Help:Translations

PZwiki currently supports translating to 21 different languages, with the option to add more if needed! However, as with other pages, translations are all community-based and needs to be translated by a person like you! Here's how you can help translate PZwiki!

Before you start translating, make sure to read translation style guide!

Changing language

The language of the wiki can be changed in the respective section in the Preferences. Alternatively, you can temporarily change displayed language by adding ?uselang=xx after the page URL where xx is the lowercase name of one of the supported MediaWiki languages.

If you change the language, most of the interface will be shown in the chosen language. Most languages, not only those that are supported by the game or that have actual translations, are supported for MediaWiki interface, though some may lack translations or have some errors.

How to translate

There are some rules to follow when translating pages.

Adding new translations to pages

Generally, all pages are translations of the parent English pages and follow the same naming rules. To translate a new page, add /xx to the URL of any page, or follow a red link. Don't forget to put {{DISPLAYTITLE:title}} of the page in your language. A redirect can then be made to that display title. See translation style guide for details.

Articles

Page name

All translated pages should have a translated name using {{DISPLAYTITLE:title}} including the namespace prefix.

Page version

For maintenance purposes, some articles will add a {{Page version}} template to check which game version the page is updated to. Do not add this template to the translated page, only English pages should include it.

Code

For similar reason, code section is currently being omitted on non-English pages.

Links

When translating links, if the page exists and has {{DISPLAYTITLE:title}} set up, you can just use [[English page name/xx]], then the page display name should be shown automatically. However, for non-existing pages, to display the correct translation, the link should be: [[English page name/xx|Translated name]]. You can remove the translated name later, when the page is created and {{DISPLAYTITLE}} added. Special pages do not need to be translated, as they are translated by MediaWiki software. Links to them should be: [[Special:UserLogin|Translation]].

Many pages will make use of the {{Localized link}} template ({{ll}} for short) instead of [[foo|bar]], as it will automatically link to the correct language for you. In a nutshell, on English pages, {{ll}} should be used when it's a standalone link. The {{ll}} template should not be used in the middle of sentences/bodies of text. The sentence structure and words can vary too much between languages, removing the need for the template, which is to quickly and automatically translate. E.g., in Spanish, verbs can change depending on the context: "hablar" (to speak), "hablo" (I speak), "hablas" (you speak), "habla" (he/she speaks), etc. In these cases, the link's displayed text would need to change anyway: {{ll|speak}} becomes [[Speak/sp|hablar]].

Examples of its usage are:

• Data tables: These are tables that contain large amounts of data, such as those on items. As these are usually updated frequently with minor changes, it is easiest to just paste it over from the English page, instead of updating each value manually.
• Lists: They may be ordered (numbered) or unordered (dotpoints). This includes the "See also" section.
• Templates: Templates and their documentation make frequent use of this, along with {{lcs}}, {{tt}} and {{tll}}.

Previously, a translation database was used, using {{T}} to automatically translate common words based on the {{Translation}} template. However, this proved to be too complex, and is now deprecated. You may still encounter them, but its usage is discouraged, so feel free to replace it with {{ll}}. Translated pages should instead modify the {{DISPLAYTITLE}}, so links can be translated automatically.

Images

Images will usually contain a link or tooltip (title). For the link, the {{Language code subpage}} ({{lcs}} for short) can be used, which should be added at the end of the link: [[File:Image.png|link=English page name{{lcs}}]]. This will automatically add the same language code subpage as the page it's on, and will therefore translate it if the page exists. However, this will be overwritten by the tooltip/title if defined.

Some links will contain an anchor (#), be sure to add {{lcs}} before the anchor, otherwise the link will be wrong. The anchor link should then be translated manually.

Previously, this was completed with {{Subpage}} ({{sp}} for short), however this template changed a link to any subpage, not just language codes, so should be replaced by {{lcs}}.

Templates

All templates either have no need to be translated or are translated automatically. There is no need to add language code subpages to templates. If the template is not translated, you should translate it first. Templates that are ready to be translated, will contain a {{Translation guide}}.

Sidebar

Currently, sidebar translations have to be manually added by PZwiki administrators. You can use the strings below and add translation after = and then post it on the official Discord in pzwiki_editing channel or post it in Faalagorn's talk page.

Project Zomboid Wiki =
Wiki tasks =
View, edit, and help with the current tasks being worked on the wiki =
Wiki rules =
Rules to follow when editing the wiki =
Editing help =
Help with creating and editing pages on the wiki =
Style guide =
Guidelines to keeping the wiki consistent =
Affiliates =
Check PZwiki affiliates here =
Project Zomboid =
Website =
The Project Zomboid website =
Forums =
The official community forums =
Bug reports =
Report any bugs you encounter here =
Build history =
View official Status and Build History page =
Map =
Official Project Zomboid map =
Discord =
Join us on the #pzwiki_editing on the official Discord server =

If no translated version is provided, a fallback language will be provided, else a default English translation will be used.

See all the existing translations in the MediaWiki namespace.

News

Currently, all the news can not be translated. Some elements, such as dates and the "Read more" can currently be translated by contributing translations to {{Translation}}, although this way is deprecated, and we're working on a new solution.

Templates

Not all templates in this wiki are translatable, but all templates can have a language code subpage to show their documentation in a different language.

All templates have a translation guide section. Follow the guide to translate the template as well as its documentation.

If you have trouble translating a template, or if you are unsure about how to translate it, ask in the template's talk page, community portal talk page or Discord for help.

Starting a new language

While you can start translating some pages to your language right off the box, adding a new language for it to be shown in the pages require some technical work. If you want to add a new language, it's best to start translating but in the meantime contact one of the administrators.

Language userboxes

You can add your native spoken language by using the {{User language}} with appropriate language - it will help other editors see what language you can help to translate to!

Supported languages

Language name	Wiki code	Game code
English (US)	-	EN
Afrikaans	af	AF
Czech	cs	CS
German	de	DE
Spanish	es	ES
French	fr	FR
Hungarian	hu	HU
Italian	it	IT
Japanese	ja	JP
Korean	ko	KO
Dutch	nl	NL
Norwegian	no	NO
Polish	pl	PL
Portugese	pt	PT
Brazilian Portugese	pt-br	PTBR
Russian	ru	RU
Thai	th	TH
Turkish	tr	TR
Ukrainian	uk	UA
Chinese (Simplified)	zh-hans	CN
Chinese (Traditional)	zh-hant	CH