Translate

If you want to provide a translation, it's recommended to first send an inquiry to s.mathot@cogsci.nl or post a message on the forum to make sure that your language is not already being worked on.

Very little technical skill is needed to contribute a translation!

Starting OpenSesame with a specific language

By default, OpenSesame uses the default locale of your operating system if a translation is available, and falls back to English if a translation is not available. To start OpenSesame with a specific language, you can open change the Language option under Menu → Tools → Preferences.

How to translate

Translating Markdown tabs

How to translate Markdown tabs

Markdown tabs are the website-like tabs that present text and basic options. An example of a Markdown tab is the Get Started tab that you see when you launch OpenSesame.

To translate a Markdown tab, first locate the untranslated (English) .md file. In the case of the Get Started tab, this is:

• opensesame_extensions\get_started\get_started.md

Next, copy this original file to [original folder]\locale\[your locale code]\get_started.md. So, if you're working on a French (fr_FR) translation, you would copy the original get_started.md to (creating subfolders if they don't exist yet):

• opensesame_extensions\get_started\locale\fr_FR\get_started.md

Finally, simply open the to-be-translated get_started.md in a text editor, and translate it.

A list of Markdown tabs that need to be translated

In the OpenSesame source code:

• opensesame_extensions/update_checker/failed.md
• opensesame_extensions/update_checker/update-available.md
• opensesame_extensions/update_checker/up-to-date.md
• opensesame_extensions/toolbar_menu/system-information.md
• opensesame_extensions/help/offline_help.md
• opensesame_extensions/bug_report/failure.md
• opensesame_extensions/bug_report/report.md
• opensesame_extensions/bug_report/success.md
• opensesame_extensions/after_experiment/finished.md
• opensesame_extensions/system_information/system-information.md
• opensesame_extensions/get_started/get_started.md
• opensesame_extensions/opensesame_3_notifications/new-user.md
• opensesame_extensions/opensesame_3_notifications/old-experiment.md
• opensesame_extensions/opensesame_3_notifications/new-experiment.md
• opensesame_plugins/notepad/notepad.md
• opensesame_plugins/port_reader/port_reader.md
• opensesame_plugins/repeat_cycle/repeat_cycle.md
• opensesame_plugins/quest_staircase_init/quest_staircase_init.md
• opensesame_plugins/parallel/parallel.md
• opensesame_plugins/advanced_delay/advanced_delay.md
• opensesame_plugins/joystick/joystick.md
• opensesame_plugins/reset_feedback/reset_feedback.md
• opensesame_plugins/fixation_dot/fixation_dot.md
• opensesame_plugins/touch_response/touch_response.md
• opensesame_plugins/external_script/external_script.md
• opensesame_plugins/quest_staircase_next/quest_staircase_next.md
• opensesame_plugins/video_player/video_player.md
• opensesame_resources/help/missing.md
• opensesame_resources/help/new_item_warning.md

In the Rapunzel source code:

• opensesame_extensions/RapunzelWelcome/rapunzel_welcome.md

Translating the source code and user interface

Step 1: Download translatables.ts

If you are starting a translation from scratch, then you start from translatables.ts, which contains all the strings that are to be translated. OpenSesame and Rapunzel each have their own version of this file, both of which need to be translated.

In the OpenSesame source code, this file can be found at:

• opensesame_resources/ts/translatables.ts

In the Rapunzel source code, this file can be found at:

• opensesame_extensions/RapunzelLocale/translatables.ts

You can either download or clone the source code and directly open these files. Or you can view them through GitHub. In the last case, at the top-right of the file, you will see a 'Raw' link. Right-click on this link and select 'Save file as' (or something along those lines, depending on your browser) to save the file your disk.

Step 2: Install Qt Linguist

Qt Linguist is a graphical tool that will assist you in the translation process. It's user friendly, and allows you to simply select a string of (English) text and enter a translation.

Windows

You can download a standalone version of Qt Linguist from here:

• https://github.com/thurask/Qt-Linguist/releases

Mac OS

You can download a standalone version of Qt Linguist from here: - https://github.com/lelegard/qtlinguist-installers/releases

Linux

On Linux, Qt Linguist is generally available in the repositories. For example, on Ubuntu it can be installed with:

sudo apt-get install qttools5-dev-tools

Step 3: Open translatables.ts in Qt Linguist

Now start Qt Linguist and open translatables.ts. You will first be asked to enter a source and target language. Leave the source as it is: 'POSIX/ Any country'. The target language should be set to the language that you will translate OpenSesame into. Leave the Country/Region option at 'Any country'. You can change these settings later via Menu → Edit → Translation file settings.

Now you can start translating! On the left you will see a list of 'contexts'. These indicate in which context the text is shown, which is helpful. To translate, simply click on the first source text-string in the first context, enter an appropriate translation, and press Ctrl+Enter to advance to the next string.

Some strings will contain HTML tags, like so:

Size<br /><i>in pixels</i>

In this case, only change the text and leave the HTML tags as they are. So, for a Dutch translation this would become:

Grootte<br /><i>in pixels</i>

Also, some strings contain wildcards, like so:

Tell me more about the %s item

These %s (and %d, %f, {}, etc.) wildcards are blanks that are filled in on-the-fly by OpenSesame. Please respect these (removing a wild-card will crash the program!) and try to build an appropriate translation around them. So, for a Dutch translation this would become:

Vertel me meer over het %s item

Step 4: Compile your translation to .qm and test it

OpenSesame doesn't use the .ts file directly, but requires a file in .qm format. You can create this file easily from within Qt Linguist by selecting 'File → Release as'. Create a .qm file with the same name (except for the extension) as the original file.

For OpenSesame, this file should be saved to (change fr_FR to the appropriate locale):

• opensesame_resources/locale/fr_FR.qm

For Rapunzel, this file should be save to (change fr_FR to the appropriate locale):

• opensesame_extensions/RapunzelLocale/fr_FR.qm

Save and submit your translations

Send by e-mail

Once you are satisfied with your translations, send the translated .ts file and all translated md files to s.mathot@cogsci.nl.

Submit through GitHub

You can also submit (and update) your translation via GitHub. First, add your translation to your fork of OpenSesame, as opensesame_resources/ts/ll_RR.ts, where ll corresponds to the language and RR to the region. For example, en_US is US english, fr_FR is French, and zh_CN is Chinese. You can find a list of valid regions and languages here.

Similarly, add all translated .md files to your fork of OpenSesame.

Finally, submit a pull request to have your translation included in OpenSesame.

Updating an existing translation

The process to update an existing translation is similar to that described above for creating a new translation. The crucial difference is that you don't start with resources/ts/translatables.ts, but with a non-blank translation file, such as resources/ts/fr_FR.ts.