Introduction
My name is Kennier, and this is my final report for the WP Credits program as part of my Computing and Societycourse. During the program, I contributed to the WordPress community through the Polyglots team, focusing on translating strings from English into Spanish. I chose this project because I have always enjoyed learning and using English, and I wanted to use that interest to make a contribution that could help other WordPress users.
Team and Project
I contributed to the Polyglots team, which works on translating WordPress and its projects into different languages. My main task was to review English strings, understand their meaning and context, and submit Spanish translations. I then waited for the community reviewers to evaluate my suggestions and approve them when they met the project’s standards.
Learning Resources
Before starting my contributions, I completed the WP Credits onboarding activities and learned about the different WordPress contributor teams and how the community works. I also explored the WordPress translation platform and reviewed existing Spanish translations to understand the terminology and style used by other contributors.
Challenges and Solutions
One of my main challenges was that some strings could not be translated literally because the result would not sound natural in Spanish. I had to consider the context and the purpose of each message before choosing the best translation. Another challenge was understanding the review process and waiting for other contributors to review my suggestions. By reviewing existing translations and paying closer attention to context, I became more confident in my contributions.
My Contributions
During the project, I submitted several English-to-Spanish translations and was able to see them move through the review process until they were approved. I also participated in the WordPress community by responding to another contributor who was looking for help with a WordPress.org username issue. These experiences helped me understand that contributing to WordPress is not only about technical work, but also about communication and helping other members of the community.
I also received a WordPress contributor badge as recognition for my participation in the project.
Key Learnings
One of the most important things I learned is that open source projects depend on many different types of contributions. A person does not necessarily need to be a programmer to make a useful contribution. I also learned that translation requires more than knowing two languages: context, consistency, clarity, and the user’s experience are all important.
New Skills
Technical skills: WordPress translation tools, understanding the Polyglots workflow, navigating the WordPress.org contributor ecosystem, and working with localization terminology.
Soft skills: Communication, attention to detail, patience, independent learning, and collaborating with people from an international community.
Personal Reflection and Next Steps
I really enjoyed this experience because I was able to contribute using something I already enjoy: English. Before participating in WP Credits, I had never thought about how much work happens behind the scenes to make WordPress available in different languages. I was also surprised by how many different ways there are to contribute to an open source community.
After completing the program, I would like to continue exploring the WordPress community and contribute to translations when I have the opportunity. This project showed me that even a small contribution can be useful when it becomes part of a much larger community effort.
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