Thanks for your interest in helping us share CoughDrop with as many people as possible! CoughDrop is an open source AAC system that is used by AAC communicators around the world. We are grateful for any help you can provide in increasing its access to others, and will happily give you credit for your translation work!
As you translate, please try to keep the same tone of voice we use in the existing CoughDrop app. We try to remain positive and friendly, but not too informal. Please try to keep labels and buttons as clear and concise as possible. Paragraphs of text can adjust freely, but buttons and labels often have limited space in which to be shown. Also please try to match capitalization where posssible.
CoughDrop supports displaying the app interface in multiple languages. Each language must be manually enabled once an acceptable preliminary translation file has been generated. Translation files are contained in this repository under the public/locales directory.
Each locale is stored as a json file, which can be opened using any text-based editor
or in the GitHub interface itself. Each line will look like one of the following:
"string_key1": "Fully-Approved Translation String",
"string_key2": "Automatically Translated String [[ English Version for Reference and Confirmation",
"string_key3": "*** English Text (no Automatic Translation was found or added)",
One exception is strings related to numbers. These will look as follows:
"n_apples": "0 Apples || 1 Apple || %{n} Apples"
We include all three number formattings for labels in a single string, as you can see,
separated by ||. The program will automatically extract just the correct string given
where and how it is being used, as long as you provide all three options in
this order. Note that the %{n} string will be replaced by a number by the app,
so be sure to place it correctly in your string.
Some strings will have special characters that will be auto-replaced by the app.
For example, the string "I love %app_name%!" will be replaced by "I love CoughDrop!"
when it is rendered in the app. Additionally the string "Send a message to %{user_name}"
will be replaced with "Send a message to susan" when it is rendered in the app.
These special characters need to be included in your translation in the appropriate
place or they will not be shown correctly within the app.
Strings are loosely sorted into levels, with the higher levels being more important for the user interface.
Any strings that start with *** should be translated first
because there is no translation string available, so English text will be shown in
the interface instead. When you enter a replacement, simple remove the "*** " at the beginning of the string or the program will not know it has been translated.
Strings that have been auto-translated will end with
[[ followed by the English text. This is so you can compare them to the original
text for consistency (auto-translation is okay but not great). Rather than removing all
of these by hand as you work through the translation file, it will probably be easier
to keep track of which string key you have gotten to and continue from there.
We have automated scripts that can remove all the English text at once or in a batch
that prevent you from having to do it all by hand.
Once you have a partial or a completed translation file, please share it back to our team and we will merge your translations into the existing file.
Please keep in mind, depending on our prior relationship with you, we may need to vet your translation file with other translators or experts to ensure it is up to our professional standards. Please be patient as we do this.
Also note that by submitting your translations, you are agreeing to have them included in the CoughDrop code repository, and you transfer ownership of the updated text to the copyright holders listed in this repository.
If you are interested in adding a new translation file, please contact our team and we can create a preliminary file with auto-translations added to save you time (it's just Google Translate, but it's a start!).