Lingua Posting Guide
From Global Voices Wiki
Hello Translators! This guide should have most of the information you'll need to start translating and get your articles looking good and organized and stuff. If you ever have a question or problem please check here first, then email Jeremy or the GVLingua email list for help. If the answer wasn't here, please make a note of it in your email so we can add the answer here. Better yet, add it yourself!
[edit] Posting Basics
The software we use for the main Global Voices site as well as for lingua is called WordPress. It is a blogging tool with lots of options and features that we use on a regular basis. A full explanation of how to use WP for blogging is a bit beyond the scope of this document, but it is fairly intuitive and you should be able to get the hang of it pretty fast. If you want to learn about using WordPress they have good documentation at their documentation wiki.
When translating GV articles you should focus on leaving the HTML and formatting the same as the original article whenever possible. You will get used to the standard formatting used by GV and learn to mimic it when translating.
If you're ever unsure of how the original post's HTML was formatted just use the "view source" command in your browser (usually you can right-click on the page and choose 'view source') to see the full HTML for the post. Look for the part of the HTML that contains the text you're translating and use the format as it is shown there.
You can choose whether you want to write your posts on your own computer with a simple text editor (not Microsoft Word or similar complex word processors) then paste them into WordPress to post, or type them directly into WordPress as you translate.
WARNING: Using Microsoft Word or similar complex word processors will make your article broken when you save it. Please use only simple editors like Notepad on Windows or TextEdit on Mac OSX.
[edit] Hidden Metadata on GV Posts
Each post on globalvoicesonline.org has several important pieces of data that are attatched to it. When you translate posts, it is important that you add that data to your translation so that it appears properly on the lingua site and so that people can find it.
To see all the metadata about a post you can click on the bottom left corner of the category listing at the top of the post, as shown in the image below.
[edit] Categories
In this hidden section you will find a full listing of categories applied to the post. Use this list and make sure that all of the categories in it are checked in your translation before posting. The organized listing of countries, topics and languages that appears above the hidden section can be used for those types of categories, but some types only appear in the hidden list, so be sure to look through it carefully.
IMPORTANT: The most important category of each post is the one that is either 'WEBLOG' or 'ROUNDUP', this defines whether the post is a long article or a short link, and will determine how the translation appears on your Lingua site, so be sure to include it. They are both found in the category section of your posting screen under 'type' (media categories like photo and video are also in the 'type' section).
The other categories fall into either the 'topics' or 'world' groups in the category section of the posting screen. It may take some time for you to get used to finding all the categories in the small box, but they are all in there somewhere.
About language category, on the English site, where all posts are currently born, we use language tags to denote what languages are in the posts we are linking to. So a post about Israel/Palestine might have 'Arabic' and 'Hebrew'. If there was also a post from an English speaker on the scene or something then we'd add the 'English' category as well. In a lot of cases the 'English' category is used a lot because we tend to use a lot of english sources even about places that aren't primarily Anglophone.
On Lingua sites you are supposed to just use the same categories that are on the English post. Your language should not be added to the list unless there is a link to your language in the post.
If you notice a mistake in the original categories then you might want to contact the author that wrote it or their editor and ask them why a given language category was used.
[edit] Excerpts
The second section of the hidden metadata shows the post's "excerpt". This is a short description of the post that shows on the homepage when there isn't space for the whole article. There is not always an excerpt on every post, but if the post you are translating has an excerpt listed then please translate it and put that text into the posting screen in the box labeled 'optional excerpt'. If there is no excerpt nothing bad happens, the homepage just shows the first 50 words of the article followed by '...'
WARNING: When using Podpress to post video or audio code, make sure to set an excerpt with only text inside, if you are using Podpress and your post looks wrong on the homepage, then set an excerpt that has only text inside.
[edit] Post-Thumbnail
The third piece of information in the hidden metadata is the 'post-thumbnail'. This is a small square image that shows with the excerpt on the homepage. It is not supposed to be in the post itself, but instead is saved to the post using a special field.
There is not always a thumbnail for every post.
