Information for language maintainers

To register as a designated Greenstone language maintainer, please send a request to Anupama Krishnan (anupama @ waikato.ac.nz).

There are two methods for working with Greenstone language interface (apart from editing the macro files directly, which is not recommended).


 * 1) Spreadsheet We send you an Excel spreadsheet that contains all the English text strings, with empty cells for the translation. You fill it in and return it, and we install it in Greenstone. This method is probably the best for large-scale translation, but requires Microsoft software.
 * 2) Greenstone Translator's Interface The Greenstone translator's interface is a Web tool that presents the English text strings needing translation, and provides boxes for entering the translated text. Once submitted, translations are stored in the appropriate language file. The system automatically determines which text strings need translating or updating, and can easily be used to update a language interface.

Generally it is best to use the spreadsheet to create the basic interface and the translation interface to fine tune or update it in the future. In either case you need a username and password, which we supply to designated Greenstone language maintainers.

As soon as you log in, the front page of the translator's interface is presented to you. Read the instructions and start translating! You don't have to translate all the strings in one session -- you can stop and continue work later.

Assistance language resources
Here are some resources that have been found helpful for maintaining and using a specific language interface of Greenstone, most of which are contributed by Greenstone language maintainers. If you think other resources should be added to this list, please let us know by emailing Anupama (anupama @ waikato.ac.nz).