Working on translations

Overview

  • Step 1: Identifying the appropriate 5-6 character ll_CC locale name for your translation

  • Step 2: Configuring the mappings.txt file with a text editor

  • Step 3: Working on main translations with Poedit

    • configure Poedit

    • generate and translate the “strings” in the messages.po file

  • Step 4: Translating “Start-up tips” in PsychoPy® with a text editor

NOTE: Steps 3 and 4 aren’t sequential; they’re different translation processes

Step 1: What is the ll_CC locale name for my language?

  • First, we need to discuss how locale names work

  • Look under this directory in your local copy

    • psychopy/psychopy/app/locale

Screenshot of localization files in PsychoPy®

Image of where the localisation files reside in the PsychoPy repository

1a: Examples of East Asian locale names

ll_ (language), followed by _CC (country), for example:

  • zh_CN for Chinese in the PRC (simplified)

  • zh_TW for Chinese in the ROC (complex)

  • ko_KR for Korean in South Korea

  • th_TH for Thai in Thailand

1b: Examples of Central/Western Asian/European locale names

  • ar_001 for Modern Standard Arabic*

  • he_IL for Hebrew in Israel

  • tr_TR for Turkish in Turkey

  • fa_IR for Farsi in Iran

* This is the official locale for MSA. Let’s just hope the _001 code works in PsychoPy®. If not, we can switch to country codes (e.g., ar_EG for Arabic in Egypt)

1c: Some other Indo-European languages

  • ca_ES for Catalonian/Valencian in Spain

  • de_DE for German in Germany (hochdeutsch)

  • et_EE for Estonian in Estonia

  • fr_FR for French in France

  • hi_IN for Hindi in India

  • it_IT for Italian in Italy

  • lv_LV for Latvian in Latvia

  • nl_BE for Flemish in Belgium

  • pl_PL for Polish in Poland

  • pt_PT for Portuguese in Portugal

  • ru_RU for Russian in Russia

1d: What if our language needs more than one language variety?

  • Recommendation

    • decide on which variety to start with

    • finish the translations for that variety of the language

    • copy, paste, rename, and adjust

1e: Example using Spanish

  • fully translate for Iberian Spanish (es_ES)

  • copy the entire es_ES folder

  • rename it to es_CL (Spanish in Chile)

  • add Chilean Spanish to the mappings.txt file

  • make adjustments to the new messages.po file to account for Chilean variations on the language

1f: ll_CC folder/file structure

  • The file translators only work on

    • a messages.po file

    • located two levels under under any particular ll_CC folder for that locale

  • For example for Farsi (Persian) in Iran:

psychopy/psychopy/app/locale/...

folder structure for locations of dot po and dot mo files (this one being fa_IR, which is Farsi as spoken in Iran)

NOTE: Ignore the intermediate LC_MESSAGE level, as well as the messages.mo file underneath

1g: Is your locale listed?

  • Look under psychopy/psychopy/app/locale

    • Is your ll_CC folder there?

      • may already be there

      • or not

  • if not, why isn’t it pre-listed?

    • unnecessary storage

      • pre-listing every language-country pair

        • storage waste

      • current list

        • just guesses

  • if not pre-listed, just add it

1h: How to add a locale

  • the easy way

    • find any ll_CC folder

      • ideally, look for a small .po file with no translations yet

    • copy and paste the entire folder

    • rename the folder to the ll_CC appropriate for your locale

    • make adjustments to the messages.po file underneath (covered soon)

  • the hard way

    • not a reasonable approach; not going there

Step 2: Update mappings.txt

  • Do this once per translated language, and it’s done forever (for that localisation)

  • This file allows the experimenter to choose a localization in PsychoPy®

2a: Open a text editor

  • Start your preferred text editor (e.g., Visual Studio Code, PyCharm, TextEdit [Mac])

  • Avoid using Notepad in Microsoft Windows

2b: Insert the appropriate ll_CC code

  • Open the following file (there’s one and only one)

/psychopy/psychopy/app/localization/mappings.txt

  • Is the ll_CC code listed?

    • Make sure the ll_CC code resides at the appropriate line (alphabetically listed)

2c: Add the Microsoft language code

NOTE: If you can’t find your language for some reason, just add a random three-letter sequence that isn’t already in use and probably doesn’t refer to a language (e.g., JJY). That should work.

