Weblate translation platform maybe useful for MusicBee translations?

[hiccup]

Just throwing this in without—at this moment—having done much research on it, let alone having an opinion on it, but at a first glance maybe this is something that could benefit MusicBee translations?

https://weblate.org/en/

[boroda]

yes, it's very powerful and convenient. especially (but not only) for team translations. Vivaldi browser is using it.

[hiccup]

Yeah, on second thought it is probably more useful for teams, and/or articles or translating full sentences.

MusicBee translations are mostly individual efforts, and it's mostly translating words, not sentences.

And then sometimes you even have to use different translations for the same word, because the context in which the word is used differ.
(I am guessing that is even more the case with Russian than with many other languages?)

Sometimes I see translation projects for other software that are available online, where you can see the full source, and the percentage of completion for the different languages.
That might motivate other users to contribute to existing ones or start a new translation, but I am not sure this Weblate would be something useful for that.
And if people would actually use something like it for MusicBee.

[urfausto]

any update on this?
i'm starting to think to avoid translating because it's too much of an hassle to do in a txt file... didn't do 1 line either lol

https://crowdin.com is good to.

wonder how much it takes to upload all the source strings...

[ma_t14]

Another one I've had good experience with in the past, while helping translating GoneMad, is localazy. The suggested translations that are sourced from various other projects are extremely helpful. I was thinking of picking up the Greek MB translation, that seems to be a bit dated right now, but immediately got reminded of what a nightmare translating MusicBee was and unfortunately still is.

Sometimes I see translation projects for other software that are available online, where you can see the full source, and the percentage of completion for the different languages.
That might motivate other users to contribute to existing ones or start a new translation, but I am not sure this Weblate would be something useful for that.
And if people would actually use something like it for MusicBee.

Localazy has that as well.

I agree, that it can indeed act as a source of motivation. But what's especially helpful is that anyone (or once approved, depending on how you set it up) can quickly pick up and start translating without any hassle and prior knowledge.

[hiccup]

Another one I've had good experience with in the past, while helping translating GoneMad, is Localazy.

The first 'problem' with such services is that they cost money, usually on a subscription scheme.
I don't think any MusicBee user is willing to pay, and keep paying for that.

Secondly, somebody strongly motivated would need to set it up.
And I am guessing that the people that are motivated to translate MusicBee to their language are willing to put the time and effort in 'their' translation, but not so much in putting it in something that is doubtful to be used by a lot of others.

[ma_t14]

The first 'problem' with such services is that they cost money, usually on a subscription scheme.
I don't think any MusicBee user is willing to pay, and keep paying for that.

Yes, that's a valid concern. Especially since MB has quite a considerable amount of strings. But we still might be able to get away with the free tier of one of these services. I'd need to do some research.

Secondly, somebody strongly motivated would need to set it up.
And I am guessing that the people that are motivated to translate MusicBee to their language are willing to put the time and effort in 'their' translation, but not so much in putting it in something that is doubtful to be used by a lot of others.

I agree that someone would need to take initiative and most translators/ users probably aren't willing to do that. Luckily, just a single person would need to take that first step. That's where I could possibly step in, but I'll need to figure this thing out first.

I wholeheartedly disagree about the second part though. About such a transition being of questionable usefullness. Once set up, this would be an incredible aid to both existing and future translators, in terms of ease of use and overall productivity. I can't stress enough how convenient working on such platforms is. But yes, the main obstacle is finding one, preferably free, that would work for our needs and of course the whole initial configuration which may or may not be tricky.

By the way, do you know where I could find the up-to-date source language file? Is the one in Boroda's thread up to date?

[hiccup]

By the way, do you know where I could find the up-to-date source language file? Is the one in Boroda's thread up to date?

The problem with most translation files 'out there' is that they are based on the very first translation file from some 10 yrs ago, and after that all new translation lines were simply added to the old ones.
If I e.g. look at the Russian translation file, there are some 1000 (yes, 3 zero's) lines that have no purpose anymore.
They are either duplicates (the same #.....# code), but the wording/description was changed at some some time, or they date back from MB 1.x or 2.x versions and have no use for 3.5 anymore.

My own list has all those pruned, and I have also done quite some re-ordering, trying to maintain some sensible grouping, and thus largely ignoring the order of when a line was added to MusicBee.

So if you care to be able to see the history of the translation lines, the Russian one would probably be a good one to use.
If you prefer my approach, I can send you mine. (after I have updated it with some currently outstanding questions about new entries)
If you want you can also send me the latest Greek file, I can then use that to create a new file for you that would more easily show what needs to be done.
 

[ma_t14]

Yeah, I'd really appreciate if you sent me your file. Sounds like you did a lot of good work there.

I don't have the latest Greek file. I need to talk to Olympios.