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A Quick Start Guide for New Contributors

The Aims of the Tatoeba Project

  • We collect sentences and their translations into other languages.
  • We continuously improve them to provide a high-quality corpus.
  • Sentences we create are used by various projects under various Creative Commons licenses.

The Basic Rules

  • Write high-quality sentences.

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  • Write complete sentences.

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  • Write natural-sounding translations, not word-for-word direct translations.

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(Of course, we don't want computer translations.)

  • Write a good translation of the sentence that you are translating. Don't let translations into other languages influence you.

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  • Don't change sentences that are correct. You can, instead, submit natural-sounding alternative translations.

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  • Don't add sentences from copyrighted sources.

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Also see Legally valid content.

  • Don't include multiple alternative words inside the same sentence.

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For instance, don't write:

He/she said it was hot.

Instead, you should submit two sentences.

He said it was hot.

She said it was hot.

  • Don't write extra information, such as the name of the author, within the sentence.

[Translations]    [Source]

For instance, don't write:

Don't let schooling interfere with your education. (By Mark Twain)

Instead, write:

Don't let schooling interfere with your education.

Then, if you can, add "by Mark Twain" as a tag. Otherwise, add it as a comment.

For more details, see Rules and Guidelines and How to Write Good Sentences.

Contribute in a Language That You Know Well

  • You can create natural-sounding sentences in your own native language for others to translate into their native languages.

  • You can translate from a foreign language that you know well into your own native language or strongest language.

  • If you want to contribute in a language that is not your native or strongest, see Contributing in a language that is not your strongest.

Things a Contributor Can Do

  1. You can translate a sentence by clicking on this icon whenever you see it. Please do not forget capital letters and punctuation.

  2. You can add alternate translations. ( If you feel there are several possible translations, you can add them all. Just make sure you are adding the translations to the other language. (In other words, don't add an English translation to an English sentence.)

  3. You can proofread sentences and "adopt" ( sentences that you think are good. If a sentence is "unowned," you can adopt it.

  4. You can correct mistakes that you find, if the sentence is not "owned" by another user. To do this…

    • Adopt the "orphan" ("unowned") sentence.
    • Then click the text to edit it.
    • Then, optionally, "unown" ( the sentence if you want others to be able to easily edit it again.
    • Special Note
      • Tatoeba.org prefers that you do not change any sentence that could be considered correct. Instead, add an alternate translation.

  5. You can add comments to sentences.

    • If you find a mistake, but the sentence is "owned" by another user, then leave a comment telling the "owner" how it can be corrected.
    • If you see something that seems strange or you don't understand, you can leave a comment, and someone may explain it to you.
    • If you find things that are absolute nonsense or that are not sentences, you can leave a comment alerting moderators.

  6. You can add new sentences. The best approach is to search first to make sure the sentence is not already in the database.

    • Note that the search on Tatoeba differs from familiar search engines (such as Google Search) in some important ways. See How to Search for Text for details.

Not All Contributed Sentences Are Suitable For All Uses

  • Some sentences sound unnatural.
  • Some sentences contain grammar and vocabulary errors.
  • Some linked sentences may not be good translations.

Note also that some sentences, while they are correct, use archaic and/or old-fashioned language, so they should not be taken as a guide to speaking the current language.

If you see a sentence that has issues, leave a comment. If you are able to leave a tag, you can do that as well.

Recommendations

  • When you translate, start from sentences owned by native speakers.
  • If you want to try writing longer contributions in a language that is not your strongest, consider visiting a site such as italki or Lang-8 (although new accounts can no longer be opened at Lang-8).

Link to This Page

There is an easy-to-remember, short bit.ly link to this page.

http://bit.ly/tatoebaquickstart

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