L10n:Stock Responses
Here you'll find a stockpile of templated responses to inquiries we frequently receive about Mozilla L10n. They've been centralized here so that you can simply copy and paste them into emails. While there is value to having these stock responses for common inquiries, we strongly feel that there is equal value to making them as personalized has possible. Take time to adjust the template in your email to include personlized information.
Contents
Inquiries about joining Mozilla L10n
General inquiry
Hi [inquiree],
Thank you for your email and welcome to the Mozilla Community! We're excited that you're interested in joining our localization (L10n) effort.
Joining our L10n effort is easy. Within five easy steps you can start contributing to the project! We have a wiki page specially designed to help you get started. Please visit http://wiki.mozilla.org/L10n:Contribute and follow the five steps to get involved.
Could you also please provide me with some additional information about yourself, such as languages you speak, country you live in, and technical background?
You can also visit the following wiki pages to learn the details of how we localize:
- L10n:Localization Process: A good description of the whole process.
- The L10n Quick Start Guide: A resource of technical tutorials you'll need to know as you get more involved.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
[name]
Follow up to general inquiry
We're very excited to have you join the Mozilla localization (l10n) effort! Your skills and dedication will be very valuable to your l10n team.
Next step, follow the steps outline on http://wiki.mozilla.org/L10n:Contribute. When you contact your l10n team, please CC me on that email so that I can help to make sure you receive a prompt response.
If you have any questions or difficulties, please let me know.
Welcome!
Starting a new localization
Thank you for your email and welcome to the Mozilla Community! We're excited that you're interested in joining our localization effort.
Since you have stated that you would like to start a new localization effort, Arky will be your mentor and point of contact.
Here's how you can get started:
- Check our list of existing L10n teams to see if an effort for your locale already exists. If an effort exists, contact the team owner to join the team and help drive the effort. If it doesn't exist, introduce your new L10n team on the new locales newsgroup.
- Introduce yourself to the L10n community on the L10n newsgroup by subscribing and posting an introduction. In your introduction, please add some brief information about yourself e.g., professional background, interests, etc.) and what you hope to work on (e.g., "I saw that there was xx-XX localization team and I'd like to help them out.").
- Visit L10n process doc to become familiar with how we localize.
- Visit the L10n Quick Start Guide to find tutorials on how to jump in and start localizing.
For general information on the Mozilla localization program, visit our wiki home page. You're also welcome to read through and post to the localization discussion newsgroup. Hope to see more from you soon!
Localizing Thunderbird
We're glad to see you're interested in localizing Thunderbird and we're happy to help you get started.
Follow these steps to get involved:
- Check to see if your l10n team is already localizing Thunderbird & connect with the Thunderbird/mail toolkit owner about getting involved.
- Start localizing Firefox in your language. Hook up with your l10n team, help them out to get used to the process and language, and then see if they want to extend to Thunderbird.
- If they don't want to extend to Thunderbird, see if they mind if you start a Thunderbird localization.
Our products follow essentially the same l10n process. Localizing Thunderbird is really no different. You use the same tools and work in the same timeframe. Review these to see how to get started:
- Visit L10n process doc to become familiar with how we localize.
- Visit the L10n Quick Start Guide to find tutorials on how to jump in and start localizing.
Having problems with Verbatim/Pootle/MozillaTranslator
Sorry to hear that you're having problems with your L10n tool. Please do the following to allow us to troubleshoot your problem(s):
- Search bugzilla to see if a bug has already been filed for your problem(s).
- Check the newsgroups (specifically mozilla.dev.l10n, mozilla.dev.l10n.new-locales, and mozilla.tools.l10n) to see if anyone else has had the same problem.
- If you can't find a discussion thread about your problem, begin a discussion topic in those newsgroups asking for help. Include as much detail as possible.
- If no one in the discussion group can offer a solution and there are no bugs currently filed, file a new bug providing as many details about the problem as possible.
If the first three steps don't solve your problem and you have to file a bug, rest assured that the L10n drivers will respond promptly.
Having problems with hg
Sorry to hear that you're having problems with hg. Please do the following to allow us to troubleshoot your problem(s):
- Search bugzilla to see if a bug has already been filed for your problem(s).
- Check the newsgroups (specifically mozilla.dev.l10n, mozilla.dev.l10n.new-locales, and mozilla.tools) to see if anyone else has had the same problem.
- If you can't find a discussion thread about your problem, begin a discussion topic in those newsgroups asking for help. Include as much detail as possible.
- If no one in the discussion group can offer a solution and there are no bugs currently filed, file a new bug providing as many details about the problem as possible.
If the first three steps don't solve your problem and you have to file a bug, rest assured that the L10n drivers will respond promptly.
