Pootle is an online localization and translation management tool that enables crowd-sourced translations and gives statistics about the ongoing projects. Pootle is mainly aimed to be used by free software translators that localize applications. The name Pootle is an acronym for PO-based Online Translation / Localization Engine.
How Pootle works
Pootle is free and open source software that was developed and released by Translate.org.za in 2004. It is written in Python programming language using the Django framework. Pootle can run without a web server, be proxied through the existing Apache server, or be installed on any web server that supports serving WSGI applications.
Pootle uses Translate Toolkit as a translation management system. The Translate Toolkit is a set of software and documentation that helps to make localization more productive. It manipulates translation files, treating and managing them as documents. With the help of the Translate Toolkit components Pootle features error checkers for translation entries (Pootle performs over 40 checks on translation quality) and the ability to download files in a number of formats, including PO, XLIFF, and CSV.
The Translate Toolkit supports conversion from the following source document formats: Gettext PO, HTML, Text, XLIFF, OpenOffice.org SDF files, Java and Mozilla .properties files. Pootle itself works on a wide range of formats: Gettext PO, XLIFF files, Qt .ts, TBX and TMX. Latest versions offer out-of-the-box support for Java .properties files, PHP array files, Mac OS X strings and even several subtitle formats.
Main Pootle features
Pootle provides translation interface for online translation and review. There is option of machine translation via popular online services. Pootle allows to manage users and their permissions - you can define certain rights to the users in your team. You can assign work to those users and set goals for translators to focus their efforts. Pootle displays statistics that includes word count and string statistics for the body of translations hosted by the server.
One of the main Pootle features is terminology extraction: terms are extracted based on their frequency. Terminology relevant for the entry currently being translated is displayed in the Pootle’s editor to help translators find the most appropriate word choice. Other tool that aids translators is glossary. There is one per project, or live global glossary.
Alternative source language allows to view how the current entry has been translated into other languages. To enable this feature user has to choose desired alternative source languages in the account’s settings.
Editor has ‘suggestion mode’ that enables users and outside participants to add translation suggestions and corrections for later review. In this case Pootle functions as a translation-specific bug reporting system.
Translation memory feature helps Pootle to function as an offline translation tool. Users can download the translation file, translate offline with any editor, then upload file and use Pootle to manage translations' workflow.
More about Pootle
Pootle is an online translation and localization software that allows multiple file formats and translation projects in a lot of languages. This tool allows a team to manage their files, permissions, and projects. It focuses on quality and enables both on-line and offline translation. If you want to translate your software into the languages of your community, Pootle is a great choice. Visit the Pootle website or read its documentation for more information.