element-web/docs/translating-dev.md

How to translate riot-web (Dev Guide)

Requirements

• A working Development Setup
• Be able to understand English
• Be able to understand the language you want to translate riot-web into

Adding new strings

1. Check if the import import { _t } from 'matrix-react-sdk/lib/languageHandler'; is present. If not add it to the other import statements.
2. Add _t() to your string. (Don't forget curly braces when you assign an expression to JSX attributes in the render method)
3. Add the String to the en_EN.json file in src/i18n/strings (respect which repository you are on).

Adding variables inside a string.

1. Extend your _t() call. Instead of _t(STRING) use _t(STRING, {})
2. Decide how to name it. Please think about if the person who has to translate it can understand what it does.
3. Add it to the array in _t for example _t(STRING, {variable: this.variable})
4. Add the variable inside the string. The syntax for variables is %(variable)s. Please note the s at the end. The name of the variable has to match the previous used name.

Things to know/Style Guides

• Do not use it inside getDefaultProps at the point where getDefaultProps is initialized the translations aren't loaded yet and it causes missing translations.
• If using translated strings as constants, translated strings can't be in constants loaded at class-load time since the translations won't be loaded.
• If a string is presented in the UI with punctuation like a full stop, include this in the translation strings, since punctuation varies between languages too.