Translations¶
Wagtail uses Transifex to translate the content for the admin interface. Our goal is to ensure that Wagtail can be used by those who speak many different languages. Translation of admin content is a great way to contribute without needing to know how to write code.
Note
For translations and internationalisation of content made with Wagtail see Internationalization.
Translation workflow¶
Wagtail is localised (translated) using Django’s translation system and the translations are provided to and managed by Transifex, a web platform that helps organisations coordinate translation projects.
Translations from Transifex are only integrated into the repository at the time of a new release. When a release is close to being ready there will be a RC (Release Candidate) for the upcoming version and the translations will be exported to Transifex.
During this RC period, usually around two weeks, there will be a chance for all the translators to update and add new translations. We will also notify the #translators
channel in the Wagtail Slack group at this time.
These new translations are imported into Wagtail for any subsequent RC and the final release. If translations reach a threshold of about 80%, languages are added to the default list of languages users can choose from.
How to help out with translations¶
Join the Wagtail community on Slack
Search through the channels to join the
#translator
channel and introduce yourselfGo to Transifex
Click on start for free
Fill in your Username, Email and Password
Agree to the terms and conditions
Click on free trial or join an existing organisation
Join Wagtail and see the list of languages on the dashboard
Request access to become a member of the language team you want to work with on Slack (mention your Transifex username)
A view resources button appears when you hover over the ready to use part on the right side of the page
Click on the button to get access to the resources available
This takes you to the language section
This page has a translation panel on the right and a list of strings to be translated on the left
To translate a project, select it and enter your translation in the translation panel
Save the translation using the translation button on the panel
Marking strings for translation¶
In code, strings can be marked for translation with using Django’s translation system, using gettext
or gettext_lazy
in Python and blocktranslate
, translate
, and _(" ")
in templates.
In both Python and templates, make sure to always use named placeholder. In addition, in Python, only use the printf style formatting. This is to ensure compatibility with Transifex and help translators in their work.
Translations within Python¶
from django.utils.translation import gettext_lazy as _
# Do this: printf style + named placeholders
_("Page %(page_title)s with status %(status)s") % {"page_title": page.title, "status": page.status_string}
# Do not use anonymous placeholders
_("Page %s with status %s") % (page.title, page.status_string)
_("Page {} with status {}").format(page.title, page.status_string)
# Do not use positional placeholders
_("Page {0} with status {1}").format(page.title, page.status_string)
# Do not use new style
_("Page {page_title} with status {status}").format(page_title=page.title, status=page.status_string)
# Do not interpolate within the gettext call
_("Page %(page_title)s with status %(status)s" % {"page_title": page.title, "status": page.status_string})
_("Page {page_title} with status {status}".format(page_title=page.title, status=page.status_string))
# Do not use f-string
_(f"Page {page.title} with status {page.status_string}")
Translations with templates¶
You can import i18n
and then translate with the translate
/blocktranslate
template tags. You can also translate string literals passed as arguments to tags and filters by using the familiar _()
syntax.
{% extends "wagtailadmin/base.html" %}
{% load i18n %}
<!-- preliminary lines of code -->
<!-- Do this to use the translate tag. -->
{% translate "Any string of your choosing" %}
<!-- Do this to use the blocktranslate tag. -->
{% blocktranslate %}
A multi-line translatable literal.
{% endblocktranslate %}
<!-- Do these to translate string literals passed to tags and filters. -->
{% some_tag _("Any string of your choosing") %}
{% some_tag arg_of_some_tag=_("Any string of your choosing") %}
{% some_tag value_of_some_tag|filter=_("Any string of your choosing") value|yesno:_("yes,no") %}
<!-- A typical example of when to use translation of string literals is -->
{% translate "example with literal" as var_name %}
{% some_tag arg_of_some_tag=var_name %}
<!-- If the variable is only ever used once, you could do this instead -->
{% some_tag arg_of_some_tag=_("example with literal") %}
Note: In Wagtail code, you might see trans
and blocktrans
instead of translate
and blocktranslate
.
This still works fine. trans
and blocktrans
were the tags earlier on in Django, but were replaced in Django 3.1.
Additional resources¶
A screen-share Wagtail Space US 2020 Lightning Talk that walks through using Transifex step-by-step
Core development instructions for syncing Wagtail translations with Transifex