If the post you are translating has a post-thumbnail listed, then copy the url (or right-click the link that says 'copy this link' and choose 'copy link location') and paste it into the post editing screen in the field that says 'post-thumbnail' (under the save button).
If you do this the image should appear next to your post on the homepage of your Lingua site.
[edit] Linking Back to Original Article
We have set up a system that automatically links back to the original post you are translating and informs the post that there is a translation (so that it can link to your translation). This works by pasting the URL of the original article into the box that says "Permalink of the GV article you are translating".
WARNING: Only links to GV articles should ever go in this box!
The ping to the original article will only be sent when you publish your article, so you can paste it in any time.
IMPORTANT: After you publish your article, please check that both the link on your post ("view original article") and the link on the original post (that links to your article) are working properly. If you notice that there is a problem with the URL after you publish the article and the ping is sent then the ping can be deleted and resent using the options below the url. If you don't have access to the options after the ping is sent, contact your editor and they will be able to fix it for you.
[edit] Adding Author Information
Below the post content and post thumbnail on the editing screen are two fields for the name of the original author of the post and the URL for their posts on the main GV site. For each article you translate please paste in the name of the author, and their url. You can get their url by right-clicking on their name on the original post and choosing "copy link location" (or whatever your browser offers you).
If you do this their name and link will automatically show at the bottom of the post.
NOTE: We previously had a policy of putting the author's name at the end of each post. This is NO LONGER the case, as the automated system is more consistent and works better with the display of roundup posts.
[edit] Linking in General
When the original post you are translated has a link to a previously translated GV post in your language, edit the link so that it takes the reader to its translation.
You can also change Wikipedia links, provided that your language has a good page on the same subject.
Links to general mainstream media are encouraged within the same source: BBC, Reuters and a few others offer localized websites that may have reported on the same subject you are translating.
[edit] Language Codes
Links should be followed by the appropriate international language code, which is used to indicate what language they refer to. Ideally, the author will have already provided it in their original post, except for those links that take the reader to websites in English. The most common languages at the GV at the moment are:
Arabic - ar Chinese - zh English - en French - fr Hebrew - he Japanese - ja Persian - fa Portuguese - pt Russian - ru Spanish - es
Here is a link to a complete Wikipedia list of languages/codes.
For sentences with too many links, feel free not to add the codes after every one of them, especially if they are all related to the same language.
So instead of:
Sunflower [En] writes [En] in her post Alice in Wonderland [En] about a nice video [En] she found.
You could have:
Sunflower writes in her post Alice in Wonderland about a nice video she found [En - all links].
Or, in case all the links in the piece are about the same language, you can let readers know at the beginning or end of your post.
[edit] Style
Again, style in translations should mimic the style used in the original post, so checking the HTML source of the original article (right click on the page and choose 'view source') is a good way to find out how a given style was achieved in that article.
When translating text, the policy at GV is to show the original text followed by the translation. The original text is in a blockquote and the translation is in a div clas="translation". When translating articles, you should leave the 'original text' alone and only change the english version of the text.
[edit] Blockquotes
For large, quoted text use the blockquote HTML tags (there is a button in the editor to make this easier). Eg:
This is what he said: <blockquote> BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH</blockquote>
[edit] Translations
For big blocks of translated text (i.e. translated in the original article, use a div with the translation class (there is a button for this as well in the editor). Eg:
Ma chaise est très petite <div class="translation">My chair is very small</div>
[edit] Arabic
Because Arabic text is right-to-left in direction there is a special class for blocks of Arabic text:
<div class="arabic">اف الفلسطينيين والإسرائيليين ف</div>
[edit] Notes / Translation Notes
To add some visually distinguished translation notes at the beginning or end of a post please use the "notes" class in a div around your content. Translation notes can be used to add necessary context or information for your linguistic audience:
<div class="notes">Notes: This post is being ironic.</div>
[edit] Other CSS Styles in Posts
Please DO NOT use any other CSS styles in your posts than the ones listed above. You should be able to control the look of your posts using the HTML tags listed above the posting area like <strong> and <em>.
