Create Linguistic Team

From Linguistic Team International Wiki

How to start up a Linguistic Team for your language

In order to help ensure that we are spreading accurate information, the International Linguistic Team follows certain collaboratively developed guidelines designed to promote highly accurate transcriptions and translations. While many of the individual guidelines apply primarily to both the English Proofreading and Translation Proofreading teams, they really apply to all aspects of everything we do here.

In accessing this page, chances are good that you're interested in getting involved with Linguistic Team activities in more of a team setting with other members of your native language. The following provides an approach to doing just that.


  • First, check to see if such a team already exists for your language.
    • Similar to the Movement's Chapters situation, there can only be one official Linguistic Team per language, although languages with many volunteers may require more than one Language Coordinator &/or may break up tasks across separate Translation & Proofreading sub-teams.
    • Check to see if your language has already started a team. The presence of a Coordinator will provide you with that knowledge and also with the best contact info for joining the group.


  • If your native language does not yet have a Coordinator, it does not necessarily mean that there is nothing being translated into that language. Check to see if your language has an official chapter website. If such a site exists, they may already have a group of volunteers working together on translations, but who are not yet aware of the International Linguistic Team efforts to bring everyone together in order to much better support each other, share working approaches, etc.. If you discover such a group there, please make them aware of the Int'l Linguistic Team and ask them to select someone interested in fulfilling the role of that language's Coordinator position.


  • If no such translation/proofreading team exists at the chapter level, you may want to consider starting one up yourself. Please note that starting up a new translation/proofreading effort does not mean that you will have to assume the team's official Coordinator role. The selection of a coordinator should be made by all members of the team.

Here are some recommended steps to take in creating a new Linguistic Team:

  1. Have a look within Pootle, our in-house' translation-assist program, to see if the language is already supported there. If it is, there is a good chance that the core of a new team is already translating, but simply do not yet know about each other. Contact the Pootle admin for assistance in connecting with them.
  1. Take a look at some of the items already translated within dotSUB, an online translation-assist website that we use for most of the videos within our care. If you go to any of the items within this collection, you will see a listing of all of the languages into which members have translated that project. If you find the language you wish to organize, contact the dotSUB TZMOfficial admin for assistance in connecting with them.
  1. Ask around on the forums and other communication mediums within all Chapter websites related to your language to see who else is interested in forming an official Linguistic Team for the language.
  1. A translation/proofreading team does not need a lot of volunteers to get started, although you and your teammates will want to continually advertise the need for more volunteers to help expand the team's abilities (combined experience, careful proofreading, etc.) and speed. Once you are satisfied that you have enough active, interested volunteers to form a collaborative language team, get together with them and select one person to serve in the role of official Language Coordinator. At this point, it is suggested that the team invite the LingTeam admin to a voice/text chat to provide everyone on the team with all of the info, contacts, communication, etc. that they may need, along with answering any questions they might have. The admin's role is to provide complete support for all tasks related to Linguistic Team efforts, so the team will want to take advantage of that.
    • Here are some bookmarks you might want to share with your prospective teammates. While most are still in development, these pages will help them see how the Int'l Linguistic Team is organizing all linguistic activities throughout the movement.
      • The main page of the Linguistic Team Wiki
      • The main Language Coordinators category page
      • Linguistic Team projects page, which describes the primary areas with which the Linguistic Team is currently involved.
      • The Linguistic Team Media Center - This section serves as our very important, but temporary, PMS (Project Management System) while we await the launch of a custom-made PMS for all LingTeam activities.
      • The Video Releases page allows everyone to see each video in each stage of progress and join in on the fun as items move through the system.
      • The Final Proofreading project allows for the careful proofreading of all older, already-translated items so they can be added to the official ZM Media Repository and made available to all from one central location with the ZM guarantee that they are as accurate and error-free as we can get them.
      • The Linguistic Team forum - where ALL activities are initially made known to all Linguistic Team members. This includes new media releases, new info in the wiki, shared methods for accomplishing tasks, contests, etc..
      • The Linguistic TechTeam section describes just some of the member-focused functionality we are building into the Linguistic Team. The tasks handled by the Tech-Team allow us to make our completed transcriptions and translations available in a wide variety of formats, suitable for most activist needs.
      • Recorded Bi-weekly Linguistic Team Meetings allow everyone to stay on top of important discussions and announcements, even if they've somehow (gasp!) missed the meeting. Although these are always made available, it's still best to attend the meetings and contribute to improving the direction & overall growth of the LingTeam.
      • Also, please include the email addresses so they can get in touch with the Pootle, Dashboard and Linguistic Team admins, if needed.