2d: Add an informative language label

  • At the far right,

    • type in the language and variety in that language

      • followed (in parentheses) by the the name of the language and variety, in English

    • do not include the variety (the part after the comma) if there is only one variety that anyone would ever use

    • for example

      • “español, España (Spanish, Spain)”

        • (not just “Spanish”)

      • “עִברִית (Hebrew)”

        • (not just “Hebrew”)

  • Save the mappings.txt file

2e: Make a pull request for mappings.txt

2e1: Stage changes

  • Select psychopy under the tab labeled Current Repository

  • Select release under the tab labeled Current Branch

  • Stage the mappings.txt file (only)

    • go to the tab labeled Changes

    • make sure that mappings.txt is the only file with a checkmark

2e2: Commit staged changes

  • add the following message to the box underneath with the temporary text Summary (required)

    • DOCS: Update mappings.txt for Hebrew in Israel (for example)

      • this must be 50 characters or fewer

      • add extra information under Description, if necessary

  • click the box underneath labeled Commit to release

    • NOTE: If it’s not labeled Commit to release, start at the top of this slide again

2e3: Push to origin

  • click the Push origin tab

2e4: Pull request from origin to upstream

  • On GitHub (origin [AKA your online “fork”])

    • Click Contribute

    • Choose Open pull request

    • Leave a comment only if you think it’s necessary (it shouldn’t be for translations)

    • Click Create pull request

FINISHED!! (with mappings.txt)

Step 3: Translating strings in Poedit

  • Poedit

    • where most of your work will be focused

    • first need to set some things up

3a: Sync all your repositories

  • Sync from upstream to origin

  • Pull from origin

Again??!!

  • Yes

    • Do this every time you start work on a translation

    • Another translator may have changed the translation (the .po file) since the last time you worked on it

  • Go back to the end of Setting up version control for instructions

3b: Download and install Poedit

Poedit download page

3c: Check General settings

  • Start Poedit

  • Once set, the settings below in Poedit don’t really change

3c1: General tab (Name and email)

  • choose the following:

    • File > Preferences (on a PC)

    • Poedit > Settings (on a Mac)

  • Find the following tab: General

  • For convenience, make sure that the box with the following label is UN-checked:

    • Automatically compile MO file when saving

      • (Note that this is not strictly necessary as we have set Git to ignore the .mo file, but compiling this file is unnecessary and takes up processing time)

3c2: Leave name and email blank

  • Do not provide your name or email

    • Doing so will list your name and email in a public place (GitHub), where it doesn’t really need to be

  • Instead, just leave these fields blank

3c3: check the Advanced settings

  • click the Advanced tab in the same window

  • Make sure that the following are set correctly

    • Line endings:

      • set to Unix (recommended)

    • Preserve formatting of existing files

      • make sure this is checked

3d: Settings specific to a .po file

First, open the .po file

  • File > Open

    • find the .po file for the language you’re working on:

      • .../psychopy/psychopy/app/locale/[your ll_CC folder]/LC_MESSAGES/messages.po

  • For example, for Thai in Thailand:

    • psychopy/app/locale/th_TH/LC_MESSAGES/messages.po

3d1: language team

  • Go to: Translation > Properties

  • under: Language team (if there is more than one translator for the locale, and we have set up a Google Group for your team)

    • make sure that the email for entire group is correct

      • psychopy_[language]@opensciencetools.org

        • e.g., psychopy_hebrew@opensciencetools.org

3d2: language

  • under: Language

    • select the appropriate Language (Country) combination

    • For example

      • Duala (Cameroon)

  • under Charset

    • UTF-8 (recommended)

3d3: Paths (1)

  • under the tab labeled: Sources Paths

    • For Base path

      • Click the arrow on the right

      • find the path on your computer that leads to the psychopy directory within the cloned repository on your computer:

..THE/PATH/ON/YOUR/COMPUTER/TO/psychopy/psychopy

NOTE: This setting does not make its way into the .po file. Rather, it’s just part of Poedit.

3d4: Paths (2)

  • under the tab labeled: Sources Paths…

  • in the box labeled: Paths…

  • there should be a dot (.)

