Voting to request translation into new language +5
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Problem: How do we get volunteers to translate content into new languages
Suggestion: Users request that s/he wanted a page translated into a specific language. Then we ask a volunteer translation community for a given language to focus their efforts on highest requested translation requested content. Each user can make one vote per piece of content.
*This page is part of the Suggestions group. If you agree with this suggestion, please add a comment!
by angusparker
Comments (1 - 16 of 16)
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Flag comment for removal bowo 6 months ago
Is there an example or two of such system for translating articles? How is Wikipedia doing it?
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LaunchPad is for translations of the functionality of the site (fields, error messages etc) but not for the content (e.g. About sections). That is what we would need a new system for - native to WiserEarth.
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There is another idea brewing in the works, that may offer us a user interface and also access to an existing community of translators, and that would be using www.launchpad.net as a place to host the WiserEarth project. We're currently exploring the feasibility of this, though it does look promising.
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We've got Google Translations implemented to some degree - but not showing at the moment. This should be part of internationalization efforts underway in the next couple of months.
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I suggest to have an auto-translate option for any article/comment (though clunky), and also a request tallying system to have the article/comment translated by a human. I would guess that a link to that translation would be given... or maybe it would be displayed via AJAX or something...
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Good idea. Help identify needs and focus translation efforts. My +1.
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For those looking at the WiserEarth suggestions, this article is also posted on the 'WiserEarth in Different Languages Group'.
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Great idea. We should definitely take advantage of existing groups of willing volunteers! |
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Perhaps we should try and get top requested content translated by these folks - some sort of partnership: http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/lingua
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Dear David:
Auto translations are clunky. If a piece of content is voted / requested to be translated because it is valuable or is frequently viewed by people with a specific langauge setting / profile then we might be able to engage the volunteer community to make a good 'human' translation. WE aims to break barriers - including language ones! Best, Angus |
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Hi David, yea I think the vote is like a request, like how the suggestions in the suggestions group are like. I don't think these requests would need a certain threshold either.
Perceiving a page's or comment's value is an interesting issue. It's good that you asked this, because the answer isn't clear. Here are some examples I have in mind for how requests would work.... 1. A bilingual WiserEarth user wants his/her non-English speaking friend to check out an organization/job/event etc. page on WiserEarth...but can't translate it...so he/she requests a translation in a language. 2. A non English speaker visits WiserEarth on their own, and wants the page to be translated. They see their language (for example: Espanol) on the page, displayed as though clicking on it would translate the page to Spanish. If the page is not translated, the user will see a message notifying them that the page has been sent to a team of volunteers who will help translate the page. The automatic language feature is good temporarily. But each time I see an automatic translation (usually an awkward translation) on another site, it honestly can be a turn-off, to know that there has been little effort to attract English users to the site. |
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Hey, all:
Okay, either color me dense, or color me with a dense color, but I do not understand what is being suggested here. Is the 'vote' a request? Is this for a page the member maybe feels has important value but can't understand it? How is value perceived without understanding? Is a threshold in number of requests (='votes') needed to trigger translation of a given page? It seems the first statement about "local content in local language" is the most important, but I do not see how to bridge the gap implied by "barriers" with the balance of the statement. It has occurred to me, while looking at several sites, that many have automatic multiple language features. Therefore, it seems this is the most important direction to proceed, to provide the greatest 'internationalization' improvement. If a more comprehesive explanation of the suggestion is available, please let's discuss this some more. David Messages done with sustainable energy, with Wind and Sun! |
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nice ....+1 for me too!
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As for implementation: Propose a single button that says something like 'Request Translation' and then pops up a list of languages. Also probably need some sort of way of seeing what other languages a document already exists in. This is a bit problematic since a source doc could be translated into another language and substantially modified overtime - still I think we need to make sure people know what already exists in another language.
Also when you request a translation and one has already been made - you should be pointed to the relevant document. E.g. Request translation Arabic Chinese Danish - already translated click here English French |
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Sounds like Roger's idea achieves the same function. Count requests rather than votes. I added a +1 for Roger assuming you like the idea in general!
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Now I realize it is not quite the same thing, but I wonder if a count of requests to translate a particular page into a particular language wouldn't be a good stand in for the voting process.
It would have the advantage of not adding another control that the user has to learn. |
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