Reviewing a WAI Translation

Overview

The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) welcomes contributions to review volunteer translations before they are published on the WAI website.

There are 3 steps to contribute as a reviewer:

1. Find a translation that is ready for review

2. Declare your intent to review the translation by a date.

3. Review the translation and work together with the translator(s) and other reviewer(s).

Step 1: How to find a translation ready for review?

You can find translations to review in the “Review needed” view of the dedicated GitHub project .

If you have trouble using this tool, you can contact us at [email protected]¹.

Step 2: How to volunteer?

New volunteer:

Please send an email to [email protected]¹, expressing your interest in joining the WAI translator volunteers community. We will guide you through the next steps.

Regular volunteer:

Indicate that you are volunteering to review the translation in the related GitHub issue.

Please always indicate the date by which you plan to review the translation. This way, we can ask other volunteers if you are unable to complete the review by this date.

Step 3: How to review a translation?

Review discussions take place directly in the Pull Request(s) opened by the translator. These are listed in the GitHub issue related to the translation.

We encourage you to respectfully share your comments, suggested changes, spotted issues; and to work together with the translator(s) and other reviewer(s) to improve the translation.

The most important things for review are:

• the translation accurately conveys the meaning from the English version in the translated language. You must not change or adapt or add to the meaning of the English version in the translation.
• the translation uses respectful disability terminology in the target language and region.

For that, you need to read the English version and compare it to the translation. Often, it is best to have them open in side-by-side windows. A preview is included in most Pull Requests, to see the rendered page.

Specific wording

• Check other translations in your language to see how similar words and concepts have been translated. In particular, Authorized Translations have had significant review and input.
• Consider different dialects. Where possible, the translation should use words and phrases that will be best understood across different areas.
• The translator and reviewer(s) might want to work together to consider different options for some wording.
• When you decide on translation of unclear words and phrases that will likely be in other resources, feel free to add them to the Glossary for your language .

Things to check

For all translations

1. There is no code showing in the rendered page.
2. All of the text that should be translated, is actually translated.
3. The links work.
4. In the raw file, all alternative texts and other not-visible content are translated.

For most resources on WAI website

1. The language codes in the frontmatter are correct.

2. The information in the “About this translation” box is correct.

   If some translator or contributor names are missing, it is because they are still commented out.
   In the code, delete the hashmark and space (# ) from the beggining of the lines.

3. In the footer, the dates are the same in the English version and the translated version.

4. For any videos on the page, the [CC] icon of the video player defaults to the translated language.
   See for example Keyboard Compatibility video in French.

   If not, some video subtitles steps are probably missing.

I do not know the translated language, can I help?

Yes, you can still help with reviews by looking for things like:

• English text that is not translated (like alt text)
• Link accuracy,
• Formatting issues,
• and other things listed at the top of this section.

You can also help find missing content or potential issues with the specific wording.