Discovering language packs

The basic setup of translating things is already setup by Magento via CrowdIn. In the Dutch space of CrowdIn already many volunteers have contributed by translating English strings to Dutch. And this has led to a fairly complete language pack.

There are some issues though: First of all, the download method is crap: There is some kind of weird IP-based thingy that allows you to download the current language files, but this is extremely slow and not composer-based. Because of this, already 4 initiatives have popped up in The Netherlands to make the language pack available as an installable package via GitHub/composer. These are great initiatives, but it's confusing: Why are there 4 packs and not just 1?

Also, there is the issue in the Dutch language of tutoyering (having a familiar and a formal way of saying you), which is not currently reflected in the language packs and/or CrowdIn.

Dutchento in the lead

Community to the rescue. The community in the Netherlands is led by Dutchento (organizer of many Dutch events and initiatives) and it seems a logical idea to make them the lead for any translations. There is an empty GitHub repository for translations under Dutchento, but the big question is how to gather the community to make this work. For this, I've personally started a wiki in this repo to summarize the current state and to point us in the right direction: github.com/Dutchento/module-dutch-m2-translation/wiki

MUG Utrecht meetup - 21st of September

So what to do next? The first step is to discuss and colaborate on what needs to be done: To do this, Yireo, Experius and Dutchento are joining forces to organize a Magento User Group (MUG) in Utrecht on Wednesday 21st of September. This meetup is ment for developers, merchants and managers to gather ideas on how the translation process should ideally work.

Various ideas are there: Take the work of the 4 language packs that are out there already and bundle them in the GitHub repo of Dutchento. Also, there should be documentation on how to join translation teams and how to get started. Last but not least, CrowdIn has an interesting API that could be used by developers to create awesome stuff.

To join this meetup for free, simply go to the meetup page and sign up: meetup.com/Magento-User-Group-Utrecht/events/232890555/

Hackathon - 24th of September

As already mentioned above, there might be various improvements that can be made to the translation process - with regular scripting, composer-based solutions (like a Satis for Dutchento), a CrowdIn API that yells out for further optimization. To actually put effort into creating translation tools, the MUG of Wednesday is followed up by a hackathon on Saturday - again organized by Experius and Dutchento and Yireo, and hosted in the office of Experius in Utrecht.

If you are a developer and you want to contribute to the Magento community, this is your chance: Head over to meetup.com/Magento-User-Group-Utrecht/events/233180951/ and sign up for this great gettogether of programmers.

Join us and the community!

Translations are a fundament of all Magento projects, so it is vital for us to make this work in the right way. Magento 2 is still fresh, but the community is active. Want to be part of something great? This is your chance - no matter what your technical skills are, your voice is most important! Hope to see you in Utrecht next week!