As some of you already know, I started contributing recently. There are some apps I really like and want to translate but unfortunately they aren’t registered on services like Weblate and only accept translations on the repos.
For now I only figured out that I can insert the template file (.pop or .pov or something like that) into Gtranslate and use it to add translations themselves (though it gives an error saying that some language variable or something is not set). But the amount of files on the repos and some of them having “Do not edit manually” (the app I’m translating now is Impression the ISO writer if you want to take a look at the files yourself) in them overwhelm me and idk what do I do after finishing the translation itself.
So how do I contribute translations in such cases? I’m new to all of this so sorry if the answers are obvious.
You could start by creating an issue to add translations for the language you want and then expressing your interest in doing it yourself but needing guidance. Maintainers would be more than happy to help you.
You could file an issue on the service (hub / lab) asking the devs how they’d most appreciate the approach. Wish I had a better answer regarding the mechanics, but it might be appropriate to flag the maintainer regardless.
It depends of the project in fact. You should reach the community and maintainers by joining them in their Discord / Slack / Matrix / whatever. They may be able to help you.
You can create first an issue, asking for improvements and create a discussion airy the maintainers so as to know which languages are not managed yet and if they are interested in new support. Explains also why you can bring good translations (e.g. native speaker, teacher, etc). It sill help to bring confidence.
Then create a pull / merge request with the updated files. For example, strings.xml ob Android, .strings in iOS, etc. But beware, localisation is not only a matter of translations. You may have also to support new languages and formats for figures, currencies, or dates for example.
Do not use translations services. Project maintainers are able to use them, and in plenty of cases the translations are not good at all or loose details.