organicmaps/docs/TRANSLATIONS.md

Translations

Translations are managed through Weblate. Please contribute translations via the Weblate, and the system and maintainers will handle the rest.

Components

The project consists of multiple components, each with its own translation files.

Weblate Component	Description	Translation Files
Android	UI strings	android/app/src/main/res/values*/strings.xml (en)
Android feature types	Map feature types	android/app/src/main/res/values*/type_strings.xml ([en][android_type_strings_git_en])
iOS	UI strings	iphone/Maps/LocalizedStrings/*.lproj/Localizable.strings (en)
iOS Type Strings	OpenStreetMap Types	iphone/Maps/LocalizedStrings/*.lproj/LocalizableTypes.strings (en)
iOS Plurals	UI strings (plurals)	iphone/Maps/LocalizedStrings/*.lproj/Localizable.stringsdict (en)
iOS Plist	UI strings (system-level)	iphone/Maps/LocalizedStrings/*.lproj/InfoPlist.strings (en)
TTS	Voice announcement strings for navigation directions (TTS)	data/sound-strings/*.json (en)
Countries	Country names for downloader	data/country-strings/*.json (en)
Search keywords	Search keywords/aliases/synonyms	data/categories.txt
Search keywords (cuisines)	Search keywords for cuisine types	data/categories_cuisines.txt
AppStore Descriptions	AppStore descriptions	iphone/metadata (en)
Android Stores Descriptions	Google, F-Droid, Huawei store descriptions	android/app/src/fdroid/play (en)
Website	Website content	organicmaps/website (see details)

Components without links haven't been integrated into Weblate and must be translated directly via GitHub Pull Requests.

Translating

Workflow

Translations are managed through Weblate. Direct submissions to this repository are not recommended but possible in specific cases (like batch-changes). Please prefer using the Weblate for translations whenever possible. Weblate periodically creates pull requests, which @organicmaps/mergers review and merge as usual.

Cross-Component Synchronization

Android and iOS share most of the strings. Weblate automatically syncs translations between components (e.g., from Android to iOS and vice versa), so updating a string in one place is usually sufficient.

Machine Translation

Weblate is configured to generate machine translations using the best available tools. Auto-translated entries are added as suggestions.

Failing checks

Please review any issues flagged by automated checks, such as missing placeholders, inconsistencies, and other potential errors. Use the filter has:check AND state:>=translated language:de, replacing de with your target language.

Developing

Workflow

Translations are handled by the translation team via Weblate, with no direct developer involvement required. Developers are only responsible for adding English base strings to the source file (see Components). Weblate manages the rest. If you're confident in a language, feel free to contribute translations, but please avoid adding machine translations or translating languages you are not familiar with.

Tools

Android developers can utilize the built-in features of Android Studio to add and modify strings efficiently. iOS developers are advised to edit Localizable.strings as a text file, as Xcode’s interface only supports "String Catalog," which is not currently in use. JSON files can be modified using any text editor. To ensure consistency, always follow the established structure and include a comment when adding new strings.

Cross-Component Synchronization

When adding new strings, first check the base file of the component for existing ones. If no relevant strings are found, look for them on the corresponding platform (e.g., iOS when adding Android strings or vice versa). To maintain consistency across platforms, always reuse the existing string key from the other platform with the same English base string.

Maintaining

Under the Hood

Weblate maintains an internal copy of the Git repository. The repository URL can be found under Manage → Repository Maintenance → Weblate Repository. All components, except for the website, share the same internal Weblate repository.

Translations are extracted from the repository and stored in an internal database, which is used by the Weblate UI. Every 24 hours, this internal database is synchronized back to the internal repository. This process can also be triggered manually via Manage → Repository Maintenance → Commit.

After committing changes from the internal database to the internal repository, Weblate pushes all updates to the weblate-i18n branch of the main GitHub repository and creates or updates a pull request (PR) to master. This operation can be manually triggered via Manage → Repository Maintenance → Push.

Reviewing PRs

Translations are intended to be reviewed by the community on Weblate. However, if it's a user's first contribution or if there is any doubt, a quick scan and comparison with the English source can be useful.

It is recommended to add comments directly on Weblate, as translators primarily work within that platform. If the contributor has a GitHub account, you may tag them in the pull request, but there is no guarantee that they will respond.

Resolving Conflicts

The recommended approach for resolving conflicts is as follows:

1. Commit all changes from the internal database to the internal Git repository:
   Manage → Repository Maintenance → Commit (button).
2. Update the weblate-i18n branch on GitHub:
   Manage → Repository Maintenance → Push (button).
3. Locally checkout the weblate-i18n branch.
4. Rebase it onto master, resolving any conflicts during the process.
5. Push the branch to GitHub to update the pull request, then merge the branch or PR into master.
6. Reset Weblate to sync changes from GitHub:
   Manage → Repository Maintenance → Reset (button).