Inquiries about joining Mozilla L10n

Here you’ll find a stockpile of templated responses to inquiries we frequently receive about Mozilla L10n. They’ve been centralized here so that you can simply copy and paste them into emails. While there is value to having these stock responses for common inquiries, we strongly feel that there is equal value to making them as personalized as possible. Take time to adjust the template in your email to include personalized information.

General inquiry

Hi [inquiree],

Thank you for your email and welcome to the Mozilla Community! We’re excited that you’re interested in joining our localization (L10n) effort.

Joining our L10n effort is easy. Within five easy steps you can start contributing to the project! We have a wiki page specially designed to help you get started. Please visit https://wiki.mozilla.org/L10n:Contribute and follow the five steps to get involved.

Could you also please provide me with some additional information about yourself, such as languages you speak, country you live in, and technical background?

You can also visit the following wiki pages to learn the details of how we localize:

Looking forward to hearing from you,

[name]

Follow up to general inquiry

We’re very excited to have you join the Mozilla localization (l10n) effort! Your skills and dedication will be very valuable to your l10n team.

Next step, follow the steps outlined on https://wiki.mozilla.org/L10n:Contribute. When you contact your l10n team, please CC me on that email so that I can help to make sure you receive a prompt response.

If you have any questions or difficulties, please let me know.

Welcome!

Starting a new localization

Thank you for your email and welcome to the Mozilla Community! We’re excited that you’re interested in joining our localization effort.

Since you have stated that you would like to start a new localization effort, will be your mentor and point of contact.

Here’s how you can get started:

  • Check our list of existing localization communities to see if an effort for your language already exists. If an effort exists, contact the community to join the team and help drive the effort. If it doesn’t exist, introduce your new l10n community on the Mozilla localization mailing list.
  • Introduce yourself to the L10n community on the Mozilla localization mailing list by subscribing and posting an introduction. In your introduction, please add some brief information about yourself (e.g., professional background, interests, etc.) and what you hope to work on (e.g., "I saw that there was a xx-XX community and I’d like to help them out.").
  • Visit [L10n process doc needed] to become familiar with how we localize.

For general information on the Mozilla localization program, visit our [GitBook link]. You’re also welcome to read through and post to the localization discussion newsgroup. Hope to see more from you soon!

Localizing Thunderbird

We’re glad to see you’re interested in localizing Thunderbird. Please get in touch with the Thunderbird community to learn how to contribute to localization.

Having problems with Pontoon

Sorry to hear that you’re having problems with Pontoon. Please do the following to allow us to troubleshoot your problem(s):

  • Search Bugzilla to see if a bug has already been filed for your problem(s).
  • Check the l10n mailing list to see if anyone else has had the same problem.
  • If you can’t find a discussion thread about your problem, begin a discussion topic in those newsgroups asking for help. Include as much detail as possible.
  • If no one in the discussion group can offer a solution and there are no bugs currently filed, file a new bug providing as many details about the problem as possible.

If the first three steps don’t solve your problem and you have to file a bug, rest assured that the l10n-drivers will respond promptly.

Having problems with Mercurial (hg)

Sorry to hear that you’re having problems with hg. Please do the following to allow us to troubleshoot your problem(s):

  • Search Bugzilla to see if a bug has already been filed for your problem(s).
  • Check the l10n mailing list to see if anyone else has had the same problem.
  • If you can’t find a discussion thread about your problem, begin a discussion topic in those newsgroups asking for help. Include as much detail as possible.
  • If no one in the discussion group can offer a solution and there are no bugs currently filed, file a new bug providing as many details about the problem as possible.

If the first three steps don’t solve your problem and you have to file a bug, rest assured that the l10n-drivers will respond promptly.

Update your team wiki page

Subject: [locale code]Please update [locale name] wiki page

I’m writing you to verify that your L10n team’s information on your wiki page (https://wiki.mozilla.org/L10n:Teams:[your-locale-here]) is up-to-date and accurate. Please take a look at your page and update it as needed.

Please follow the format outlined in this wiki template.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Thank you for your help!

Translation/l10n vendor sales pitches

It is a pleasure to meet you.

Mozilla is a non-profit, open source project. As such, all of our work, from development to marketing to localization, is performed by a dedicated, global community of volunteers. Our community is so thorough that it is very rare that we use vendors for translation, but when we do, we have a set of qualified vendors we rely on.

Of course, if you are interested in discussing a form of collaboration that fits with our volunteer, open source framework, I would be happy to arrange a meeting.

Thank you for your interest.

Responses to add

  • Cold Call Inquiry: Would you to contribute to XX localization?
  • Reactivation: Are you still interested in contributing to L10n? Here’s where we need your help.
  • Assigning first tasks based on user profiles/interests
  • Phasing out a locale