our message. They added the following thoughts that may help guide your translation process:

Now and forever
For all
Long live
Viva
Let's hear it for
Celebrate!
Salute!
Huzzah!
Hooray!

The team also liked the thought from Jerry: "means the fire can be passed candle by candle forever".

I know this doesn't completely answer the questions on how to translate, but, then again, we are not experts in any language so it is really up to you to do the best job you can to make it work. Rand Montoya 19:00, 26 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

A few more additional thoughts from the team:

Awe and amazement that we have together created the greatest collection of human knowledge in history
This is a treasure worth protecting forever, like a national park.
There's a flavor of celebration -- a cheer for us and what we've created -- in Wikipedia Forever!

Rand Montoya 19:23, 26 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This awe and joy doesn't quite come through for me in English either. The additional options you list above, with exclamation points, do... it's hard to capture that in a short banner! -- sj · translate · + 00:46, 29 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Is there some project happening to translate these slogans into English that actually carries the meaning that is desired? For example, "Phase 2/Look at what you’ve done. This is intended to have a warm and human tone, like words of support you might hear from a proud parent or coach." <-- it doesn't read like that. Maybe to some people, but for others, it will immediately sound like an accusation. kmccoy 02:41, 30 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

(not sure if I read this on the mailing list) Is there a deadline for translation? is it 2nd Nov.? —Bencmq 10:59, 30 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, the soft launch is scheduled for November 3 (see the timeline) so translations should be finished by November 2 when possible. Cbrown1023 talk 21:05, 30 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Tout le monde n'est pas encore anglophone, à ce que je sache...[edit]

Alors Wikimédia Foundation, ils veulent bien de notre argent, mais quand-même pas au prix de s'adresser à nous dans notre langue ! Sur la page d'accueil, beaucoup de liens mènent vers des pages écrites en anglais ! Vous voulez en savoir plus, savoir exactement à quoi servira votre argent, quelles garanties vous avez ? Lisez donc la FAQ ! Mais apprenez l'anglais, auparavant… Bref, je donnerai peut-être, dans 10 ans, quand j'aurai appris l'anglais… En attendant, mon argent ira ailleurs…
À bon entendeur, salut.

Voir : Talk:Accueil#Tout le monde n'est pas encore anglophone, à ce que je sache.... Cbrown1023 talk 23:42, 31 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Donations page in Welsh not working properly[edit]

I don't know whether this problem needs to be reported here or on the Foundation wiki. If anyone can tell me where it is best to post this message then please let me know. The problem I have is that on the Welsh donations page the buttons 'Rhoi trwy gerdyn credyd (Give by credit card)' or 'Rhoi trwy Paypal (Give by Paypal)' don't take you to any other page. I can click on the link to the alternative page for donors who have disabled Javascript, and this takes me Donate/Now/cy, but then the link from there to Paypal takes you to a screen for payment which is in English. Can these problems be fixed? Lloffiwr 22:44, 31 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The best place to put this message is actually on Fundraising 2009/Launch Feedback, but this page works okay too.

That was a weird error, I think I fixed it. We had to escape the apostrophe in "$1 yw'r isafswm y gallwch ei roi." I'm sorry we missed that!

As for the PayPal screen on last year's donation page (the "alternative form"), I don't think it's possible for that to be localized. It's PayPal's local page. Cbrown1023 talk 23:15, 31 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for fixing this. Welsh does have a huge amount of apostrophes:-) Lloffiwr 23:35, 31 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]