Offline use of Wikimedia content is a strategic goal for the Wikimedia Foundation. Kiwix is an offline app that allows user to read content without an internet connection, and it can now be localized into many languages on translatewiki.net.

There are many instances where people do not have an Internet connection available, or where it is cheaper to work offline, notably in the “Global south”.

Data from Wikimedia projects can be exported to the openZIM format, and then read offline on Kiwix, the only openZIM client.

Several projects with local developers invested a considerable amount of time creating their own offline app for their language, their script or for special requirements like formatting for books.

With the localization of Kiwix on translatewiki.net, it is now much more of an option to work on such features in Kiwix. Customizations like including fonts with a package or having specific formatting for a book or a source remain possible.

We hope our community will help localize Kiwix in the 270+ languages we currently support with Wikimedia projects. Please start translating the interface and let us know how it goes.

Thanks,

Gerard Meijssen
Internationalization / Localization outreach consultant

Wikimedia projects support over 270 languages. This amazing global reach is powered by volunteers who translate not only the contents but also text used in MediaWiki so that localized wikis can be easily navigated and operated by users in their local language. Translatewiki.net is the amazing translation engine which not only supports Wikimedia projects but other open source projects. Siebrand and Nike are leading this translation platforms.

The user experience programs at Wikimedia Foundation is also benefited from translatewiki.net and translation volunteers. The usability beta has been completely translated into thirteen languages and twelve languages are 99% complete. These stats can be found at the translation completion status page for the usability extension by courtesy of GeardM.

The usability beta is planned to be switched to be the default interface in April. Additional translation boost for languages which are not fully translated will improve the usability of the new interface greatly.
GerardM had a great example of the interface in Nepali, whose localization is not complete, in his blog.

Translation help for such as Indonesian, Greek, Thai, Arabic, Hebrew, Italian, Sinhala, Korean and much more, are greatly appreciated.

Translatewiki.net is a core part of the MediaWiki ecosystem. While not a Wikimedia Foundation project, it’s used by hundreds of volunteers to improve the localization of MediaWiki and its extensions, alongside other open source projects, which has led to MediaWiki being one of the most internationalized software packages available.

We’re very pleased to be able to recognize the incredible volunteer efforts behind translatewiki.net at least in a small way. Starting tomorrow, Siebrand Mazeland will be able to devote one day a week to the support of the project on a contract with the Wikimedia Foundation. We’ve identified core priorities for the next year as an increase in the number of volunteer developers supporting the translatewiki.net infrastructure, and the number of volunteer translators working on localization for the most widely spoken languages.

Welcome, Siebrand, and a big thank you to the entire translatewiki.net community for their work. :-)

Erik Moeller
Deputy Director, Wikimedia Foundation

Ok, we still need to complete automation of update runs for LocalisationUpdate, but it seems to be working!

It’s not the most glamorous of extensions, but you can see here an updated message (“Den här sidan” where the current deployed message file says “Denna sidan har”)!

– brion