Any collaborative tool/website to localize an Android app?

Question

My open source Android application has internationalization done the Android way, with strings.xml files.

The community has many people from many countries, and they are willing to contribute/improve translations using a collaborative website.

There is Launchpad but it only supports the gettext format so we would have to use scripts, not very convenient.

What website is convenient for translating open source Android applications?
Anybody must be able to start contributing without any sort of prior approval.

I am also searching for the **perfect** Android translation service: free for open source projects, imports the string resources from the projects VCS (git/hg/...) automatically if something changes on the master file(s), allows me to blacklist some strings (because they are preferences, not visible to the end-user), does batch commit or at least provides a clone of my VCS where I can pull the translation commits. But none of the ones in the answers does meet these criteria. Looks like I am asking for too much :) — Flow, Aug 25 '11 at 13:53

score 22 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 16 '13 at 14:21

22

One tool was not yet listed so far - Weblate. It has native support for Android string resources and is already used for several apps (for example OsmAnd). Though it requires you to use distributed version control system (preferably Git).

answered Apr 16 '13 at 14:21

Michal Čihař

9,799
6
49
87

2

Looks great! Git integration is a killer feature, and the platform being Open Source itself makes it very attractive. I will be sure to use it for my next project! – Nicolas Raoul Apr 17 '13 at 00:41

score 17 · Answer 2 · edited Sep 16 '19 at 08:51

17

I opted for Crowdin. It allows the admin to upload the XML files, and then anyone can translate to any language.

Translated files can be downloaded in a ZIP archive.

It is free for Open Source projects.

The UI used to be really slow, but it has got better recently.

edited Sep 16 '19 at 08:51

Віталій Рижий

39
5

answered Mar 29 '10 at 01:31

Nicolas Raoul

58,567
58
222
373

1

And overloaded they are. Their website is excruciatingly slow. I wonder if there are other websites that do this, that are also specifically tailored to iOS projects. – Ryan H. Mar 27 '11 at 15:02
1

2012 update: Crowdin is much faster recently! – Nicolas Raoul Jan 04 '12 at 03:20
Transifex and Get Localization are really good alternatives, by the way. http://stackoverflow.com/a/15993821/89818 – caw Apr 13 '13 at 23:02
@MarcoW. GetLocalization has already been proposed, see below. Please propose Transifex as a separate answer, thanks! – Nicolas Raoul Apr 15 '13 at 00:54
@Nicolas Raoul, it seems you are related to this product, is that right? – mnieber Oct 01 '13 at 10:29
@mnieber: I am not related to this product. I use Crowdin for two of my apps: https://github.com/ankidroid and http://CmisSync.com and when there is a bug on their website I tell them, that's all. – Nicolas Raoul Oct 02 '13 at 06:32

score 11 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 17 '10 at 12:22

11

I've written a tool to convert between Android XML resources and .po files:

http://blog.elsdoerfer.name/2010/04/08/android2po-managing-android-translations/ http://github.com/miracle2k/android2po

I'm using this myself with Pootle, and it works well enough, though I'm not really all that happy with the Pootle UI. Crowdin is in fact much better in that regard.

answered Apr 17 '10 at 12:22

miracle2k

29,597
21
65
64

Thanks for android2po! We use it for one of our research projects along with Pootle. I'm curious if you think it would still add value if Pootle started supporting Android String resources natively. Are there other tools that handle PO files that would benefit Android development? – Steve Pomeroy Mar 16 '11 at 21:19
Sure, native support in the translation tool you're using would be a superior solution. For example, string attributes like "formatted=False" laborious need to be maintained via .po comments (and in fact a2po doesn't currently to this). – miracle2k Mar 18 '11 at 14:14

score 9 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 21 '12 at 22:03

9

Here is a small tool I've developed: http://www.lokaligo.com/.

Probably not perfect, but for me, for now does the job.

answered Aug 21 '12 at 22:03

mako

141
1
3

+1 The "open projects, where anybody can join as a translator" feature is what I am looking for. Something is not clear to me: when you say "Free up to 100 resources and during the beta period", do you mean that the "100 free resources" offer will switch to a paid plan at the end of the beta period? – Nicolas Raoul Aug 22 '12 at 01:59
@NicolasRaoul Even when I will implement a payment system, first 100 resources will stay free. Ideally, I would like that anybody could use that tool for small/personal/open-source projects. – mako Aug 23 '12 at 14:03
Thanks! The new wording `Free during beta period - afterwards free up to 100 resources` is much clearer to me indeed :-) – Nicolas Raoul Aug 24 '12 at 03:17
+1 Great platform, started using it yesterday! Although I have some small improvements for the site! – Rolf ツ Sep 18 '13 at 09:41
1

Looks really good, but there's no proper support of strings that contain CDATA tags... That is very unfortunate! – Benoit Duffez Nov 18 '13 at 00:32

score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 23 '12 at 05:37

5

Localize your apps and content more easily – Android Resource (.xml) formats now supported in Translator Toolkit [1] http://translate.google.com/toolkit

