Encouraging the translation of WordPress into Bengali

From the mini event celebrating French language translators last month, we travel online to meet polyglots translating the software into Bengali.

Come and discover with us on our website, Twitter and Facebook, the wonderful stories of the WordPress polyglots. Be inspired to join them.

Abha Thakor, from the Global WordPress Translation Day team, has been catching up with the different organizers from some of the most recent Bengali-language activities.

Bengali (Bangladesh) – bn_BD events

Satkhira online event

WordPress Satkhira logo

The Satkhira WordPress Meetup Community in the northern part of Bangladesh is one of the newer Chapter Meetups. It held a two hour mini-event for translating the software yesterday (15 May 2020). We will be updating this post during the next few days with highlights from this mini event.

Well done to all the organizers and those who took part in translating WordPress core, themes and plugins.  

Satkhira WordPress Meetup

bn_BD online event – Dhaka

WPTD4-Dhaka_GTE explains how to translate

This event is being held today, 16 May 2020. It will include a workshop and a practical session with the help of three of the General Translation Editors for bn_BD. 

The main translations from English will be to bn_BD, which is more commonly used in Bangladesh. Those who speak and write in the form of the language more commonly used in India (bn_ID), are also welcome to attend this or the Meetup event in Kolkata on the same day which will include GTEs for bn_IN (more details below).

Schedule and booking for the bn_BD event

The times displayed are UTC.

  • 4.30am to 4.50am – System Check and Introduction
  • 5.00am to 6.45am – Online workshop on Localizing WordPress – translate WordPress core, any theme or plugins 
  • 7.00 AM to 10.30am – Translate WP Core, theme, and plugins
  • 10.30am to 11.00am- Closing Remarks from the organizers, participants and sponsors

Event details and booking form on Facebook (weDevs page)

bn_BD event 15 May 2020

Organizing the event

Three Global Translation Editors (GTEs) for bn_BD, Tareq Hasan, Mayeenul Islam and Sekandar Badsha, will share their expertise at the event. The event sponsor is software company weDevs.

Tareq Hasan, on behalf of the GTEs and the mini-event organizing team, said: “We want to bring people together in our local community. This event will help us all to give back to the project. We hope it will help expand the reach of WordPress itself to be accessible in Bangla for as many people as possible.”

Why translate WordPress

Mizanur Rahaman Mizan, one of the local event organizers, joined the polyglots team in 2018. He said: “We want to help make translation even trendier locally and to make WordPress more reachable to local people and those who speak Bengali around the world.” 

He added: ‘Translating WordPress into your own language is fun. Emotionally and psychologically, when reading something in our own language, we feel proud.”

At the Global WordPress Translation Day in 2019, a translation event which took place in Dhaka, had 4,000 strings approved. The picture above was taken by Mainul Kabir Aion at the event last year.

Ahmed Kabir Chaion is one of the new contributors to Polyglots, joining in January 2020 and in March becoming a translator for bn_BD. He said: “I was inspired by wanting to see new releases translated into Bengali. I want to be part of this and encourage others to translate it too.”

Bengali (India) – bn_IN event

The Kolkata WordPress Meetup, in India, will be focusing on translating WordPress into Bengali (bn-IN) and its step-by-step tutorial will encourage others who want to translate into other languages too. Most of the information will be provided in English to enable anyone in its local community to take part. 

The GTEs from bn-IN will be involved in the Meetup.

Rahul D Sarker, one of the GTEs from bn-IN, said: “We will be focusing on translating WordPress into Bengali. We are also encouraging local community members to join us who may want to contribute to other locales, in case Bengali is not their mother tongue. 

“We want to celebrate translation and help share how the Meetup can help people learn more about using the tools and joining the community.”

Join the event

The Kolkata Meetup translation mini-event will start at 4.45am UTC/ 10.15am IST on 16 May 2020.

You will need a WordPress.org account and computer to take part. Once you register, you can access the Google Meet video link for the event. 

Register for the event 

Kolkata Meetup – translation mini-event and Google Meet link, 16 May 2020

WordPress – Locale for Bengali (India)

WordPress Kolkata channel on Slack

Kolkata WordPress Meetup

When will the Global WordPress Translation Day take place?

After WCEU, the Global #WPTranslationDay team will continue to explore options for an international event for later in 2020 or 2021. In the meantime, a number of mini events are being held in local communities as a wonderful opportunity to translate WordPress. If your local area is considering running an event, as early as you can contact the WPTD team on our Twitter account.

Connect with us on Twitter @TranslateWP

We hope our series on WordPress local translation activities will also encourage would-be translators at WordCamp Europe’s (WCEU) Contributor Day on 4 June 2020.

If your Meetup is planning promotions on translating WordPress or helping new contributors get started,  include the #OnlineWPMeetup and #TranslateWP in your social posts. This will help the Make WordPress Marketing and Polyglot events teams share your news.

Links to the project

Translate WordPress.org

You can help translating WordPress to your language at any time. Just log in to the translation platform with your WordPress.org account, and suggest translations.

Bengali – bn (BD)

Bengali – bn (IN)

WordPress Bangladesh on Slack

Dhaka WordPress Meetup

Thanks to Abha Thakor and Rahul D Sarker from the WordPress Translation Day team for reporting on the events.