Can You Contribute to Translations Without Fluency? tldr-pages Guidelines and Alternatives

No, you cannot contribute to translations in tldr-pages for languages you do not fluently understand, as every translation must be manually proofread by a contributor who can confidently verify accuracy, grammar, and idiomatic usage.

The tldr-pages project maintains command-line cheat sheets in multiple languages, and community members often want to contribute to translations to expand coverage. However, the repository has strict fluency requirements to ensure quality. If you are wondering whether you can contribute to translations without knowing the target language, the project guidelines in CONTRIBUTING.md provide a clear answer.

Why Fluency Is Required to Contribute to Translations

The Official Policy in CONTRIBUTING.md

According to the tldr-pages source code, the CONTRIBUTING.md file explicitly states at lines 94-98: "Only translate or update languages you can confidently read and proofread." This rule exists because the project prioritizes accuracy and readability over rapid expansion. Contributors must be able to verify that command descriptions, example explanations, and placeholder text convey the correct technical meaning in the target language.

Machine Translation Limitations

While the CONTRIBUTING.md guidelines at lines 36-38 permit using machine-translation tools as a reference, they require that you thoroughly proofread the result before submitting. The project rejects machine-generated or bulk edits across languages you do not know. If you cannot reliably verify grammar, idiomatic expressions, and technical accuracy, you cannot fulfill the proofreading requirement, and your contribution will be rejected.

Alternative Ways to Support Translations Without Fluency

Even if you cannot contribute to translations directly, you can still support the tldr-pages internationalization effort through these activities:

• Improve placeholders and formatting: Use the style-guide.md to ensure placeholders like {{path/to/file}} follow correct syntax. You can run scripts/set-alias-page.py to generate correctly templated alias pages, which helps maintain consistency across all languages.

• Report missing or outdated translations: Open an issue or comment on the translation dashboard linked in the README.md to flag pages that need attention from fluent speakers.

• Become a reviewer for languages you do know: Add yourself to the CODEOWNERS file for that language directory to help review and approve contributions in languages where you are fluent.

• Help with documentation: Update the CONTRIBUTING.md or README.md files to clarify translation rules and workflows for other contributors.

How to Add a New Translation When You Are Fluent

If you are fluent in the target language, follow this workflow to contribute to translations correctly:

# 1. Create the language folder if it does not exist

mkdir -p pages.es   # Spanish example

# 2. Copy the English page as a starting point

cp pages/common/ls.md pages.es/ls.md

# 3. Edit the copy, translating the description and examples

# (must be proofread by a native speaker)

# 4. Run the linter to ensure formatting is correct

npx tldr-lint pages.es/ls.md

# 5. Commit and open a PR

git add pages.es/ls.md
git commit -m "ls: add Spanish translation"
git push origin your-branch

You can also use scripts/set-alias-page.py to generate correctly formatted alias pages for translations.

Key Files for Translation Contributors

Consult these files in the tldr-pages repository to understand how to contribute to translations properly:

• CONTRIBUTING.md: Contains the definitive rule that you must only translate languages you can confidently read and proofread (lines 94-98).
• style-guide.md: Defines placeholder syntax, formatting standards, and language-specific rules.
• translation-templates/: Holds ready-made templates for aliases, common phrases, and argument descriptions.
• scripts/set-alias-page.py: Helper script to create correctly formatted alias pages.
• README.md (Translations section): Shows where to view translation progress and dashboards.
• CODEOWNERS: File where language reviewers add themselves to manage specific language directories.

Summary

• You cannot

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "instagit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "instagit@latest"]
    }
  }
}