Pootle

Pootle is an online collaborative translating tool, used mainly in large software translation and localization projects. Since this tool is collaborative, you can use it to upload your files and translate, but they will be shared with all the community.

  1. Go to Pootle main screen: https://pootle.translationcommons.org/

  2. You need to sign up separately from Translation Commons. Click on "Sign in" and then "Sign up as a new user" if you don't have a Pootle account. Follow the instructions you will receive on the screen and by email.

  3. If you already have an account, click on "Sign In" and introduce your credentials.

  4. Once in the main screen, you will see 3 drop downs ("Browse", "All Languages (or a specific language)", "All projects (or a specific project)"). The last two are for filtering the projects in the platform by language or by name in both "Browse" and "Translate" modes.

  5. The first dropdown (by default, "Browse") is used to select the way you are going to use Pootle. "Browse" for checking project stats, "Translate" to translate.


  • To check the statistics of an existing project ("BROWSE" in the first dropdown):

  1. Select the project you want. It will be now selected in the third dropdown (where before we had "All Projects").

  2. Click on the target language.

  3. Click on the target file.


  • To continue translating / joining a translation ("TRANSLATE" mode in the first dropdown):

  1. Select the project you want. It will be now selected in the third dropdown (where before we had "All Projects").

  2. Click on the target language.

  3. Click on the target file.

  4. You can now translate segment by segment. The segments in source language are on the left. On the right you will find some space for your translations.

If the pair of languages is available, Yandex machine translation will be available (clicking on a little icon on the top right of each translation).


  • To start a new project:

  1. On the top panel with the dropdowns, click on the "Create a project" button.

  2. Fill the form: select an email, a source language and a target language.

  3. Then, upload a file in .txt, .csv, .html(l) or Open Office file formats.

  4. Click on Create.

  5. You will see the project in the main screen.

  6. Switch to "Translate" mode and click on the project, then the language and then the file, to start translating.

  7. Switch to "Browse" to check the stats.

If you can't find your project, remember that the dropdowns on top "filter" the results of the project. You can click on the "X" icon at their left to clear the filter.