Hello, I’m interested in starting to translate the Anki Docs to dutch.
This is my fork: GitHub - Rafaelorr/anki: Anki is a smart spaced repetition flashcard program · GitHub .
My translation is stored in /docs-site/nl
I’m planning on just doing the files from the “manual” folder, because I’m a student and don’t always have a lot of free time.
If any other Dutch speakers would like to help with the other sections of the docs that would be very appriacted. Proofreading would also be appriacted.
This is my first time contributing to a major open source project like this one.
So does anyone have some advice for me?
Do you have experience doing translation work? Especially anything with technical jargon?
Non, this is my first time. I’m just going through the files and translating stuff by hand.
I believe the only reason that I got a good mark on my french exam last year was Anki, so I wanted to help as thanks for that.
It’s good to have the habit of finishing things. We also had a Russian translation project, but they only completed 7-10% of it, and then they couldn’t find anyone else. I’ve long known that if you don’t do it yourself, no one else will. So, experience or not, at least you can do something, and then someone with experience can fix it.
So, I added the following to this addon https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1032589920
Attention! This addon will change the Anki help URL if the Anki interface language is one of the following: “Pусский язык”, “Polski”, “Português”, “Українська мова”, “العربية”, “简体中文” (and for Taiwan the same site). There are no other languages, because either the sites are old or the site structure is not the same.
As you can see, there aren’t many languages into which the Anki manual has been fully translated. While it’s possible to use automatic translation from English, its quality is unfortunately low, and there are terms that will sound different in different languages simply due to historical reasons.
Well, I had to redo the search, since initially it didn’t search for my language.
Here’s a tip: ask the AI for terms in your language, but be sure to check both with a regular search and how it’s written in books. That AI likes to invent them, or, after analyzing a fake website, it will draw a conclusion about a concept that may not even exist.
In translation work, it’s important to remain faithful to the original text. Your job isn’t to rewrite the docs or re-explain anything.
When dealing with a manual, it’s important that the language is consistent with the app. There’s still a lot of Anki that isn’t localized in Dutch [see Dutch (nl) and Translating AnkiDroid to Dutch language - Crowdin] – but for things that have been translated, you want your documentation to match the terminology used there. For instance, you shouldn’t use a different word for deck, or note, or card. And every time one of those words comes up in the docs, you need to call it the same thing.
When you encounter technical terminology that you’ve never needed to say in Dutch, localizations published in other major apps, docs, and help sites [like for Google, Microsoft, etc.] can be a good resource. Unless there’s a reason not to, we might as well use the same words for upload, or sync, or “regular expression” that someone would recognize.
If you’re struggling with what something means, definitely search or scroll through this Anki > Translating category, and see how it’s been discussed before. Or post, if you can’t find an answer you’re looking for.
I’m trying to finish it, but I’m also a student in the fourth year of secundary school. So I don’t always have time. I’m trying at least one page a month. My goal is to do the 55 pages in the manual folder. I’m going through it line by line by hand. If something doesn’t have a nice dutch translation or sounds like an anki specific term I’m just keeping it in english.
That would be a start. But ideally, it should all be done within a year. New versions keep coming out, and a lot can change over the course of five years.
We have AI now.
However, different languages may require their own specific terms. As the admin mentioned earlier, the terminology used in the Anki app and in the documentation needs to be consistent. Since there was no one left who wanted to handle the translation, I took it upon myself—acting on behalf of all 184 million Russian speakers—to update the translations within Anki (https://i18n.ankiweb.net) and create the translation for the documentation. The process took about six months; I didn’t always have time, as I was also developing certain add-ons.
To start, we need to analyze how specific terms are referred to in literature versus the app. It is best to stick to the terminology found in literature—specifically, in academic texts. Users might use simpler terms—we often see Anglicisms—but that doesn’t make them correct. In academic circles, people often just use the English version, though for the general public, having a translation in their native language is preferable.
