GCI task to check translations

This task is about checking translations by other GCI students. This should help mentors to more easily deal with a lot of students interested in translation tasks.

In order to claim this task, you should have successfully finished at least one translation task into your mother tongue.

How to claim the task

Please write the following reply when you claim the task:

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1) I have previously translated strings in another OpenIntents GCI task:
....(clickable link to GCI task) ....
2) My profile page at Launchpad is:
....(clickable link to profile page)....

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What your task is

You have to:

• Prepare acceptance of a task (at least 10x)
• Prepare completion of a task (at least 10x)

Note: In the final week starting on Jan 9, 2012, this amount is reduced to:

• 5 acceptance tasks
• 5 completion tasks

and you can trade 2 acceptance tasks for 1 completion task (e.g. you can also do acceptance+completion = 1+7 or 3+6 or 5+5 or 7+4 or 9+3 or 11+2 or 13+1 or 15+0).

How to prepare acceptance of a task

Look for translation tasks with status "ClaimRequested" in this spreadsheet.

• If they have not provided all information as demanded in GCITranslations, reply to the student as follows:

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Please follow the instructions here in order to claim a task:
http://code.google.com/p/openintents/wiki/GCITranslations

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Make sure that you make your link clickable.

• If they have provided all information do the following:
• Check at random that the sample translations provided make sense and are in the desired language, using machine translation tools like Google Translate. Note that machine translation may in many cases not provide a correct translation, so interpret machine translations with care. Also check (at random) that the sample translations given are not simply the result of a machine translation.
• Alternatively, check that the student has successfully completed a previous GCI translation task, and wants to translate into the same language.
• Check that enough untranslated strings are available. Note that you have to open a link to the untranslated strings directly. The summary page is not always up-to-date.

If everything looks good, write the follwing as reply to the student:

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The 10 sample translations provided look ok.
or The student successfully completed a previous GCI task.
There are ... untranslated strings left for ...(language).
(If the student did not provide links to the untranslated applications, ask them to do it before writing this reply, or insert the links by yourself).
This claim is ready to be accepted.
This claim was checked by ....(provide name and a clickable link to your GCI task)

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On your GCI task page write:

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Acceptance number ... (insert number from 1 to 10)
Student name: ...
Language: ...
Student GCI task page: ...(clickable link)

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In the spreadsheet put your name in the column "ClaimRequested checked by", and the language in the column "Language". The column "Applications" only needs to be filled in if two or more students translate into the same language, to avoid assigning the same application in the same language several times.

How to prepare completion of a task

Look for translation tasks with status "NeedsReview".

Check the following:

• The student translated the correct number of strings claimed for this task difficulty level.
• All these strings were translated after this task was accepted (i.e. the student did not link to translations from a previous GCI task for this GCI task).
• Check at random whether the strings provided seem plausible (correct language), by using machine translation.
• Check at random whether special characters like "%s" or "%$1s" have been included unmodified in the translated strings.

If everything is correct, reply to the student in the following way:

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The ... (number of translations) translations into ... (language) look ok.
(If the student did not provide links to the translations on the profile page at Launchpad, ask them to do it before writing this reply, or insert the links by yourself).
This task is ready to be marked as closed.
This task was checked by ....(provide name and a clickable link to your GCI task)

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On your GCI task page write:

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Completion number ... (insert number from 1 to 10)
Student name: ...
Language: ...
Student GCI task page: ...(clickable link)

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In the spreadsheet put your name in the column "NeedsReview checked by".

Once you have collected 10 acceptances and 10 completions, you are done with your task and can mark it as ready for review.

Common mistakes that you should find

Special characters

There are strings that should not be changed in a translation, e.g.

• "%s": single string placeholder
• "%1$s", "%2$s", ...: multiple string placeholders
• ">": greater-than sign (">")

Example:

• String: "Convert list '%s'"
• Translation: "Convertir la liste '% s'"

It should be "%s" instead of "% s" (a white space too much).

Inconsistent application names

• It is preferable to localize and translate the application names. For example, OI File Manager is also known as: OI Bestandsbeheer, OI Dateimanager, OI Dosya Yöneticisi, OI File Manager, OI Gestore File, OI ແຟ້ມ ບໍລີຫານ, OI 파일 관리자, OI文件管理器, 檔案總管
• Application names should be consistent across all applications. For example application names appearing in "descriptions" should match the application names within the applications.

Translate information text instead of the correct text

Some strings are accompanied by additional information. Of course this text should not be translated. Example:

• String: "Pick note for shortcut"
• Info: "Title: Pick note for shortcut (to be placed on the home screen)"
• Translation: "ਸ਼ੀਰਸ਼ਕ: ਨੋਟ ਓਠਾਵੇ ਸ਼ਾਰਕਟ ਤੇ ਲਿਏ ( ਹੋਮ ਸਕਰੀਨ ਤੇ ਓਤੇ ਜਾਹ ਦੇ ਲਿਓ )"

Even without knowing the language, one sees that the wrong text has been translated.

Example

See for example: http://www.google-melange.com/gci/task/view/google/gci2011/7228289