Summary of how we do localization in this repo

[marcpopMSFT]

No description provided.

[WeihanLi]

Is there any guide for external contributors when introducing new text that needs to be translated

[marcpopMSFT]

@WeihanLi what's missing from this guide? Adding the string to the resx, building, and submitting all of the xlf files along with the change should be sufficient for internal or external contributors.

[WeihanLi]

@marcpopMSFT
for example, when introducing new text, should non-English xlf files submit the same content as the English version, or should we keep it empty and mark the translation state new, assume we have auto-translate job or something likes that? or should we translate the content and mark it as translated

For example, which of the following is recommended

1. empty translated content with state new

<trans-unit id="hello">
  <source>Hello</source>
  <target state="new"></target>
  <note />
</trans-unit>

2. Same content as English version and state is new

<trans-unit id="hello">
  <source>Hello</source>
  <target state="new">Hello</target>
  <note />
</trans-unit>

3. Translated content and state is translated

<trans-unit id="hello">
  <source>Hello</source>
  <target state="translated">你好</target>
  <note />
</trans-unit>

[KalleOlaviNiemitalo]

@WeihanLi, I understand from the text

Making changes

The local dev build automatically generates updates to the xlf files that contain the translations. You can see the UpdateXlf task in the binlog to see that in action.

When making string changes, update the resx, build, and check in all xlf file changes

that a developer who adds strings to resx, should only commit those xlf updates that the build system makes automatically, and should not otherwise edit the xlf files.

[baronfel]

@KalleOlaviNiemitalo is correct - developers should only ever create English strings. The process of running the build will generate all the required placeholder entire for the other language translations, which should be committed by the developer.

[WeihanLi]

get it, thanks very much @KalleOlaviNiemitalo @baronfel @marcpopMSFT

[marcpopMSFT]

I added a clarifying sentence but folks above already covered that devs should never be modifying the xlf files directly.