Introduction

Internationalization and localization make it possible to use CiviCRM in languages and cultural environments other than American English.

• Internationalization (i18n) is a set of mechanisms to make it possible to handle multiple languages.
• Localisation (l10n) is the process of adapting CiviCRM to a specific language or region of the world (either by translating the user interface or configuration settings).

 In addition to the documentation below, you can follow the internationalization and localization category on the CiviCRM blog, the Internationalization discussion forum or a language/region-specific section on the forum (such as German, French, Spanish, UK and more).

Localization

• Localisation guides

Translating CiviCRM

General guidelines:

• Localisation FAQ (incomplete, should be merged here?)
• Localisation code of ethics
• Localisation community building howto

Howtos:

• Transifex howto (how to update a translation, translate offline)
• How to translate on Windows

Translator ressources / Glossaries / team guidelines:

• Translator resources for various languages (word lists, team procedures, etc.)
  
  • Translator resources for Spanish
  • Translator resources for French
• Glossary for translation
• Make sure you follow (subscribe to "notifications") your language/region-specific forum group, if there is one.

Book translation

• Howto ?
• Spanish user book (where?)
• French user book

Marketing documents?

• http://forum.civicrm.org/index.php/topic,21799.0.html

Screencasts?

• TODO

Internationalization

• Internationalisation for Developers (how to use the 'ts' function in PHP and Smarty templates)
• Internationalization discussion forum
• Internationalisation mailing-list  : Translation leads should subscribe here, as well as anyone interested in working on the internationalisation code. For support, please use the forums.

Translation maintenance

• Localisation stack (mostly useful for the CiviCRM team who handle official releases)

Documentation which needs to be improved:

• How to translate CiviCRM into a new language (c.f. the FAQ)
• How to join an existing translation team (c.f. the FAQ)
• How to export/update the .po files from Transifex into a production site (c.f. this forum post)
• Process for releasing new .po files in an official CiviCRM release
• How some languages are synched (ex: fr and fr_CA)
• Book translation howto (c.f. this forum post)
• Marketing materials translation (c.f. this forum post )

Other archives

• Archives from the April 2010 Translation Sprint