Invitation to join Mozillians for l10n
Welcome to Mozillians! We're thrilled that you'd like to get involved.
The first step to getting involved, is telling us, and other contributors, about yourself. Please follow the instructions and create a contributor profile. Since you mentioned you were intersted in localization, be sure to add the l10n tag to your profile.
Once you've created a profile, I'll help to get you started.
Update your team wiki page
Subject: [locale code]Please update [locale name] wiki page
I'm writing you to verify that your L10n team's information on your wiki page (https://wiki.mozilla.org/L10n:Teams:[your-locale-here]) is up-to-date and accurate. Please take a look at your page and update it as needed.
Please follow the format outlined in this wiki template (https://wiki.mozilla.org/Template:L10n:Teams).
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Thank you for your help!
Translation/l10n vendor sales pitches
It is a pleasure to meet you.
Mozilla is a non-profit, open source project. As such, all of our work, from development to marketing to localization, is performed by a dedicated, global community of volunteers. Our community is so thorough that it is very rare that we use vendors for translation, but when we do, we have a set of qualified vendors we rely on.
Of course, if you are interested in discussing a form of collaboration that fits with our volunteer, open source framework, I would be happy to arrange a meeting.
Thank you for your interest.
Sign off reminders
Two week
4 weeks until #Firefox [#] ships in release. http://bit.ly/1n7eBlU Submit your locale’s sign-off request soon! mzl.la/RQdecw
Four week
4 weeks down, only 2 left before Ffx [#] ships in release. http://bit.ly/1n7eBlU Now's the time to start sign offs! http://mzl.la/RQdecw
Six week
Ffx is nearly here, http://bit.ly/1n7eBlU sign offs should be complete! #l10n for next cycle begins on Tuesday.
Two week reminder
We're 2 weeks in with 4 to go! If you haven't started thinking about sign offs, please plan to start the sign off review process soon.
Here is the doc on sign offs (https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Localization_sign-off_reviews).
And here are some key dates for this cycle:
- Beta sign-offs due by 6 May.
- Aurora sign-offs due by 13 May.
- Firefox released on 14 May.
All the best! As always, please let us know how we can help out.
Four week reminder
We're 4 weeks in with 2 to go! If you haven't started thinking about sign offs, please start the sign off review process as soon as possible.
Here is the doc on sign offs (https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Localization_sign-off_reviews).
Key dates:
- Beta sign-offs due on [date].
- Aurora sign-offs due on [date].
- Firefox released on [date].
All the best! As always, please let us know how we can help out.
Six week reminer
We're days away from merge and release days! If you haven't done your sign offs, you have very little time left. Please start now!
Here is the doc on sign offs (https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Localization_sign-off_reviews).
Key dates:
- Beta sign-offs due on [date].
- Aurora sign-offs due on [date].
- Firefox released on [date].
All the best! As always, please let us know how we can help out.
Phasing out locale
[%greeting]
I'm writing to you today to speak with you about the [%language] localization of Firefox and its state on the pathway to becoming an official localization.
Firefox is a complicated piece of software with a reputation of being a high-quality browser. Because of this, a lot is expected of Firefox from its users. To rise to this expectation, we ask a lot from localization teams for their work to become official Firefox localizations. As you know, we ask localizers to do the following on the path to releasing an official localization:
- keep up with the rapid release cycle (translate new product strings every six weeks),
- always be testing their localizations by being regular Aurora users,
- be active participants in bugs filed for their locale,
- and regularly maintain Mozilla web content.
Only when a localization team is consistently meeting these expectations, do we approve them for official release status.
This can require more than what some teams are able to give, in which case the teams have the option to release their work through addons.mozilla.org as language packs. This allows l10n teams the flexibility of contributing new translations when they have time available without the need to strictly meet the expectations mentioned above.
[%language] has been in the "officialization" process for quite some time and has been unable to meet the requirements to become an official localization. We believe that releasing [%language] as a language pack on addons.mozilla.org is the best way to honor the translations you've contributed and ensure that they reach the widest audience. This will also allow you the flexibility to continue to contribute translations as you have time available to do so. In the future, we're certainly happy to help mentor you through that process again. If you have more time available, or you find more Mozillians to help localize, and feel that the [%language] team can meet the requirements for becoming an official release, please reach out to [%mentor_name] again for their support and guidance.
[%goodbye]
Responses to add
- Cold Call Inquiry: Would you to contribute to XX localization?
- Reactivation: Are you still interested in contributing to L10n? Here's where we need your help.
- Assigning first tasks based on user profiles/interests
- Correcting translations via Input
- I would like to translate Mozilla Thunderbird