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A Quick Start Guide for New Contributors

Note

Some of the details on this page may eventually be moved to the /articles/show/guidelines page.

The Aims of the Tatoeba Project

  • Briefly, ...

    • We are collecting sentences and their translations into other languages.

    • Sentences we create are used by various projects under the Creative Commons - Attribution 2.0 license.

The 6 Basic Rules

You can click the links to read [Translations] or read the [Source] documentation.

  1. We want complete sentences.

  2. Don't change sentences that are correct.

  3. By correct we mean both grammatically correct AND natural-sounding.

  4. Don't add sentences from copyrighted sources.

  5. We want natural-sounding translations, not word-for-word direct translations.

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

  7. Don't put annotations within your sentences.

In other words, don't do this kind of thing:

  • "It's raining cats and dogs. (idiom)" bad

  • "I like her/him." bad

In the first example, the inclusion of the parenthetical explanation "(idiom)" should be omitted, since it would not occur in natural use of a language. Such a note could be added to the comments instead.

In the second example, the use of "her/him" leads to an unnatural sentence, one that tries to effectively cram two sentences into one in a way that would not be done in speech or writing (where you would know the gender of the person being discussed). The correct thing to do would be to add two sentences:

  • "I like her."

  • "I like him."

For more details:

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.

  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" (Let go) 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. Of course if does not sound natural to you, you can change it.

      • Instead of changing correct sentences, you should add an alternate translation.

  5. You can add comments to sentences.

    • If you find a mistake, but it's "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 are not sentences, you can leave a comment alerting moderators that perhaps the item should be deleted.

  6. You can add new sentences.

    • The best approach is to search first to make sure the sentence is not already in the database.

    • Search with the sentence in quotes to find exact matches.

      *   LIKE THIS: "I have a dog."

*   NOT:  I have a dog. For more information, read the [FAQ](http://tatoeba.org/eng/faq).

Register and Become a Member

  • If you haven't already done so, after reading this page, register.

  • It's also a good idea to you write your native language and the languages you translate from in your profile.

  • You don't need to register, if you aren't planning to contribute. Just go to the main page and start looking around.

Warning! There are errors!

  • Briefly,

  • Some sentences sound unnatural and are likely contributed by members who are overconfident in their abilities in their non-native langauges.

  • Some sentences use archaic and/or old-fashioned language and perhaps aren't really suitable for people learning a foreign language.

  • Some sentences contain grammar and vocabulary errors.

  • Some linked sentences may not be good translations.

  • For more details, read the Warning About the Sentences from the Tatoeba Project.

Recommendation

  • To help maintain the quality of our sentences, I recommend that you only translate from a non-native language into your native language. I also recommend that you should be careful to only translate from sentences "owned" by native speakers. This helps to avoid problems.

  • To learn more about this, read the following page. Is it OK to submit sentences in my non-native language? (Note: This is not the official policy of the Tatoeba Project. However, many people would agree with this.)

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