How to give feedback

Feedback helps teams to share information so everyone is working together toward a common goal. For localeLocale Locale = language version, often a combination of a language code and a region code, for instance es_MX denotes Spanish as it’s used in Mexico. A list of all locales supported by WordPress in https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/ managers and translation editorsTranslation Editor Translation editors can approve translations for projects. The GTE (General Translation Editor) and LM (Locale Manager) roles can add new users with the “Project Translation Editor” role that can approve translations for specific projects. There are two different Translation Editor roles: General Translation Editor and Project Translation Editor, this may look like explaining why a translation was rejected or sharing feedback on a proposed change to your locale’s glossary.

It is common to fear feedback – both receiving it and giving it! Feedback, especially negative feedback, can feel personal. It can also build trust and healthy ways to communicate within a team, allowing new contributors to grow through the feedback they receive.

Why feedback is important

Feedback is what lets people know when their efforts are working well or not. In a team, feedback helps ensure that everyone involved is acting in a way that supports the team’s goals.

When providing feedback to other contributors in your locale, there are many benefits, including:

• It helps contributors grow. Translating WordPress is a skill. New contributors may feel uncertain of best practices or how to interpret existing documentation. Giving feedback lets them understand what they’re doing well and where to improve.
• It maintains and improves the quality of the project. Polyglots know the value of contributing good quality translations. Giving feedback ensures that everyone who contributes provides consistent and contextual translations to improve the user experience.
• It builds trust between contributors. Giving and receiving feedback often feels vulnerable. Using feedback to collaborate with others helps to build trust between people. The person receiving feedback knows someone cares about what they’re doing; the person giving feedback knows their mentorship is meaningful.
• It’s a form of training. When someone doesn’t follow the guidelines or best practices, feedback allows them to correct that. By giving feedback, you help to educate others on why you follow certain guidelines, how to be a better contributor, and how to improve their work in the future. This improvement can help build future leaders and mentors in your community.

When should you give feedback?

It is a good idea to focus on documented and agreed-upon processes within your community. In other words, just because someone does something differently than you, that doesn’t mean it requires feedback. When considering feedback, it can help to ask:

• Does this behavior negatively impact the team’s goals?
• Does this break any rules or guidelines our team has agreed on?
• What are the consequences if I don’t give feedback?

Maintaining documentation or meeting notes can be a really helpful tool for explaining why something deserves feedback. As an example: if someone disagrees with a word in the locale’s glossary, it can be helpful to point them to similar conversations from the past. Being able to reference public documentation and conversations also helps to confirm it is about helping the person improve, rather than critiquing them personally.

Where to give feedback

There are a few ways to provide feedback on translations:

• Using the discussion tool on translate.wordpress.orgtranslate.wordpress.org The platform for contributing to the translation of WordPress core, themes and plugins.
• Via your local SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. or the Make/WordPress Slack instance
• Via your team’s blog or on the global Polyglots blog

Whatever format you decide, it’s good practice to document this in any “Getting Started’ documentation you have for new contributors. This ensures that everyone knows where to find feedback so they can act on it.

The discussion tool

There is now a tool built directly into translate.wordpress.org where translation editors can leave feedback on a suggested translation. Providing feedback moves the stringString A string is a translatable part of the software. A translation consists of a multitude of localized strings. into a “Changes requested” status until the translator submits their updated translation.

It’s a good idea to contact new translators on Slack, so they know to toggle on email notifications for the discussion tool. Anyone can opt in to notifications via the Translation Settings page on translate.wordpress.org.

To provide feedback when reviewing stringsString A string is a translatable part of the software. A translation consists of a multitude of localized strings., select the individual string and use the MetaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. tab in the right sidebarSidebar A sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme. to provide feedback. Here, you can choose the most applicable checkbox for why you’re requesting changes. You can also add a message in the text box below to clarify further.