I created an additional page in the manual:
On this page, I identified incorrect terms (if you translate the text from Russian into your own language, you should at least grasp the general idea). I include all these clarifications in the initial prompt given to the AI, instructing it to specifically check for these terms and correct them if necessary. Even so, there is still plenty of work requiring manual editing. So, if you manage to complete even just one page a month, that is certainly better than doing nothing at all.
Of course, you also need to be familiar with Anki and how it works. Sometimes I included my own comments—following our standard translation practice of enclosing such text in parentheses and adding a note at the end stating it is a translator’s note. That is our convention; I’m not sure what yours is. I also occasionally added content specific to Russian speakers—for instance, if a Russian YouTuber had a relevant example video, I included that channel alongside the English ones. Help documentation needs to be useful and up-to-date—meaning it must reflect information from the latest versions. This is challenging, as it takes time; ideally, there should be a dedicated person responsible for this task.
You should not have an AI/LLM do your translations for you.
You should not modify the text from the original.
These are some of the bedrock practices of doing good translation work, and they should go without saying. While it is unfortunate that not all volunteer translators are willing to follow them – think of this as a “just because someone else jumps off a cliff, should you?” situation.
Translations can now be included in the official Anki repo. This will hopefully make it easier for more people to collaborate with less reliance on a single contributor and free translators from having to worry about technical details such as deployment. (I had to maintain an mdbook fork to make search work in my Arabic translation)
We can add a reference document for terminology in all translations, and it should be easy to check if it matches the UI since everything is in a single repository now.
I’m currently doing everything by hand.
My mother tongue is Dutch. My English is ok, but clearly not as good a native speaker.
I’m also learning Latin and Greek at school.
I’m trying to convice people in my friend group to join me in my efforts, because “Apes together strong.”
Ya, a reference document for terminology in all translations would be handy, because now I’m just trying to find the best translation for any Anki specific terms when possible. For example “card” is “kaart” in dutch, but “deck” doesn’t have a nice dutch translation that I can think off.
The administrator replied with a link. I look at that too, but I also compare the translation with other languages—especially those related to yours.
The AI suggests:
1 - “Een stapel flashcards / flitskaarten”
2 - “Een set flashcards / flitskaarten”
3 - “Een deck flashcards”
The last one is popular here as well, especially among those who use the English versions. You can never please everyone, of course; for some software versions, it would be great to have the option to customize the translation locally to your liking. I have add-ons where users can change the wording however they want—even into a language that isn’t yet supported in Anki 
For instance, you could also check how it’s translated in German. I can’t say for sure what is correct for your language—since AI can be wrong, as I always point out. It is entirely up to you and your team of translators to choose the version that will be best understood by the majority of people.
Please stop suggesting AI-generated translations. It’s not helpful.
AI-generated translations are a handy starting block, but you still need to know something about the language for them to be useful. E.g. “A gift” (in English) can be translated to Dutch as “Een cadeau” (a present, something you give to someone) or as “Een gave” (an ability someone has). Most AI translations wouldn’t understand the context to use the right translation.
We started out using Google Translate, but that was even worse.
A person can ask a specific question—not just a single word—the way I did. And where would the AI look? It searches the Anki website and other sites featuring similar programs with decks, so it can certainly offer options. But I suggest you consider them and choose the one you think is correct, rather than just sticking with whatever happens to be on “i18n.ankiweb.net” right now.
In a way, AI is like an enhanced search engine; it often knows the language-specific sites it draws information from. However, verification is essential—ultimately, a human has to make the call. If there were even just a couple of people involved, you could consult with each other to select an option that works for you. Personally, it doesn’t matter to me what the text says in your language; whatever you write is what you’ll be using later on.
Wishing you strength and patience for this massive undertaking.
I’m committing my translation via the github repo, but I saw that there is already some progress for the dutch translation on the site you mentioned. The last activity is about a year ago, but I don’t want to do work that someone else has done.
Pontoon (that “i18n” site) and CrowdIn are the platforms for translating strings that are displayed in the apps – menus, buttons, labels, error messages, etc. But they don’t hold translations of the manual or other docs.
Ok, I don’t know that.