WikiIslam:Instructions for Translators

You have decided you want to help translate articles for us in another language. This page will tell you all the steps you need to know and solutions to issues you may face.

The most important thing to keep in mind is to keep the translation as close to the English version as possible. This will ensure that our guidelines (in specificifically, number 6) are followed.

Once you translate one article, others will become very easy because you will know what to do.

First Step

1. Create account: The first step for you would be to create an account which only takes a minute and does not require email confirmation. If you already have an account, you can login. When you are logged in, you will see your username at the top left of every page with various user specific links like My talk, Preferences and so on.
2. Which language? Let us know on your talk page or our forum page which language you're wanting to translate into.
3. Islamic sources in your language: Are there any Quran, Hadith and Tafsir websites in your language? Let us know (through your talk page or the forum page) so we can make templates for Quran and hadith in your language. These will be used in the translations for quoting Quran and hadith. Quran and hadith translations should ideally:
   • Should be from translations which are accepted well and regularly referred to by Muslims who know that language. This is the most important to consider.
   • Have URL's that change according to the verse or hadith displayed. URL's can be changed later site-wide at any time to point to a different site as long as the text in the quote is the same.
   • if possible:
     • load relatively fast in the browser
     • have no or little ads
     • also display Arabic

Sometimes there aren't too many sources for a certain language and we have to use what we have available.

Let us know about the sources you know of and we can check to see if they can be used in the templates.

Steps for a Translation

1. Go to Help:Contents. Translate the title of your chosen article and type that into the "Create Page" box. If any of these characters exist in the title, avoid using them: brackets, commas, colons, semi-colons etc. These can be added into the title later by using {{page_title|Desired page title}}.
2. After clicking "Create page" you will see a blank page.
3. Open another window. Then go to your chosen article and click the 'Edit' button. You will now see the text and all the wiki-formatting of the target article.
4. Copy and paste the entire thing into the new page you created. In Windows, Select all text and then CTRL-C; CTRL-V to paste.
5. You can now start your translation. Delete the English text as you go. You can also keep another window open which has the original article in a regular view (non-editable).
6. After you are done, you can preview or save the page. To make sure you don't lose your work, please see the "Saving your Work" section on the Help page. You can also simply 'copy' all the text. You can also do intermediate saves if you have to interrupt your work, or if it's a long page.
7. To find what you have been working on, click the 'My contributions' link at the top right.

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Steps

After you choose what article to translate:

1. Login or create account: Unless you are okay with having your IP address recorded in page histories, the first step for you would be to create an account . If you already have an account, you can login. When you are logged in, you will see your username at the top left of every page with various user specific links like My talk, Preferences and so on.
2. Go to Help:Contents. Translate the title of your chosen article and type that into the "Create Page" box. If any of these characters exist in the title, avoid using them: brackets, commas, colons, semi-colons etc. These can be added into the title later by using {{page_title|Desired page title}}.
3. After clicking "Create page" you will see a blank page.
4. Open another window. Then go to your chosen article and click the 'Edit' button. You will now see the text and all the wiki-formatting of the target article.
5. Copy and paste the entire thing into the new page you created. In Windows, Select all text and then CTRL-C; CTRL-V to paste.
6. You can now start your translation. Delete the English text as you go. You can also keep another window open which has the original article in a regular view (non-editable).
7. After you are done, you can preview or save the page. To make sure you don't lose your work, please see the "Saving your Work" section on the Help page. You can also simply 'copy' all the text. You can also do intermediate saves if you have to interrupt your work, or if it's a long page.
8. To find what you have been working on, click the 'My contributions' link at the top right.

If these steps are difficult to follow, you can leave a message on the forum page with the name of the article you'd like to translate and the new title of your translated version. We will make a page for you with that new title with the existing English text that you can translate. Remember to save your work as you go (see the tips for saving your work).

We are also looking for feedback on these steps. Please let us know on the forum page if these directions can be improved or if you face any difficulties.

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Examples

Anything like <code> should be left unchanged, for example <ref>, <br> (or <BR>).

See Also

• WikiIslam:Translations