Using other css (things like <p style="padding:5px;">) could break the page and not be noticed by your editor. If you feel that you need more options while editing posts please ask your editor for advice. If the CSS you want is really necessary, your editor can work with the tech team to make it part of the standard Lingua CSS or else add it to your language site's custom CSS file.
[edit] Other Style Considerations
- Italics: Either italicize blog names or don't. Whichever you choose, be consistent throughout your translation. If you choose to not italicize and the title has more than one word, capitalize the first letter of each word. Example: either Blog Jokester or Blog jokester.
- Capitalization: For consistency the first letter in the first word of titles should be capitalized. Example: Soudan: Diversité et identité culturelle as opposed to Soudan: diversité et identité culturelle.
[edit] Translation Notes
If you feel that a particular piece of information would deserve extra clarification to help a reader that is not familiar with the subject, you can add a translation note at the end of the paragraph you are translating, or at the end of the piece. Please use brackets.
[edit] Posting Media
We are not posting original content on Lingua so please only use pictures or media featured in the original English post.
[edit] Photos
To include a photo from the original post you can use one of three methods.
- Right click on the photo in the original article and choose 'copy image location', then, in the post editing screen of your translation, press the 'img' button, paste in the URL of the photo and type in a description of what the photo shows. The image should then be inserted into your post (at the place where the cursor was inside the editing box.
- Save the photo to your computer, then use the image uploader in the posting screen to upload an insert the photo into your post. You should use this method if the photo used in the original post is too big to fit in your post or if there are other problems that arise.
- If you copy all the text from the original post and paste straight into the Worpdress' visual editor to work from there, the photos are automatically transfered - together with links.
The authors and editors of original GV posts are supposed to make sure that all photos are formatted properly before uploading them and inserting them in posts, this includes the size of the photos. If the photos are not properly formatted you can fix them yourself before putting them in your translation. Software like Photoshop is great for this, but if you don't have photo editing software you can just use the website Pixenate, whicih is free and lets you edit images and save them on your computer (Picnik also does a good job).
[edit] Podcasts
Including audio in your posts requires the PodPress plugin, which creates a "Podcasting" menu below the editing box on your editing screen. If you do not see the 'podcasting' box confirm with your Editor that the plugin is turned on.
Podpress doesn't upload anything and you should not try to upload podcast mp3's using the photo uploading tool (which can also be used for pdf's or maybe ppt's but not big audio files). Instead just use a link to the original file that was linked to in the original article.
Use the "add media file" button to add audio to your post, filling in the details it asks for.
Podpress automatically generates the code for the player and the download button. So if you see an audio player and a download button on the post you are translating, just use Podpress and it will include those things for you automatically. If you want them to show in a particular part of the article, insert the text [display_podcast] in that spot and the player will show there instead of at the end.
If you ever have problems with Podcasts that are in english, I recommend avoiding the podcast route entirely and just creating a normal link to the audio file from your post. Just clearly label the link as an audio file and mention that it is in english (if necessary).
[edit] Non-Flash English Video
For non-embedded videos (i.e. NOT youtube etc) the current policy is that we will just link to the original post and encourage readers to see it there.
[edit] YouTube and other Embeddable flash videos
If you have cut and pasted media code into your browser and it doesn’t work, there is an option in your personal profile to "use the visual editor", unchecking this makes the editing screen show only as code view and there is much less risk of your code being altered.
When in doubt: RECOPY THE CODE FROM THE ORIGINAL SITE. Often various problems ruin the code inside of wordpress and fixing it becomes difficult or impossible. When you have a problem you should start with a fresh copy of the code from youtube.com and see if that fixes the problem.
If the video still doesn’t appear, maybe try pasting the code into a program like notepad (a simple text editor, unicode preferred) then back into the edit box of wordpress, sometimes that helps...
