BuddyPress.org

The Northern Smurfs called a certain object a “bottle smurfer”, while the Southern Smurfs called it a “smurf opener”.

Language customization is subtly different from language translation but both share similar localization processes, using the same tools.

( https://codex.wordpress.org/Localizing_WordPress & https://codex.wordpress.org/Translating_WordPress. Google for more)

Of course, as Lance accurately stated, using dedicated software is overkill if your intention is to change a small set of frequently used words site-wide (turning “groups” into “teams”, “members” into “players” and so on).

In which case I’d go for the “slugs” method, as suggested by Andy Peatling, rather than tinker with the language files.

As always, scale matters.

If you are interested in managing one or more custom language versions, or if you find yourself willing to change more stuff as it comes, I strongly advise you to consider the software option.

It’s a personal investment which requires you to do your homework and learn to organize your projects accordingly but the learning curve isn’t that steep, and it will guarantee you less white hair in the long run.

PoEdit is a good choice, giving you the full benefit of a precious asset: translation memory.

Once installed on your PC, it creates and maintains databases for each translation project – its original purpose. A feature that can be put to good use for language customization.

Its rather straightforward user interface lets you focus on the language changes you want to make, with a built in “search” feature to locate words or expressions.

There is no built in “find & replace” feature as software translation is primarily based on strings and not single word occurrences, which can be located in different strings with different contextual meanings.

If you really want to batch-replace words, you can achieve this using a text editor like Notepad++. Proceed with extreme caution, though: unexpected replacements using this method are frequent, that you can’t always undo except by hand, which defeats the purpose of the whole process.

Since language files are usually modified with each new release (added strings, modified strings, different string locations…), you’re also better off handling language file updates that way, keeping the language customization logic independent from the file itself, in PoEdit’s TM (translation memory) safe at home on your PC.

When upgrading BP, it will spare you tedious language files comparison and copy-paste hell in a river of strings, and will do the job with more accuracy.

A single mistake in a modified language file can generate cryptic errors which you don’t want to start tracking and debugging in 3,000 + strings distributed in multiple language files.

PoEdit gives you the ability to manage multiple language files using a single TM database (or as many as you wish).

This is especially useful when you know that the number of language files to be handled gets larger as your platform grows (plugins, themes and templates sometimes have their own – and should).

Using PoEdit will give you the required semantic homogeneity among all language files belonging to the same project, seamlessly.

This is where translators make significant productivity gains. And so can you.

What is more, the software approach scales nicely:

If you want to leverage your community’s knowledge for language customization – Klingon, Smurf, slang, professional jargon, secret dialect, whatever… – you may want to install Pootle

( http://translate.sourceforge.net/wiki/ ), an open source collaborative translation platform that does the same as PoEdit, on your server, and upload the languages files for collective customization – the scenario is yours.

I’m just finishing a translation based on BP 1.0, coming up soon.

Wpviet23-

Thank you for your contribution.

Have you checked the BuddyPress Language Translations Codex pages here? https://codex.buddypress.org/translations/

There is another Vietnamese translation of BuddyPress.

I’m experiencing the same problem.

It’s with a few strings that are translated in the PO file, but do not appear correct.

“created the group”

“updated the”

“created a new blog:”

“wrote a new blog post:”

.. and may be more I can not catch at this moment.

These strings are from the site-wire activity and appear in the INDEX , as well in other pages.. and.. they are pretty key to the user experience.. so it will be nice if there’s a solution on the horizon

Do I need to translate WPMU first ?

Look in the link that DJPaul provided. There is a WordPress translation of Arabic already. I’m not sure what additional work you’d have to do for WPMU. Most likely translation of some of the admin pages. But, I’m not a localization expert.

What will be different because Arabic is RTL language ?

As long as the themes that Arabic users are using properly reference some type of right to left CSS file, then this should not be an issue. Look at rtl.css to see how that works.

Also, look at this relevant BuddyPress thread: https://buddypress.org/forums/topic.php?id=245

Check out https://codex.buddypress.org/translations/ for starters – there’s a link taking you over to the main WordPress site with further details.

Hey, I translated BuddyPress yesterday!

You can find my translation here: https://codex.buddypress.org/translations/greek-ellinika-el_gr/

I hope you like it, because I was exhausted after the hours I spent working on it.

P.S. Ki egw Ellhnas eimai.

from the WP org codex:

Using Localizations

In order to localize your installation of wordpress, create a directory named languages inside of wp-includes, if it does not already exist. Then grab the appropriate localization files from the Subversion Repository as described above. The main .mo file for the language should go inside the languages directory. Set WPLANG inside of wp-config.php to your chosen language. For example, if you wanted to use french, you would have:

define (‘WPLANG’, ‘fr_FR’);

i’ve this configuration on my MU+BP and all works fine.

The WordPress MU language file should be in /wp-includes/languages/ and you can change the language in your admin section of your wpmu install.

The BuddyPress language file (buddypress-xx_XX.mo) should be in /wp-content/plugins/buddypress/bb-languages/ the xx_XX should be the same as on the file in /wp-includes/languages/ since BP gets the language setting from WPMU…

You don\’t have to edit anything in your wp-config.php file!

All of this is for WordPress MU 2.7.1 and BuddyPress 1.0. I don’t know how it is with older versions…

HTH

Regards,

RuneG

Kogigr now you have buddypress-el_GR.po and buddypress-el_GR.mo in /wp-content/plugins/buddypress/bp-languages/ right?

in wp-config.php insert on line #77

define (\’WPLANG\’, \’el_GR\’);

and save…

I think this should resolve (BP side), however, looks for the translation of MU in greek.

@Kogigr;

AFAIK, you have to use the same language in WPMU as in BuddyPress. BuddyPress gets the language setting from WPMU. There is some info about the greek WPMU translation here, but I don’t read greek, so it’s not necessarily the info you need

But you’ve named the file(s) right, you only need the .mo file in your bp-languages folder.

So basically you need to use the same language in WPMU that you want to use in BP. So get the greek WPMU translation, upload it to you WPMU install, and change the language in you admin section…

HTH

Regards,

RuneG

It looks like it *should* work. Guess we’ll have to wait to here from someone else who has done a translation if they get the problem.

do you have wpmu in greek? save the lang file buddypress-xx_XX.po and the same .mo

xx_XX is language_COUNTRY for example it_IT (italian_ITALY).

bp-groups.php line 1005, right?

'content' => apply_filters( 'bp_groups_created_group_activity', sprintf( __('%s created the group %s', 'buddypress'), $user_link, '<a href="' . $group_link . '">' . $group->name . '</a>') . ' <span class="time-since">%s</span>', $user_link, $group_link, $group->name )

As Arturo’s suggested, check you are working from the .pot file that comes with 1.0. It’s possible it was changed since an older version thus your translation not being applied.

i’m a member of BP Italy and i’ve translated the 1.0 pot file and all is ok the string “… %s created the group %s..” is translated… do you have used the .pot file in the 1.0 zip file?

Liagk-

The primary resource for learning about translating WordPress files is here: https://codex.wordpress.org/Translating_WordPress

Also, some helpful forum threads:

https://buddypress.org/forums/topic.php?id=171

https://buddypress.org/forums/topic.php?id=1877

Finally, when you’ve completed your translation, it would nice if you would add and link in the codex: https://codex.buddypress.org/translations/

If you mean a POT file for translation: https://trac.buddypress.org/browser/trunk/bp-languages/buddypress.pot