3d5: keywords

  • under the tab labeled: Sources Keywords

    • Go to: Additional keywords

  • The following keyword should be in that box (with the preceding underscore):

_translate

  • If it isn’t, type it in

  • Save your work (File > Save)

3e1: Generate current list of translatable strings

  • The elements you can translate are called strings

    • This process is straightforward if you are the sole translator on the language

  • But translation teams can run into merge conflicts

    • In such cases, make sure that you reduce the chances of merge conflicts by doing the following

      1. synchronise your repositories

      2. establish a team strategy (covered after the next slide)

3e2: Generate the list

  • Choose: Translation > Update from Source Code

  • You should subsequently see a list of strings in English that need translating into your language

    • If you don’t, the keyword _translate may not have been added to the keywords (see above)

NOTE: If Update from Source Code is greyed out, there are probably no new strings to update

3g: Group strategy: Sort and show string ID

  • This is for collaboration in a team, after the strings are updated

    • Choose: View > Show String ID

    • Choose: View > Sort by File Order

  • If you do both of those, then the strings will be listed in order by index

    • The index ID can be seen in the column at the far right

    • Teams can divide up the work by ID ranges, for example

      • Translator A: IDs 1-250

      • Translator B: IDs 251-500

      • etc.

3h: Translate the strings

  • Look at the list under the heading: Source Text - English at the upper left

  • Select a string that you want to translate

  • Once selected, you should see it appear as English in the following box below the longer list: Source text (at the lower left)

  • Below that, there is a box labeled as follows: Translation

  • Type your translation into that box

  • Save your work as you go

3i: Make a pull request for messages.po

  • This involves several steps, described next

3i1: Stage changes

  • Select psychopy under the tab labeled Current Repository

  • Select release under the tab labeled Current Branch

  • Stage the messages.po file (only)

    • go to the tab labeled Changes

    • make sure that messages.po is the only file with a checkmark

      • if the .mo file is checked, UN-check it

3i2: Commit staged changes

  • add the following message to the box underneath with the temporary text Summary (required)

    • DOCS: Add translations to Modern Standard Arabic (for example)

    • DOCS: Add translations to Simplified Chinese (another example)

      • (again, must be 50 characters or fewer; add extra information under Description, if necessary)

    • (ignore the box labeled Description for now)

  • click the box underneath labeled Commit to release

    • NOTE: If it’s not labeled Commit to release, start at the top of this slide again

3i3: Push changes to origin

  • click the Push origin tab

3i4: pull request to upstream

  • On GitHub (origin [AKA your online “fork”])

    • Click Compare & pull request

    • Make sure it says Able to merge in the box at the top

    • Leave a comment only if you think it’s necessary (it shouldn’t be for translations)

    • Click Create pull request

Note A: Leave certain technical terms alone

  • Technical terms should not be translated:

    • Builder

    • Coder

    • PsychoPy

    • Flow

    • Routine

    • and so on

  • These are usually indicated with an uppercase first letter

  • Check the Japanese localization (ja_JP/LC_MESSAGES/messages.po) if in doubt

    • The Simplified Chinese .po file also has some examples

Note B: Formatting arguments

If there are formatting arguments in the original string (%s, %(first)i)

  • The same number of arguments must also appear in the translation*

  • If they are named (e.g., %(first)i)

    • (here, first is a python name)

    • that part should not be translated

  • Again, refer to the Japanese localization if in doubt

    • (and/or Simplified Chinese, if you are in that language)

* Word order changes across languages, of course. So the placement of these formatting arguments within the translated string may differ from the US-English string.

Note C1: Using the Japanese .po file for guidance

  • The Japanese translation is nearly complete

  • You have it since you forked and cloned the repository

  • Open:

/psychopy/app/locale/ja_JP/LC_MESSAGES/messages.po

  • Look up the string you’re having difficulty with in the Japanese messages.po file

  • Use that as a model for your own .po file

    • (and/or Simplified Chinese, if you are in that language)

Note C2: When you are unsure how to translate

If you think your translation might have room for improvement

  • toggle the button labeled as follows: Needs Work

    • It should be located to the right of the header with the following label: Translation

  • You can also add notes to clarify

    • Click the button with the following label: Add Comment

      • This should be located at lower-right of the app window if you have the sidebar visible

    • Add your notes for that string into the pop-up window

Note C2a: Simple strategy to resolve uncertainty: Ask the experts

  • Go to the PsychoPy Forum

  • There are friendly, useful experts there

    • When posting

      • select Development under Category

      • add the tag translation

    • How people on the Forum might help you

      • Few, if any, can help you with your language, of course

      • Many more who can help you understand the underlying code of PsychoPy®

Note C2b: Advanced strategy to resolve uncertainty: Determine it yourself

NOTE: You need to understand Python quite well to take the following approach

  • Select the relevant string in the following box: Source text - English

    • Right-click the string (control-click on a Mac)