[edit] Video Translation: dotSUB
dotSUB is a website that allows for volunteer translation of video and audio. They have been wanting to work with us for some time and, time permitting, we encourage you to experiment with using them to translate GV podcasts or videos. dotSUB is a browser based tool for subtitling videos into and from any language, no need to download anything. Once you are logged in by creating a username and password, you can upload a video, transcribe it and then translate it. You can also then embed this video and the full functionality of dotSUB into any website or blog. There are screen casts you can view on the upper left hand corner under the “How to dotsub” box.
You can work online or offline and the tool is very simple to use. To transcribe, click on “transcribe film” in the advanced tools to the right of the video. You can use the keyboard commands to start, stop and insert the in and out points for each subtitle. Click Save, Done and then click on “Mark Transcript as Complete".
Once a video has been transcribed, just click on the “Translate This Film” box (this section is on furthermost right side of the screen, you may have to scroll to the right in order to see it), click on your language and type your translation. Once done with your translation, click save and done. You can also download the transcription of the podcast from the lower right-hand corner of the screen and translate it offline. You would then have to cut and paste your translation into dotSUB.
You can embed dotSUB translations into your posts as you would a YouTube video clicking on "Embed this film". The best size is 320x272. It would be nice to choose the version that has the language you have translated into as default: in order to do this, you only need to edit the language code. In the examples below, the first would display English, the second Portuguese:
<iframe src="http://dotsub.com/api/smallplayer.php?filmid=2128&filminstance=2130&language=en" frameborder="0" width="320" height="272"></iframe>
<iframe src="http://dotsub.com/api/smallplayer.php?filmid=2128&filminstance=2130&language=br" frameborder="0" width="320" height="272"></iframe>
Otherwise you would have to instruct your readers to use the arrows at the bottom of the film screen to choose the language they want the subtitles in.
To embed, make sure you are in the code editor as opposed to the visual editor. In order to use HTML you may need to uncheck the option "Use the visual rich editor when writing" in your profile.
[edit] How to contact authors for clarifications
On every author page at the main GV site there is a box that lets you email the author directly.
Example - See on the right sidebar its' a grey box, you click it and it shows the email form.
If you have time to wait for an email reply, then this is a good method to contact individual authors with questions. You can get to any author's page by clicking their name or photo on the article itself.
If you need a faster response or if it depends more on a language problem than on real context then maybe try the appropriate editor from the main GV site, who will likely be able to help you as well (with a little information from you). You can reach regional and language editors using the GV Contact Page by choosing the appropriate recipient and sending it to them.
When sending emails to authors, please use the subject "LINGUA TRANSLATION HELP NEEDED" so that they don't suspect it's spam or something.
[edit] Translation Philosophy: “Mirror it” v. “Make it new”
There are several schools of translation out there, there is the "mirror" school (keep it exactly the same to preserve accuracy) and there is the "make it new" school.
Ideally, translators will adopt a sensible approach that incorporates elements of each and will use their judgment taking in account their audience to make calls on tough case scenarios. When in doubt though, resort to cultural translation and avoid translating idioms literally.
Translators are encouraged to use bracketed "translators' notes" when they needed to change something in the original post. Here is a ridiculous example:
Once upon a time [Note: In English, this is a common expression used to start a fantastical story] there was a young princess blah blah blah.
Note from Claire (GV in French). many reference links in a translated post point to English language websites, such as "Yahoo answer", "Wikipedia in English". When possible, it is alway more comfortable for the reader (who does not always understands English)to do a search for references on Wikipedia in French or Spanish or Russian, or other well known reference websites, and provide a link in the local language.
[edit] Twitter it!
Twitter is getting more and more popular and often the ground zero of breaking news of many important incidents and events. You can also use twitter(or other so-called micro-blogging platform) to spread and interact within your local language community.
You might want to... 1.Get a personal twitter account, find and follow your friends that are already there, and twitter out your life at the very moment or the post you just translated and published.
2.Use "twitterfeed", the useful web aplication to automatically tweet out each new rss feed from the Lingua site in your local language. There is a step by step instruction on the website which you can simply follow and get a new twitter account particularly for each langua site!
Remember to tell the director of Lingua the account and the password of the twitter account once it is set up.
