Install another language version of Zotero

Hi,
I would like to point your attention to the difficulties in using Zotero found by an Italian user and ask how to modify my installed version of Zotero, which is in Italian, and replace it with the original English language version.
Actually, when I installed Zotero I couldn't choose the language version and the process of downloading and installing was authomatic.
Now I feel the need for using the original English version because I find that there are mistakes in the Italian translation of Zotero: for example in the Record information panel, in the case of the Articolo di giornale resource type (i.e. Journal article), the 4th field where I put the Journal title has been erroneously called Titolo dell'articolo (Article Title) while the correct italian name of this field would be Titolo del giornale (Journal Title) and Titolo dell'articolo (Article title) could be the name of the first field. There are other similar mistakes/inconsistencies in the Italian version of Zotero: for ex. the distinction between two resource types, one called Articolo di giornale and the other called Articolo di periodico, is not clear to me. Perhaps in the English version it is clearer. I find similar problems in the use of the Advanced search interface where there are several options available in the pull down menu for choosing in which field put the query but many of them are not clear. Maybe if I could read them in English I would find them more comprehensible.
Another reason for this request is that, since I am enrolled on a UK Masters course and I have to write papers in English, when I put in my papers a bibliography/citation created using Zotero I then have to translate all the Italian expressions which are produced by the Italian version, for ex. I have to translate in English the Italian expression 'consultato' which is put by the system authomatically next to the accession date for electronic resources replacing it with the English term 'accessed', and obviously I also have to translate the name of the Months in accession date.
So my question is: how could I change and switch to the English version of Zotero?
Another question is: how could I correct into the system the Italian translations of the terms used by Zotero which are not correct?
pierfranco
  • Going to about:config in the URL bar and changing general.useragent.locale to en-GB (or at least en-US) might change the locale used, though that may affect other things in Firefox. If that doesn't work, you might need to use an en-GB version of Firefox. Firefox determines which set of localized strings to use for the interface, not Zotero, and I don't know if we can even override that from within the code. There's an open ticket for changing the language used in bibliographies, which we can control.

    For the interface, we'd love your help improving the Italian localization. See the localization docs for how to get involved.
  • I think this is the best place for my question.

    Also in the Dutch locale there are some wrong translations. I followed the above link to contribute to the Dutch locale to get those last irregularities out of there. Thus far I found the six docs where the translations are in, so I can begin with the translation. But before I start translating I like to know for sure that I can test the new locale in the interface of my Zotero copy. The link "how to test" is unfortunately a dead end. The question is simple: how do I go from the rough translated text to the implementation into the UI? more specifically: what file should I create of my corrected version (nl-NL.txt?) and is there a folder somewhere where I have to put this file in so I can locate it with the general.useragent.locale or the add-on? Or is there an existing file where I should copy past my editing in? Or can't I test it, which means I'll have to sent every attempt to you guys first, and again and again, until its correctly working? Can't be, right?

    Thanks

    Willem
  • If you want to test your translation, you need to replace the original code in your own zotero (2.1.x). That's not hard but be careful (backup, firefox closed...).
    That means that you have to find and replace the Dutch translations on your computer.
    Most of the Zotero code is stored within the zotero.jar file in the chrome folder of the Zotero extension directory, located in the extensions subdirectory of the Firefox profile. JAR files in Firefox are simply ZIP files, so you can extract the contents using any unzipping program, edit the files, and zip them back up. For performance reasons, it’s best not to use compression when zipping the files.
    (Source: http://www.zotero.org/support/dev/modifying_zotero_files)

    How to find your firefox folder.
    In zotero.jar (unzipped), locales are in "\locale\nl-NL\zotero" folder
    more specifically: what file should I create of my corrected version (nl-NL.txt?)
    With a text editor, you should create "about.dtd", "preferences.dtd", "searchbox.dtd", "standalone.dtd", "timeline.properties", "zotero.dtd", "zotero.properties". Extensions are ".dtd" and ".properties", no ".txt"
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