Valve Developer Community talk:Alternative Languages

(using Template:Message)  As languages increase in number, the amount of new templates for every language to cater every other language will increase. This seems like an unnecessity. I vote Valve adds official support for languages.  --Kodak (talk) 1:22, 11 Oct 2005 (UTC)

(using Template:Message)  I created this page and most of the current template schema, knowing that we’d have an excessive amount of languages. I also agree with you, but that’s up to Valve. The wiki version is still 1.4.5, while 1.5.0 is out. Good luck with that.  --AndrewNeo (talk) 11:57, 11 Oct 2005 (UTC)

Languages Category

(using Template:Message)  Added a category to more easily find available languages: Category:Languages.  --Kodak (talk) 22:56, 14 Oct 2005 (UTC)

How to add the template to a category

(using Template:Message)  How to link a category to the category for translated pages? {{otherlang:en}}, {{otherlang:en:de|category:categoryname:de}}?  --SIzzLeopard (talk) 16:33, 25 Sep 2007 (UTC)

Should I add redirects with translated names to translated templates

(using Template:Message)  So like for instance if a Chinese person wanted to use Template:Confirm:zh-cn, it would likely be annoying to use it, as they would need to either copy paste English text or use an English keyboard to type in {{confirm:zh-cn}}, which not all Chinese people want to do. If there was a template redirect page named simply Template:确认 that redirected to Template:Confirm:zh-cn, then Chinese people would only have to type in {{确认}} to use the Chinese confirm template.

In my opinion this would make it easier for chinese people to insert chinese templates. Right?  --Amicdict (talk) 23:23, 16 Sep 2021 (UTC)

(using Template:Message)  As for translating templates, why not just use redirect names as the templates in foreign languages to the English template? For example, using a Russian name for the {{Warning}} template Предупреждение redirect; an Esperanto redirect Noto to the English template {{Note}}.  --Amicdict (talk) 5:50, 5 Apr 2023 (UTC)

(using Template:Message) 

As for translating templates, why not just use redirect names as the templates in foreign languages to the English template?

— Amicdict

Well, this makes some sense. However, this also has its downsides.

+ This option will make it easier for editors who do not know English very well.

− Editing the language subpages of a language you don’t know will become very difficult. For example, you just wanted to fix something in all the Note templates on the Turkish subpage, but how will you understand where this template is if everything is in Turkish?
− Moderation of such things will become much more difficult. In fact, anyone can come and create a redirect to a template with a bad (or obscene) name in an unknown language.
− Translation problem: not everything is so good and can be easily translated. For example, Todo can be translated into Russian as Необходимо сделать, and this is quite long. And some things are very difficult to translate, because in English, for example, there is a word art. In Russian this word has many spellings, but none of them reflects the same essence as the original word art.

I can also say that redirects make pages load a little longer due to the extra inclusion, but this is very slightly longer, so I do not consider this a minus. Also, such redirects will clog the list of used templates (you can see it when previewing while editing the page), but this is not so scary, so this is also not a minus.

I’m not saying that it’s not worth experimenting in this area, it’s just that this wiki is not very flexible and we don’t have enough tools to work with such things fully.  --Max34 (talk) 19:27, 5 Apr 2023 (UTC)

(using Template:Message) 

− Editing the language subpages of a language you don’t know will become very difficult. For example, you just wanted to fix something in all the Note templates on the Turkish subpage, but how will you understand where this template is if everything is in Turkish?

— Max34

The same is quite applicable for English; how many foreigners for example wanted to make a change to our templates, but couldn’t because the page was in English?

− Moderation of such things will become much more difficult. In fact, anyone can come and create a redirect to a template with a bad (or obscene) name in an unknown language.

— Max34

Arguably, the same thing can be done in English; for example on a Chinese wiki, some English person could write an obscene article in English and no one would know what it is if no one knows English there. Basically, moderation is going to be required regardless of the language.

− Translation problem: not everything is so good and can be easily translated. For example, Todo can be translated into Russian as Необходимо сделать, and this is quite long. And some things are very difficult to translate, because in English, for example, there is a word art. In Russian this word has many spellings, but none of them reflects the same essence as the original word art.

— Max34

Yes, this is unfortunately the nature of translation; and it’s why I thought of the redirect, more as a fix rather than a full solution.

…it’s just that this wiki is not very flexible and we don’t have enough tools to work with such things fully.

— Max34

Well, what version of MediaWiki is it based on?  --Amicdict (talk) 20:19, 5 Apr 2023 (UTC)

(using Template:Message) 

The same is quite applicable for English; how many foreigners for example wanted to make a change to our templates, but couldn’t because the page was in English?

— Amicdict

I agree, but I think this can be partially solved by creating good documentation in which all the names in the translated version will be spelled out, and how they are written in English, as well as links to these templates.

Well, what version of MediaWiki is it based on?

— Amicdict

The version (and other data) can be viewed on the Special:Version page. However, even despite the not-so-old version of the engine, many things either do not work or are limited/prohibited in use.  --Max34 (talk) 21:37, 5 Apr 2023 (UTC)

(using Template:Message) 

The version (and other data) can be viewed on the Special:Version page. However, even despite the not-so-old version of the engine, many things either do not work or are limited/prohibited in use.

— Max34

• So what plugins don't work? Why are some prohibited?

 --Amicdict (talk) 12:04, 9 Apr 2023 (UTC)

Language Subpages

(using Template:Message)  How do we treat translations of subpages? This page says that if a translated page’s URL doesn’t match the English version, it should be moved, but like that feels wrong for subpages. Technically, the Russian translation of [[SteamVR/Environments]] should be [[SteamVR/Environments:ru]], but that feels off. It isn’t a subpage of [[SteamVR]], it’s a subpage of [[SteamVr:ru]]. This gets even worse for the sub-subpages, like [[SteamVR/Environments/Getting Started]]. What should be done in these cases?  --Kestrelguy (talk) 1:33, 1 May 2022 (UTC)