Translating with context

Question

Is there a way I can see the result of my work while I am translating? It is difficult to translate without context. If I could see how my work will appear while I am doing it, translating is much easier.

Edit by Oli:

I understand this question to be from somebody who is translating an application. Translators often only have a list of phrases to translate without being able to see where those phrases are used in the app. This person wants a way to quickly locate a string inside an application so they can understand the phrase better and provide the best possible translation.

Answer 1

Unfortunately, there is no way to see the result of your work live.

However, during the development cycle, we upload language packs containing the translations done in Launchpad and in upstream projects twice a week. This way translators can see the result of their work quickly, but nevertheless there is a delay of a couple of days - i.e. it's quick, but not instantaneous.

In terms of context, it is up to the developer to add context notes to make the work of translators easier. Here's an example of such a developer comment. How well commented translations are varies between applications: some have no comments at all, some are very well commented (Orca is a good example of the latter).

In addition to that, in Launchpad you can also see where in the code the translatable message comes from. At the bottom of each message, the file and line location where it comes from are mentioned. While you'll have to have the source code for the application (or look at it on Launchpad), this is also a way to get exact context on where exactly the message is used.