FiberQ is a QGIS plugin for designing FTTH/GPON fibre networks. The interface is
currently English. We would like it in French, and we need someone who knows
fibre networks to do it properly.
You do not need to be a programmer. You do not need to use Git or a terminal.
What the job actually is
One file: fiberq/i18n/fiberq_fr.ts — 180 short interface strings (buttons, menus, tooltips, dialog labels).
Partial work is genuinely useful. Untranslated strings fall back to English
automatically, so nothing breaks if you translate 30 and stop. Please do not feel
you have signed up for all 180.
If you want a natural first chunk, start with the toolbar and menu groups —
RoutingUI, CableLayingUI, DuctingUI, SlackUI, ObjectsUI, DrawingsUI,
SelectionUI, ElementNames. That is 76 strings, roughly 2–3 hours, and it
covers everything a user sees before opening a dialog. FiberQPlugin (104
strings, mostly dialogs and messages) can follow later if you want to continue.
Honest total estimate for all 180: around 8–9 hours. Not a weekend job.
How to do it
Full step-by-step guide: docs/TRANSLATING.md
Short version — pick whichever suits you:
Qt Linguist (recommended). Purpose-built for these files: source and
translation side by side, jump to the next untranslated string with one key, and
it warns you if a placeholder gets broken.
sudo apt install linguist-qt6 # Debian / Ubuntu
Open fiberq_fr.ts, translate, save, send it back.
Straight in your browser. Open the file on GitHub, click the pencil icon,
edit, and click "Propose changes" — GitHub handles the rest. Workable, but it is
raw XML in a text box with no safety net, so it suits small fixes better than 180
strings.
Or just email it to me. Download the file, edit it, send it to
vukovicvl@fiberq.net I will commit it with you as the author. If GitHub is the
thing standing in your way, please use this — your terminology is worth far more
to this project than your Git skills.
Three rules
- Never change anything inside
<source>. That is the lookup key.
- Keep placeholders exactly as they are —
{name}, {count}, %n. You may
move them within the sentence for French word order, but do not rename or
delete them. There is an automated check for this, so a mistake is caught, not
shipped.
- Do not compile anything. Building the
.qm file is my job.
Terminology — this is your call, not mine
I do not speak French and I am not in a position to judge these terms.
CONTRIBUTING.md has a starting glossary so you are not facing a blank page, but
if your professional experience says a term is wrong, it is wrong — use yours,
and tell me so I can fix the table.
95 of the 180 strings carry a translator note explaining what the string actually
means in FiberQ (what it does, whether it is a noun or a verb, where it appears).
Qt Linguist shows these beside each string. Please read them — several English
strings are ambiguous, and a few are legacy wording.
Some are genuinely unguessable without them: Drop is a noun (the cable to the
subscriber), not the verb. Object means a building. TO is an acronym
(Termination Outlet), not the preposition.
If a string is still unclear, please ask here rather than guess. A gap I can
answer is far more useful to me than a confident wrong term, and I would much
rather have the word a French fibre engineer actually says on site.
One request
Please confirm the translation is your own work rather than untouched machine
output. Automatic translation gets fibre terminology wrong in ways I cannot spot,
and it creates licensing ambiguity for a GPL project. Using it as a first draft
that you then review as someone who knows the field is completely fine.
Credit and licence
Your name goes in the README and in the release notes for the version your work
first ships in — tell me if you would prefer a different name, a handle, or no
credit at all. Translations are released under GPL-3.0-or-later like the rest of
FiberQ. There is no contributor agreement to sign.
Other languages
Serbian is in progress. If you speak another language and would like to start one,
comment here and I will generate the file for you — you do not have to create it
yourself.
Stuck at any point, comment here and I will help.
FiberQ is a QGIS plugin for designing FTTH/GPON fibre networks. The interface is
currently English. We would like it in French, and we need someone who knows
fibre networks to do it properly.
You do not need to be a programmer. You do not need to use Git or a terminal.
What the job actually is
One file:
fiberq/i18n/fiberq_fr.ts— 180 short interface strings (buttons, menus, tooltips, dialog labels).Partial work is genuinely useful. Untranslated strings fall back to English
automatically, so nothing breaks if you translate 30 and stop. Please do not feel
you have signed up for all 180.
If you want a natural first chunk, start with the toolbar and menu groups —
RoutingUI,CableLayingUI,DuctingUI,SlackUI,ObjectsUI,DrawingsUI,SelectionUI,ElementNames. That is 76 strings, roughly 2–3 hours, and itcovers everything a user sees before opening a dialog.
FiberQPlugin(104strings, mostly dialogs and messages) can follow later if you want to continue.
Honest total estimate for all 180: around 8–9 hours. Not a weekend job.
How to do it
Full step-by-step guide:
docs/TRANSLATING.mdShort version — pick whichever suits you:
Qt Linguist (recommended). Purpose-built for these files: source and
translation side by side, jump to the next untranslated string with one key, and
it warns you if a placeholder gets broken.
Open
fiberq_fr.ts, translate, save, send it back.Straight in your browser. Open the file on GitHub, click the pencil icon,
edit, and click "Propose changes" — GitHub handles the rest. Workable, but it is
raw XML in a text box with no safety net, so it suits small fixes better than 180
strings.
Or just email it to me. Download the file, edit it, send it to
vukovicvl@fiberq.net I will commit it with you as the author. If GitHub is the
thing standing in your way, please use this — your terminology is worth far more
to this project than your Git skills.
Three rules
<source>. That is the lookup key.{name},{count},%n. You maymove them within the sentence for French word order, but do not rename or
delete them. There is an automated check for this, so a mistake is caught, not
shipped.
.qmfile is my job.Terminology — this is your call, not mine
I do not speak French and I am not in a position to judge these terms.
CONTRIBUTING.mdhas a starting glossary so you are not facing a blank page, butif your professional experience says a term is wrong, it is wrong — use yours,
and tell me so I can fix the table.
95 of the 180 strings carry a translator note explaining what the string actually
means in FiberQ (what it does, whether it is a noun or a verb, where it appears).
Qt Linguist shows these beside each string. Please read them — several English
strings are ambiguous, and a few are legacy wording.
Some are genuinely unguessable without them:
Dropis a noun (the cable to thesubscriber), not the verb.
Objectmeans a building.TOis an acronym(Termination Outlet), not the preposition.
If a string is still unclear, please ask here rather than guess. A gap I can
answer is far more useful to me than a confident wrong term, and I would much
rather have the word a French fibre engineer actually says on site.
One request
Please confirm the translation is your own work rather than untouched machine
output. Automatic translation gets fibre terminology wrong in ways I cannot spot,
and it creates licensing ambiguity for a GPL project. Using it as a first draft
that you then review as someone who knows the field is completely fine.
Credit and licence
Your name goes in the README and in the release notes for the version your work
first ships in — tell me if you would prefer a different name, a handle, or no
credit at all. Translations are released under GPL-3.0-or-later like the rest of
FiberQ. There is no contributor agreement to sign.
Other languages
Serbian is in progress. If you speak another language and would like to start one,
comment here and I will generate the file for you — you do not have to create it
yourself.
Stuck at any point, comment here and I will help.