[1] http://googledevelopers.blogspot.nl/2012/03/localize-your-apps-and-content-more.html

answered Jun 23 '12 at 05:37

Arno den Hond

627
1
7
24

2

I have tried it, but don't find it very convenient. It seems that for each new language I have to upload all XML files again. And I have to share the document with specific people, it can not be open to the public. So, if a cool Hungarian guy wants to contribute a bit, he has to ask me to upload all XML files to allow Hungarian translations, then I have to send him an invite. That's really a pain. Compare that with Crowdin where all languages are available by default, and anyone can start contributing without asking for permission. – Nicolas Raoul Jun 23 '12 at 10:25

score 5 · Answer 6 · answered Jul 31 '12 at 16:30

5

See Get Localization http://www.getlocalization.com, it integrates with Eclipse.

answered Jul 31 '12 at 16:30

ooxio

806
1
10
13

+1 Seems to be free for public projects, indeed. – Nicolas Raoul Apr 15 '13 at 00:55

score 4 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 06 '11 at 04:03

4

Amanuens.com has also support for android builtin, is free in 2011, syncs with your repo, but personally I dislike the editor.

answered Jun 06 '11 at 04:03

Peterdk

15,625
20
101
140

1

+1 Batch sync with Git is a wonderful feature! It seems geared towards non-open software though: admin must assign translations to existing translators, anonymous can't see the project files. It would be great if they had an option for open source project, with Wikipedia-style liberal permissions. – Nicolas Raoul Jun 06 '11 at 04:47
2

And this service is discontinued as of 31 july 2012. – Peterdk Jun 30 '12 at 19:26

score 2 · Answer 8 · answered Apr 15 '13 at 14:45

2

Transifex is a really good tool for collaborative translation. It offers paid plans, a free demo for 15 days and is free for open source projects.

answered Apr 15 '13 at 14:45

caw

30,999
61
181
291

+1 Transifex says it offers free plans for open source projects "without limitations in the word count". – Nicolas Raoul Apr 16 '13 at 01:21

score 2 · Answer 9 · answered Jun 28 '13 at 02:34

2

I use Androglot.com, its quite early stage but promising, free and open to anyone, supports Android string.xml files (and string-array) without restrictions...

answered Jun 28 '13 at 02:34

BoDeX

846
8
18

+1 Interesting approach: "Each Developer is also a Translator, and the more translations you make, the more you get". This is life-changing to kickstart an app in a country where it has no community yet (ex:Korea). I hope non-developer translators can also help and redirect their points to their favorite app (maybe starting from zero points), but it is not clear whether this is possible or not. – Nicolas Raoul Jun 28 '13 at 08:52
1

This really is a good idea, but the UI is kinda ugly, and buggy. I'm getting 404s and I'm unable to upload two XML files for a single language. But this looks really promising, I'll keep an eye on it! – Benoit Duffez Oct 22 '13 at 09:22

score 2 · Answer 10 · edited Mar 15 '13 at 22:55

2

Pootle is a great localisation platform with many features and support for many formats. The upcoming version supports even more formats and adding new formats is very simple.

edited Mar 15 '13 at 22:55

Community

1
1

answered Mar 26 '10 at 08:57

Walter

7,809
1
30
30

Does Pootle support android natively now? – Flow Aug 25 '11 at 13:58
not yet, after this list: [Supported Formats](http://translate.sourceforge.net/wiki/toolkit/formats) – Matthias B Jul 31 '12 at 08:44

score 1 · Answer 11 · answered Mar 16 '11 at 21:11

1

I found MyGengo's String, which has native support for Android string resources. They're still a little buggy, but they have a slick interface. They're free for public projects.

Are there any others that have sprung up since last year? (please post as a new answer, not a comment to this answer)

answered Mar 16 '11 at 21:11

Steve Pomeroy

10,071
6
34
37

1

This service discontinued. – Peterdk Aug 15 '13 at 01:08

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Dec 13 '10 at 16:11

0

I've started using android2po with a Drupal-based translation tool.

answered Dec 13 '10 at 16:11

Pierre-Luc Paour

1,725
17
21

1

I've switched to Weblate, which is very nice, but has crippling bugs with Android string resources for now (incorrect escapes, lack of support for string-arrays). – Pierre-Luc Paour Oct 02 '13 at 07:02
Weblate is mostly fixed now, but has some quirks. I'd admirably maintained though. – Pierre-Luc Paour Jul 29 '14 at 06:57
2

A new options has emerged, seemingly free for all projects and well thought-out: http://www.oneskyapp.com/ – Pierre-Luc Paour Jul 29 '14 at 06:58
Because I couldn't find a translation website that did what I was looking for, I have developed an own solution that also supports screenshots for translations (so that the volunteers can see the context where the text is used). It can currently be used for free [here](https://calengoo.de/TranslationServer). It is planned to add further features in the future but it should already work fine. Just contact me if you have any problems with it. – Dominique Jun 23 '16 at 10:55

Any collaborative tool/website to localize an Android app?

12 Answers12

Linked