(Parts of this tutorial are taken from text already appearing on the iNaturalist and general Crowdin pages.)
iNaturalist currently uses Crowdin for translations. Crowdin is designed to allow anyone to participate in the translation process, so that means if you see that your language is missing translations, or has incorrect translations, you can help.
To get started, you’ll need to have an account with Crowdin. You can register here – it can be helpful to use the same name you use for iNaturalist, but it’s not required.
Next, you should select which project you want to work on. Translations for the website are here, the mobile apps (iOS and Android) are here, and Seek is here.
From the main page for each project, you can see the translation progress on each language, for example:
If you don’t see your language listed, you can contact kueda through the Crowdin platform to have it added.
When you click on a language, you’ll see more details about the translation status for that language.
web:
mobile:
Seek:
There are multiple progress bars, each for a different part of the translation. You may wish to focus on a particular section, or you can click the Translate All button.
At this point, you will be in the main translation interface, called the Editor.
Starting on the left, there is a list of translation strings, the red square indicates strings that still need to be translated. In the upper middle area, you will see the string in English (here it’s “Earliest Added”), plus a place to enter the translated string. The lower middle area shows existing translations and suggested translations. And the right area shows comments for this string across all languages.
To add a translation for a string that doesn’t currently have a translation, all you have to do is type in the area that says “Enter translation here” and click Save.
Your translation will be added to the page, the red square on the left will turn green, and you will move to the next translation string.
If you find an existing translation that is incorrect, the process is a little bit different. Enter your corrected string into the box, then when you click Save, Crowdin will ask if you want to notify a proofreader.
When you select "NOTIFY PROOFREADER", a comment will appear on the right side of the screen. You may modify it to add more details, or you can just send it the way it is. Make sure the box labelled "Issue" is checked.
Those are the basic steps for adding new translations and correcting existing translations. For more details on iNaturalist specifically (such as update schedule, proofreading process, etc.), see the main page of each project.
For more details on how Crowdin works, see here. There are many help topics specifically for translators, including how to customize the interface, keyboard shortcuts, and more.
