Translating an article

Adding a translation to an existing article, and the decision about who does the translating and who checks it.

Adding a translation to an existing article, and the decision about who does the translating and who checks it.

Add a translation

1. Open the article.
2. Add a translation and choose the language.
3. Write or paste the translated title and body.
4. Publish it.

It becomes the version readers in that language see. The article keeps one identity and one address.

Translate the title as a question too

A literal translation of an English title often reads oddly and, more importantly, does not match what somebody would type in the other language.

Ask what a Dutch customer would search for, and title it that. The translation should be findable, not faithful.

Interface terms are not yours to translate

Where an article names a button or a menu, use the words that appear in that language's interface, not your own translation of the English.

An article telling a Dutch reader to click something that is labelled differently on their screen sends them looking for a control that does not exist.

Machine translation as a first pass

Reasonable for a draft, and it needs somebody who speaks the language to read it before publishing. Machine translation is fluent and confident including when it is wrong, and a customer cannot tell the difference until they follow the instructions.

Keep them in step

Editing the source does not update translations, and nothing flags them as stale. Verification is how you catch that, and it needs setting up deliberately.

See also

• Managing translations in bulk
• Article verification: what it is and how to set it up
• Adding languages and setting the default