Help us make Waze better in your native tongue!
Step 1 Download the - an Excel spreadsheet. Last update: April 3rd.
Note that the file contains 4 tabs. The first one is large. The other 3 are small but still important.
Important note before getting started: before you translate or work on the following languages, please check with the support team at www.waze.com/support (quick help) - Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. These translations are done mainly in-house.
Step 2 Starting with the first tab, "client_text", Look for your language in the first row. If you're sure it is not there, you can start a new column for your language. .
Step 3 It is important that you do not edit the spreadsheet file you downloaded. Instead start a new spreadsheet file. That way it is easy for Waze to merge in your changes. For the same reason, use a different new file for each tab you work on.
If you believe there should be corrections to existing translations, please make them in a separate file also and note them as corrections when you submit them by email so Waze can review them more closely.
Step 4 Starting with the first, "client_text" tab, here is how to identify the text that still needs translating.
- Copy column B and C (English and Comments) into the new spreadsheet, so they end up as column A and B.
- Copy the column for the language you want to translate into the new spreadsheet column C. If you're a polyglot you can continue adding languages in D, E, etc.
- Do not change the order of the rows.
For the second tab "scoreboard_text", use the same process, except the English text to translate starts in column D, and the explanation starts in column C.
For the third tab "groups_text" and the fourth tab "ticker_text" use the same process as for the first tab "client_text" Please notice that we have a problem currently to upload new strings or update existing one for both GROUPS and DASHBOARD. You can send the translations and/or corrections and we will update our files accordingly, but we will not be able to upload it to the client for the time being. We apologize for the temporary inconvenience.
Step 5 For the language(s) you're translating, look for empty cells, 0 or #N/A and replace with the proper translation. Do not translate column A or B. They are only for reference. Column B will explain the text in column A more clearly.
Translation tip - make it short. Since the same text is used on all client devices, some of which have small screens, it is best to keep everything as short as possible. Use abbreviations.
For the fourth tab "ticker_text" make your translations short. 30 character maximum.
Step 6 Email your new spreadsheet file as an attachment via the "quick help" section in our support page www.waze.com/support with the message subject Translation
Because the language files are held on the Waze server you can see your updates in the client once Waze has processed them. You don't need to wait for a new version of the app.
Step 7 Come back later and check if you can help some more. Or you can email alpha@waze.com and ask to be notified by email when there are new lines of text to be translated.
Every new version of the Waze app has new features with new text that require translating. So even if a language is completed, check back in later to see if we need new translations. If you see English being used in the app, mixed in with another language it's because we don't have a translation for those phrases yet.
Note that these translations are for written text in the client device app. Audio prompts such as "in 200 meters turn right" are not part of this process.
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