FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

Question: How do I start to translate?

Answer: First, you need an account. You can create a Zanata account or just log in with an OpenID if you have one. For Fedora projects, you need a Fedora account (please follow instructions here). Once you have joined your language team and you're approved as a translator, go to the "Projects" tab to choose the project you would like to translate. Click on "translate" and away you go!

Answer: Alternatively, you can now run your own Zanata instance by downloading one of the packages available here.

Question: Do I have to log in via Fedora every time?

Answer: No, you can link another login from your Zanata profile page (Manage Identities), so that you can log in with a Zanata username or an OpenID.

Question: I have a Zanata/OpenID login, but I want to work on a Fedora project

Answer: You can link a Fedora login to your existing account from your Zanata profile page (Manage Identities). Once you have linked your account to Fedora, you can work on Fedora projects (even when you log in another way).

Question: I accidentally created a second Zanata account. What can I do about it?

Answer: Log into one account (the one you want to keep), then visit your Profile page and select Merge Account. Log into your other account, and Zanata will merge it into your main account.

Question: Do I need to commit my translation when I'm done?

Answer: No! Every time you translate an entry your changes will be saved automatically when you're done editing. No need to commit anything.

Question: Does my translation need to get reviewed or approved?

Answer: No, there is no formal review process. When you finish a translation it is already considered approved. If you are unsure about your translation, you can save it as "Fuzzy" and perhaps ask another member of your language team to double-check your work.

Question: Can I download .po-files to translate offline?

Answer: As of Zanata 1.5, you can download PO files individually or in a convenient zip file. However, we still recommend using Zanata's online translation features so that you can take advantage of translation memory and avoid unnecessary work by seeing others' translations instantly.

Question: How do I lock the file that I'm currently working on?

Answer: There is no need to! Several translators can work on the same file concurrently without interfering with each other. You will even see the changes other translators make almost in real-time on your screen.

Question: What do the different colours and fonts of the strings mean?

Answer:
"Click here to start translating" Untranslated.
Text in italics (yellow border) The translation is considered "fuzzy", it needs review.
Ordinary text (green border) Translated text.


Video Tutorial

Zanata Video Tutorial Series – 1: What Is Zanata?

Introduction of Zanata

Zanata Video Tutorial Series – 2: Zanata Features

The second video in the first video series. This introduces the users to some basic features of Zanata.

Zanata Video Tutorial Series – 3: Request A Zanata Project

The third video explains how Project Maintainers can request their projects to be hosted on Zanata. This workflow may change sometime in the near future.

Zanata Video Tutorial Series – 4: Get A Zanata Account(FAS)

This video helps users understand how to use the Fedora Account System(FAS) accounts on http://translate.zanata.org.

Zanata Video Tutorial Series – 5: Configure a Zanata Publican Project

Watch this video to see how your Publican documentation project can be configured for Zanata.

Zanata Video Tutorial Series – 6: Pull Publican Translations from Zanata

This video explains how translations for Publican documentation projects on Zanata, can be 'pull-ed in' by the Maintainers.

Zanata Video Tutorial Series – 7: Configure Zanata Python Client

Project Maintainers have the choice to use two different clients for Zanata - the python client and the maven client, to access the project contents. This video will help with quickly setting up the configuration in the Zanata Python client.