For Translators

Crowdin is a localization management platform that helps companies translate their software. In this article, you will find information on how you can contribute to localization projects as a translator.

You’ve been invited to join the Crowdin Enterprise project, but not sure where to start? Here’s everything you need to get started with translating and proofreading. This article will walk you through the basics of the translation process in Crowdin Enterprise.

Create an Account

Each company in Crowdin Enterprise has a unique URL. A company that wants to invite you can either share the direct link to the project page or to the organization page with all the crowdsourcing projects they have. A project manager can also send an invitation directly to your email. Using this specific link, you need to create a new account in Crowdin Enterprise. To create an account (sign up), you can use your social media profiles (Google, Facebook, X), GitHub, or GitLab profiles.

Once you have created an account, you can use your username and password to access the needed organization page in Crowdin Enterprise. If you decide to contribute to more than one organization, you will need separate Crowdin Enterprise accounts for each organization.

Signing Up by an Invitation

Account Settings

Volunteer translator?

Crowdsourcing is an approach that engages a community of volunteers, often product fans, to translate products into various target languages. As a volunteer translator, you can help organizations with localization by translating in Crowdin Enterprise.

Explore Your Workspace

The Workspace is the first page you’ll see after a successful registration. You’ll have the proofreader or translator (or both) access to the project you’ve been assigned to work on. You can access each project from here.

Using the left sidebar, you can access the following pages:

• Starred projects – all your starred projects. Use it for quick access to the projects you open the most often.

• Notifications – see all the key updates for the projects you are working on. For example, notifications about new strings added, new tasks created, etc. You can also choose to receive updates via email or Slack. Go to Account Settings > Notifications to change your notification preferences.

• Messages – create one-to-one conversations or add as many project members to a conversation as needed. Any time you receive a message in one of the conversations, you can view it here.

• Tasks – a list of tasks assigned to you. Use the filter for better navigation and archive the completed tasks.

• Store – Crowdin Store offers 600+ apps you can install to extend Crowdin functionality. Explore Crowdin apps for Translator Productivity.

Notifications

User Tasks

Project Page

Each project has its own Dashboard page where you can see some basic information about the project, such as the number of target languages and source words, the last activity, and a list of the languages you’ve been assigned to work with.

For projects with workflow, you can click the expand icon next to the language to see the workflow steps assigned to you. You can select the workflow step and open all the strings you will be working with in that step in the Editor.

To access specific source files, click on the needed target language from the list and select the file.

Working in the Editor

The Editor is where translators and proofreaders work on translations online. The String List section displays strings from the selected file or all strings available in the assigned workflow step, with the active string highlighted. String context and details for the selected string appear in the String Details section.

Online Editor

Translation

Collaborate with other project members, discuss any issues or questions in the Comments section, vote for the best translation variants, and take advantage of the project Glossary and Translation Memory. Use the machine translations as a basis for your own suggestions.

String List

The String List is your primary workspace for managing translations.

Layout and Status

• Source Text: On the left.
• Translations: On the right.
• Status icons indicate whether strings are untranslated, translated, or approved. Comments or issues are highlighted.

Searching and Filtering

• Use the Search in file field to locate strings.
• Apply Simple or Advanced Filters to sort and filter strings.

QA Checks

Pop-up messages may appear to alert you to potential issues, such as inconsistent punctuation, mismatched spaces, or missing variables. These checks help maintain translation quality.

String Details

The context of the string is displayed in the String details section in the right panel. Typically, this can include descriptions and screenshots. You can request context from here if needed.

Suggestions and Translations

This section contains all the resources and previous translations that might be useful:

• Translations by other project members
• Translation Memory (TM) suggestions
• Machine Translation (MT) suggestions
• Translations to other languages

In crowdsourcing projects, besides translating you can also participate by voting on suggestion submitted by other project members.

If you see that there is already a correct suggestion, vote for it by clicking the plus sign if you like the translation, or the minus sign if you don’t think the translation is correct. Translations that receive the most positive votes will have a higher rating and will appear at the top of all available translations for the string.

Comments

In the Comments section, you can discuss the meaning of the source string or other related questions with other project members. Use “@” and a username to mention the specific person or create an issue related to the string.

Main Menu

The Main menu in the upper-left corner allows you to switch between files for translation, change translation languages, contact a manager, and configure the Editor view.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Click in the upper-right corner to see the list of available keyboard shortcuts. They can make your work in the Editor more efficient and fast.

Most shortcuts can be customized. Click on the needed key combination and modify it using your keyboard.

Proofreading

If you are assigned to proofread the translations, you’ll see the list of source strings and their translations that you can review, correct where needed, and approve. The strings with the QA checks issues will be highlighted in this mode. You’ll also see the strings that were translated with the help of Translation Memory or Machine Translation engine.

String Status at Workflow Steps

In every project, strings move from one workflow step to the next. There are three statuses: ToDo, Pending, and Done. They are applied to each string depending on its status at the workflow step it’s currently at.

For example, if you’re assigned to translate the string, once you save the translation, the string is marked as Done and then moves to the next step.

The Pending status can be applied to the string in the following scenario:

The source string is translated at the Translation workflow step and marked as Done. It then moves to the next workflow step, e.g., Proofreading, where it’s marked as ToDo. If the translation of the string is deleted at the Translation workflow step, the string remains at the Proofreading workflow step and is marked as Pending until the translation is added again at the Translation workflow step.

Read more about Workflows in Crowdin Enterprise.

Offline Translation

As an alternative to translating online in the Editor, you can download project files for offline translation if the project manager has enabled public downloads. Use the XLIFF file format for offline translation, which is supported by most desktop localization tools.