OmegaT GUI, documentation and website localisation

Current situation with OmegaT localisation

Currently OmegaT GUI is localised into 37 languages (as least partially, as not all localisations are up to date). The documentation (Quick Start or full User's Manual) for various versions of the program is translated into 36 languages. OmegaT website is available in 29 languages.

Ways to contribute as an OmegaT localiser

Joining one of the existing localisation projects or volunteering as a localiser for the language in which OmegaT has not been available before is one of the real ways to contribute to OmegaT's development.
OmegaT localisation can be done in OmegaT itself, or in another CAT tool or a cloud-based translation platform. This page assumes that OmegaT is going to be used.
OmegaT can be localised by either using OmegaT team project set by the localisation manager, or by using OmegaT L10N packages published after each release.

OmegaT L10N team projects at GitHub

The preferred way to localise OmegaT is through OmegaT team projects hosted at GitHub. Existing projects listed there are the ones that have at least one person who volunteered to localise OmegaT into the respective language. It does not always mean that the project is actively maintained, or that it has up-to-date translation. If you wish to join an existing project, it is most likely that your help will be welcomed.
Source files in the team projects are mirrored directly from the OmegaT source tree. At every project load OmegaT will check if source files in the local project are up to date, thus freeing localisers from needing to download source files and checking if the files they are working with are not obsolete.

Prerequisites

1. The latest version of OmegaT
2. Account at GitHub.com (registration is free)
3. NOTE: No previous experience with Git or other version control systems is required

How it works

IMPORTANT: If you used GitHub or other Git platforms before, please do contact the localisation manager before forking one of the existing repositories with an intent to provide your finished localisation as a pull request. Using OmegaT for translation with Git as a basis for team work is quite different from more conventional uses of Git, therefore pull requests for translated materials may not be the best way to contribute.

1. To join an existing project or to start a new one, contact the localisation manager.
   In your message, state the language you want to translate to, and you GitHub username.

2. Accept invitation from GitHub to join a repository and a group created for your language.
   This should happen shortly after your message to the localisation manager had been sent, but since that person is a volunteer (as everyone else in the OmegaT project), there might be delays. If you feel that it takes the manager too long to reply, do not hesitate to write again.

3. Download your L10N project in OmegaT.
   Start OmegaT. Click Project → Download Team Project and enter the URL you got in the invitation from GitHub.com (it will look like https://github.com/OmegaT-L10N/XX.git), and the folder name of a folder that will be created to store the project locally.
4. Enter your GitHub.com username and password when OmegaT asks for them. This usually happens only once, when you try to save for the first time.
   In case two-factor authentication to GitHub is used, you need to create and use a personal access token.
5. Inform the localisation manager when your work is ready to be included in the next release.
   When Bundle.properties, readme.txt and/or other files in the project are finished and double-checked, and you feel they are ready for the next release, write to the localisation manager to inform which files are completed. For the user documentation, if only a part of the documentation is translated, you may still inform the manager, but most likely partial documentation is not going to be released.
   Committing target files (Project → Commit Target Files) is unnecessary.
6. NOTE: If you are joining an active team, you may get a message from the localiser manager with the email of the admin of that team and/or other team members for you to coordinate your efforts and to avoid translation conflicts.

OmegaT L10N packages

OmegaT L10N pack is a set of files for localisation prepared as a zipped OmegaT project. Minimal L10N pack contains GUI strings, ReadMe and Quick Start, whereas Full L10N pack contains everything the Minimal does plus the full documentation. OmegaT L10N packs do not contain translatable website materials. Providing localisation using these packages is deprecated, but still possible.

How it works

• IMPORTANT: If you want to contribute your help as a localiser and have your reasons to prefer the use of L10N packages, please contact the localisation manager before starting on the translation. Failing to do so may put you in a situation when you are unknowingly working on the same material simultaneously with someone else, and when your work is done, it would be conflicting with the other translation.

• As the localiser, you will have to download the pack you want to translate, and TMX files from previous translations (if any was done and TMX files were provided).

• You will also have to email the completed project along with TMX file(s) back to the localisation manager.

Localisation licensing

OmegaT (including all localisation data) is distributed under GPLv3 Licence.