  • At the bottom of the pop-up window, you should see the following heading: Code Occurrences

    • Below that, you will see the (partial) path(s) to the file(s), followed by a colon, :, then the respective line number in the file

Note C2b (cont’d)

  • For example, for the string Yes in one version of PsychoPy®:

    • ../app/connections/update.py:232 (meaning line 232 in the update.py file under the connections folder)

    • ../app/dialogues.py:51 (meaning line 51 in the dialogues.py file under the app folder)

    • ../app/dialogues.py:71 (etc.)

  • You can then go into that file (or those files) to determine the function

Note C2c: Last resort: Do nothing

If still in doubt

  • Just leave out the translation until you do understand

  • There is nothing wrong with this approach

  • It is, by far, preferable to mis-translating a string

  • If you see fit to do so, toggle Needs Work and add a comment (see above)

Step 4: Translating the Start-up Tips

  • Start-up tips are not handled directly in a .po file

  • Rather, they are stored in a .txt file, one per language

  • That .txt file is then referred to inside the .po file for your language

  • This is explained next

4a: Copy tips.txt to a new file

  • Find the default Start-up Tips (in English) file

    • psychopy/app/Resources/tips.txt

  • Copy it

    • Paste it as a new file (tips copy.txt, perhaps)

    • Rename it according to the ll_CC convention consistent with the language you’re working on

  • For Example

    • tips_zh_CN.txt (simplified Chinese)

    • tips_ar_001.txt (Modern Standard Arabic)

4b: translate

  • Open the new, renamed tips_ll_CC.txt file using your preferred text editor (as long as it opens up the file with each tip on a new line, unlike older versions of Notepad)

  • Translate the English-language tips by replacing them entirely with those of the language you are working on

WARNING: Do not delete any English entry in the new .txt file before you have completely translated it. Instead, insert the relevant translation below the English entry. Then (and only then) delete the English entry. Save your work, of course.

4c: treat the .txt files as strings in Poedit

  • Open Poedit

  • Find the tips.txt string under the following heading: Source text - English

  • Simply provide the name of the new .txt file that you just created as the translation for tips.txt

    • Naturally, this would be under the following heading: Translation - [your language]

  • For example:

The case of Japanese

Source text - English

Translation - Japanese

tips.txt

tips_ja_JP.txt

4d: Make a pull request for .po and .txt files

There are two files this time

4d1: Stage changes

  • Select psychopy under the tab labeled Current Repository

  • Select release under the tab labeled Current Branch

  • Stage both the messages.po and the tips_[ll_CC].txt file (e.g., tips_tr_TR.txt for Turkish)

    • go to the tab labeled Changes

    • make sure that the following two files are checked

      • messages.po

      • tips_tr_TR.txt (using Turkish in Turkey as the example)

IMPORTANT: Again, be sure to UN-check the .mo file if it is checked.

4d2: Commit changes

  • Commit these changes

    • add the following message to the box underneath with the temporary text Summary (required)

      • DOCS: Add some startup tips to Spanish in Mexico (for example)

        • must be 50 characters or fewer

        • add extra information under Description, if necessary

    • click the box underneath labeled Commit to release

      • NOTE: If it’s not labeled Commit to release, start at the top of this slide again

4d3: Push changes to origin

  • click the Push origin tab

4d4: pull request to upstream

  • On GitHub (origin [AKA your online “fork”])

    • Click Contribute

    • Choose Open pull request

    • Make sure it says Able to merge in the box at the top

    • Leave a comment only if you think it’s necessary (it shouldn’t be for translations)

    • Click Create pull request

Note on humor in Start-up tips

  • Some of the humor in the Start-up tips might not translate well

  • Feel free to delete humor that would be too odd

    • or replace them with mild humor that would be more appropriate

  • Humor must be respectful and suitable for using in a classroom, laboratory, or other professional situation

  • Don’t get too creative here

  • If you have any doubt, it is better to leave it out

  • It goes without saying that you should avoid any religious, political, disrespectful, or sexist material

Done with translating

More details on More information on Git workflow


Back to top