[ReQ] Indonesian Language Package
- Thread starter TsuQi
- Start date
give me please At present there is no Indonesian language pack currently available for download. You will need to translate vBulletin into Indonesian yourself.
To do this, create a new language in AdminCP > Language Manager, then click Edit/Translate for this language. This will give you a list of all the phrases and boxes to add your translation to.
Tips for Translating
Don't translate for translating, translate "in context".
Translating is nice, but in all languages a single word can have 2 or more meanings, and you can say almost anything in more than 1 way. This means that a single phrase can be meaningful in one context and completely senseless in another, "find post" is not always the same as "search post" or "lookup post"... see where it is used, do a search in the templates or in your forums for the phrase and make sure you and everybody will understand.
Check for common used phrases in other programs
Being creative is nice, but for translations is not always the best idea. Your users doesn't want to learn a new idiom, they want your forum to be easy to use and similar to what they've used in the past.
I've noticed that a lot of my users use or have used hotmail/yahoo, and they are familiar with "login in" / "log out" or "sign in" / "sign out". Open hotmail in your language and check how they say "log in" and use it, there's nothing wrong with that and your users will find the button faster, I promise. It is nice if you want to use "enter the forum" or something like that but that will only confuse your users.
For the editors, especially the WYSIWYG don't reinvent the wheel, check microsoft word, people prefer to see the description for "bold" the same as their text editor. Even if "center" is the same as "align center" for you, you are more likely to spend less time explaining the options to your users if they are more familiar with them. Again, almost everyone uses microsoft word, you can't argue with the facts.
Browse your forums!
This is important, browse your forums and check for spelling/grammar errors and most important, check that everything makes sense. If something doesn't make sense for you it won't for your users. Change it. Try everything to be as perfect as possible, you are only doing the translation once, and a lot of people will see it. If possible browse thoroughly, if not, test the options the users are most likely to use, those really have to be perfect.
Don't forget to translate everything
I use the admincp, but my mods use the modcp and not all of them know English, so I translated the modcp for them (I kept the admincp untranslated, though). I also never use the usernotes, but some of my mods do so I translated them. I don't really care a lot about the reputation phrases but I translated them also. Don't allow you users to pm or email you with a "this is not translated" message, be one step ahead them, if you use it, then it should be translated.
Please! Use a dictionary
Not everybody is a languages guru, you might not know everything in your own language, that's ok. And maybe you can't hire somebody to do your translation. If you are really, really unsure about how you should spell a word then use a dictionary, it takes only a couple of seconds. I hate to see spelling errors, even if I make them myself. The users aren't different.
Last but not least, use what your users want to hear
As I wrote before there are several ways to write the same idea, threads can be threads, or discussions, or topics; posts can be messages, subscriptions can be bookmarks or favorites. If your forum is new it doesn't matter a lot, use what is more broadly used, if you have been around for a while then use what your users want to hear, if you have been using "topic" for 3 years instead of "thread" I don't find any good reason to change it, unless it really makes a difference. You decide.
To do this, create a new language in AdminCP > Language Manager, then click Edit/Translate for this language. This will give you a list of all the phrases and boxes to add your translation to.
Tips for Translating
Don't translate for translating, translate "in context".
Translating is nice, but in all languages a single word can have 2 or more meanings, and you can say almost anything in more than 1 way. This means that a single phrase can be meaningful in one context and completely senseless in another, "find post" is not always the same as "search post" or "lookup post"... see where it is used, do a search in the templates or in your forums for the phrase and make sure you and everybody will understand.
Check for common used phrases in other programs
Being creative is nice, but for translations is not always the best idea. Your users doesn't want to learn a new idiom, they want your forum to be easy to use and similar to what they've used in the past.
I've noticed that a lot of my users use or have used hotmail/yahoo, and they are familiar with "login in" / "log out" or "sign in" / "sign out". Open hotmail in your language and check how they say "log in" and use it, there's nothing wrong with that and your users will find the button faster, I promise. It is nice if you want to use "enter the forum" or something like that but that will only confuse your users.
For the editors, especially the WYSIWYG don't reinvent the wheel, check microsoft word, people prefer to see the description for "bold" the same as their text editor. Even if "center" is the same as "align center" for you, you are more likely to spend less time explaining the options to your users if they are more familiar with them. Again, almost everyone uses microsoft word, you can't argue with the facts.
Browse your forums!
This is important, browse your forums and check for spelling/grammar errors and most important, check that everything makes sense. If something doesn't make sense for you it won't for your users. Change it. Try everything to be as perfect as possible, you are only doing the translation once, and a lot of people will see it. If possible browse thoroughly, if not, test the options the users are most likely to use, those really have to be perfect.
Don't forget to translate everything
I use the admincp, but my mods use the modcp and not all of them know English, so I translated the modcp for them (I kept the admincp untranslated, though). I also never use the usernotes, but some of my mods do so I translated them. I don't really care a lot about the reputation phrases but I translated them also. Don't allow you users to pm or email you with a "this is not translated" message, be one step ahead them, if you use it, then it should be translated.
Please! Use a dictionary
Not everybody is a languages guru, you might not know everything in your own language, that's ok. And maybe you can't hire somebody to do your translation. If you are really, really unsure about how you should spell a word then use a dictionary, it takes only a couple of seconds. I hate to see spelling errors, even if I make them myself. The users aren't different.
Last but not least, use what your users want to hear
As I wrote before there are several ways to write the same idea, threads can be threads, or discussions, or topics; posts can be messages, subscriptions can be bookmarks or favorites. If your forum is new it doesn't matter a lot, use what is more broadly used, if you have been around for a while then use what your users want to hear, if you have been using "topic" for 3 years instead of "thread" I don't find any good reason to change it, unless it really makes a difference. You decide.