[wp-meta] [Making WordPress.org] #1089: gp-import-export plugin for translate.wordpress.org

[Making WordPress.org]

#1089: gp-import-export plugin for translate.wordpress.org
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  Reporter:  akirk        |      Owner:
      Type:  enhancement  |     Status:  new
  Priority:  normal       |  Component:  translate.wordpress.org
Resolution:               |   Keywords:  has-patch
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Comment (by samuelsidler):

 Thinking through this a bit longer, I'm confused as to why this needs to
 be on translate.wordpress.org. Can someone walk me through things?

 From what I can tell (and please correct me if I'm wrong), currently the
 process is this:
 * The mobile apps are prepared for release.
 * [https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/meta-i18n/p1434641124000066
 Automattic pays someone to translate] the top [n] languages. (What is [n]
 here? Which languages are not translated by community?)
 * The project is enabled on translate.wordpress.org for all translators.
 * Jenia goes in manually and uploads the paid-for translations to the
 relevant locales.
 * Mobile team posts a call for translations
 ([http://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2015/07/03/release-notes-for-
 wpios-5-4-hey-folks-were/ like this]).
 * Community translators translate all the other locales.
 * The mobile team [https://github.com/wordpress-mobile/WordPress-
 iOS/blob/develop/Scripts/update-translations.rb bulk-exports translations]
 and releases the apps.

 A few thoughts on the above:
 * I didn't realize this process existed. Why is Automattic paying for
 translations versus relying on the community to translate them? Perhaps
 that's a bigger question, not for this ticket. :)
 * I don't feel all that great about a non-translation editor importing
 strings into a community project. Seems like a slippery slope and we're
 telling theme and plugin authors the opposite for their (upcoming)
 projects.
 * Bulk export already exists for the mobile team, so I'm unclear why we
 need to add it here.

 In reality, it looks like this ticket exists to make it easier to import
 the top [n] translations, which, as I expressed above, I don't really like
 in the first place. (Again, export already exists for the mobile team.)

 If the mobile apps want to use paid-for translations instead of community
 translations (and again, why?), I think we should just remove the locale
 from the relevant projects. For example, if German is one of the top [n]
 languages and Automattic is paying for translations for the iOS app, then
 we should remove the iOS app as an option for German translation on
 translate.wordpress.org. That's essentially what we do now anyway, we just
 don't tell anyone. (By uploading the translations and making the project
 100%, we've essentially "disabled" the project for anyone who wants to
 translate that project into that language.)

 One thing is clear: the status quo isn't great.

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Ticket URL: <https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/1089#comment:5>
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