Coordinator or leader
In the Translation Project we use the expressions "team coordinator" and
"team leader" interchangeably. The latter is shorter to write and
pronounce, but the former more adequately describes the job. The team
coordinator is usually a soft person, who gets along well with people.
Usually the main task of a team coordinator is to provide new members with
information, explaining the team's habits and conventions. Only seldomly
does a team coordinator need to arbitrate the assignment of a particular
domain or package, when more than one translator wants to handle it.
Ultimately the responsibilties of a team coordinator are negotiated between
all team members: teams are free to organize themselves as they see fit.
Creating a new team
When at the TP there is no team yet for your language (see
translationproject.org/team/index.html for a list of existing
teams), it is easy to create one. First find out the team's code, which
usually is taken directly from ISO 639-1. A list of major languages and
their codes can be found in appendix A of the gettext manual -- see `info
gettext Language Usual`.
Then decide what email address the team will use. If you cannot set up a
mailing list yourself somewhere, one can be created for you at the project
translation on Sourceforge.net. The naming convention for these team
lists is <translation-team-LL@lists.sourceforge.net>, with LL being the
ISO 639-1 language code.
Finally write an email to <coordinator@translationproject.org> to ask for
the creation of a new team, and if needed the creation of a mailing list.
The team's email address
The email address of a translation team is used for several purposes. Its
main purpose is to allow team members to communicate: to present newly
translated files for inspection and comments, to discuss translation
difficulties, to decide on priorities, to organize the team. In general,
translators and other people are free to subscribe to and unsubscribe from
that mailing list.
The team's address is also used by the TP robot: for announcing new POT
files and reporting the upload of updated PO files (for the team's
language). The latter shows the team members who is doing what, and what
the status of the translation is. It is also useful as a check against
forged submissions.
The team's address is further meant as the public address where users of
translated software can report translation errors. So usually the team's
address should be open to non-subscribers, although probably moderated to
shield the team members from being spammed.
A team in operation
Usually translators directly ask <coordinator@translationproject.org> for
assignment of a package, CC'ing their team coordinator. If you stay
silent, this is taken as agreement. Package assignments are checked by the
TP robot when a PO file is uploaded, to prevent the possibility of some
team members fighthing over the translation of certain messages.
Some teams wish to check a translation before it is uploaded, most however
allow the translator to upload the file directly and do quality assurance
only after the fact, so everything runs faster. Corrections can always be
made by uploading an amended file.
All team members together bear the responsibility for doing the work and
ensuring the quality of translations -- this is not the task of just the
team coordinator nor of any sole translator.
Coordinator tasks
Your main task as a team coordinator is to welcome new team members and,
where needed, explain how things work. The TP coordinators or a package
maintainer will sometimes forward to you an email of someone who has
volunteered to do translation work or even has already done so and is
sending in the PO file. It is then your task to guide the new volunteer.
Most things that a translator needs to know are explained on
translationproject.org/html/translators.html . If anything is
missing on that page, or could be explained better, don't hesitate to
comment.
To extend or strengthen your team, you may actively look around on mailing
lists and try to recruite new members. But if you are not comfortable with
recruiting, you certainly do not need to do so.
As a team coordinator you are permitted to upload PO files for your
language for any domain, whether it is unassigned or already assigned to
someone else. This allows you quickly fix a translation error when the
assigned translator is away on holidays, or to upload a PO file under your
name (without first asking for assignment) for a translator who does not
want to go through the hassle of a disclaimer or deal with the pickiness of
the robot.
Keeping an eye on things
The status of your team and of the translations it has made is listed on
your team page, reachable via translationproject.org/team/index.html
and following the relevant link. If any information on your team's page is
inaccurate or missing, please write to a TP coordinator to get it fixed,
<coordinator@translationproject.org>.