Hey all,
It’s MasterSapphireFrost. I’m a translator on Roblox that has contributed to 2B+ visits as of May 2022, and in this community tutorial, you will learn how to manually translate an experience from one language to another.
This tutorial will be useful for those interested in becoming a translator on Roblox.
In order to translate an experience, the developer of the experience has to first allow you to translate the experience. If they haven’t done so, please notify the developer.
Now, for the tutorial.
Tutorial
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Navigate to the: “Create” page.
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Click on the: “Localization” button on the left side of the page.
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Now you have been redirected to the translator portal / localization page. Through this page, you can see a list of experiences that you have permission to translate. It is possible to notice an experience that you did not consent to translate as any user can invite any other user to translate an experience. To translate an experience, click on it.
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You will come across a scene similar to this:
For now, focus your attention to the left side of the screen. There will be a list of languages beneath where it says: “Target Languages”. It is a list of languages the experience supports. A developer can choose what language(s) they support, so it does not have to look exactly like the list you see on the screenshot.
Through the list, locate the language you will be translating the experience to (ex. If you are a German translator that is going to translate an experience from English to German, click on: “German”).
- Once you have selected the target language, focus your attention to the rest of the page. You will notice the: “Information”, “Strings” and “Products” tabs. Currently, the “Strings” tab is open for you. Let me clarify what each of these tabs contain:
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Strings contains expressions featured inside of the experience
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Information contains expressions providing general information about the experience that you would see on its page on the Roblox website (ex. title, description etc.)
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Products contains expressions relating to: developer products, gamepasses and badges
As a translator, you are expected to translate all of the expressions featured in each tab. If there was a previous translator, you might not have to do everything.
Keep in mind, that you should ask a developer if the experience title should be translated or not as some developers prefer to have their experience titles translated while others do not.
- Getting back to the Strings tab that you’re seeing, all of the listed expressions are what you need to translate. The expressions are shown below:
If there was a previous translator before you which translated the experience to the same language, it is possible to notice expressions which the previous translator has already translated. Previously translated expressions will have a checkmark icon to the right of them while non-translated expressions will have a clock icon to the right of them.
Ex. According to the screenshot above, the top expression has been previously translated while the bottom expression has never been translated.
You are able to change the translation of an expression which has already been translated before, and as a translator, I would encourage translators to proofread previously made translations for accuracy and spelling and if it is incorrect, correct it. Even if a translator is fluent, they are still human beings and may make mistakes.
If you trust previous translators and would just like to somehow view expressions which were never translated before, then you may do so using a filter. Here is a video showing you how to achieve this using the filter provided for strings:
Now, to translate an expression - and by the way, let’s now refer to expressions as “strings” from now on, as that’s the technical term that programmers use for them, simply, click on a string and enter its translation in the field where it says: “Translation here”. Then, click the “SAVE” button.
Here is a video demonstrating the paragraph above:
If the translation is successfully saved, you will receive a notification message notifying you that the translation was saved. Additionally, your translation will appear under the: “Translation History” section of the string and save in the field where the translation had to be inputted (see video).
The same procedure/logic applies to the: “Information” and “Products” tabs as well. Meaning, you will translate the same way there as well (by entering the translation into the given field and saving it).
That is the end of the tutorial. However, that’s not all that you should know as a translator. It is important that you continue reading.
There are tips and special cases you should keep in mind. Let’s go over the special cases first.
Special Cases:
1. Squiggly Parantheses (Curly Brackets)
Sometimes, you will encounter a string containing squiggly parantheses and some expression inside of the squiggly parantheses. Do not touch the squiggly parantheses and the expression inside of it (do not translate what is inside of the squiggly parantheses and do not remove the squiggly parantheses).
Ex. August {number1} Updates:
The “{number1}” probably represents a number. Keep this in mind for the translation and write your translation without touching {number1}.
So, for example, the translation in Turkish would be: Ağustos {number1} Güncellemeleri:
Let’s do another example. Ex. {player1}: “Welcome to ROBLOX Admin Simulator!”
The “{player1}” part probably represents the name of an NPC .
In Turkish, the translation would be: {player1}: “ROBLOX Admin Simülatörü’ne Hoş Geldiniz!”
You may be wondering, what do I do if a normal parantheses is used? If a normal parantheses is used, you may translate the expression inside of it (make sure it isn’t a username that you’re translating though). Ex. (male) would translate as (erkek) in Turkish.
2. Usernames
Usernames may sometimes appear as strings to translate on the translator portal (this may be caused from leaderboards, datastore isues etc.). If you notice usernames being listed as strings, please notify the developer of this issue as it is unintentional for usernames to appear as strings to translate. If the developer is unable to address the issue and/or if you are forced to translate usernames, then, you may translate the usernames by saving the username the way it is. This isn’t a fun thing for a translator to do, but it does happen.
If there are hundreds of usernames to translate, then instead of saving them all the way they are, it would be wise to ask the developer if it would be okay if the usernames were to remain untranslated.
3. Nil/nil/NIL
If you are asked to translate this, leave it as it is.
4. Translating Text On Images
On the translator portal, you are able to upload icons and thumbnails through the “Information” and “Products” tabs.
As a translator, your job is to translate, not make art.
I’ve never been asked to do this before and most other translators are not, but if you are asked to upload an alternate version of an image such as a game icon - for example, containing text in your language, then provide the translation of the text on the original image to the artist who made the original image. When the artist finishes creating the alternate version of the image containing text in your language, then you may upload the alternate version of the image through your translator portal.
Tips:
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Read what you have written. You had an idea of a perfect translation in mind, but, did you really write what you thought of? Always check to see if you have made any mistakes after saving a translation!
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Check if translations are fitting. The translation may be technically correct, but does it fit in the experience? After translating, join the experience and check to see if what you have written fits perfectly in the experience!
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Be careful of your uppercase/lowercase spelling! Use uppercase/lowercase letters where they’ve been used! Ex. “hot weather” in Turkish should be “sıcak hava” while “Hot Weather” should be “Sıcak Hava”!
Hope this is a useful resource for those interested in getting into translation!
