Upgrade StorageRequest to add Tetun Dili (Tetum) as a Zotero interface language
Hello,
I would like to request the addition of **Tetun Dili (Tetum)** as a Zotero interface language.
I am working with students from the **first-ever doctoral cohort in Education in Timor-Leste**. This is an important initiative for postgraduate education, teacher education, and educational research in the country.
Zotero is essential for these doctoral students to organize references, conduct literature reviews, annotate academic texts, produce citations, and write theses and scientific articles. However, many students are not yet sufficiently proficient in Portuguese or English to use all Zotero features independently. The absence of a Tetun interface creates an additional barrier while they are learning research methodology, academic writing, and digital research tools.
Tetun is one of the official languages of Timor-Leste. A Tetun interface could:
* support postgraduate education and research training;
* increase students’ autonomy in academic work;
* facilitate Zotero training in Timorese universities;
* strengthen the presence of Tetun in higher education and digital environments.
This request concerns the **Zotero interface itself**—menus, buttons, settings, item types, bibliographic fields, and messages—not only PDF translation.
We have begun discussing a preliminary glossary:
| English | Preliminary Tetun Dili |
| -------------- | ---------------------- |
| File | Arkivu |
| Edit | Edita |
| View | Haree |
| Tools | Ferramenta sira |
| Help | Ajuda |
| Library | Biblioteka |
| My Library | Ha’u nia biblioteka |
| Collection | Kolesaun |
| New Collection | Kolesaun foun |
| New Item | Item foun |
| Title | Títulu |
| Author | Autór |
| Publication | Publikasaun |
| Abstract | Rezumu |
| Notes | Nota sira |
| Attachment | Aneksu |
| Open | Loke |
| Close | Taka |
| Save | Rai |
| Delete | Hamoos |
| Search | Buka |
| Settings | Konfigurasaun |
| Citation | Sitasaun |
| Bibliography | Bibliografia |
| Import | Importa |
| Export | Esporta |
| Cancel | Kansela |
| Continue | Kontinua |
This is only an initial proposal. The terminology would be reviewed by native speakers, doctoral students, educators, researchers, and language specialists, following the official Tetun orthography.
Could the Zotero team advise us on the process for adding a new interface language? Is there an official localization platform or repository? What translation coverage is required, and how can contributors test the interface?
We are willing to organize a collaborative translation team involving native Tetun speakers and students from the first doctoral cohort in Education.
Language: Tetun Dili
International name: Tetum
Language code: tet
Suggested locale: tet-TL
Country:** Timor-Leste
Making Zotero available in Tetun would contribute to linguistic inclusion, postgraduate education, and research development in Timor-Leste.
Thank you for considering this request.
I would like to request the addition of **Tetun Dili (Tetum)** as a Zotero interface language.
I am working with students from the **first-ever doctoral cohort in Education in Timor-Leste**. This is an important initiative for postgraduate education, teacher education, and educational research in the country.
Zotero is essential for these doctoral students to organize references, conduct literature reviews, annotate academic texts, produce citations, and write theses and scientific articles. However, many students are not yet sufficiently proficient in Portuguese or English to use all Zotero features independently. The absence of a Tetun interface creates an additional barrier while they are learning research methodology, academic writing, and digital research tools.
Tetun is one of the official languages of Timor-Leste. A Tetun interface could:
* support postgraduate education and research training;
* increase students’ autonomy in academic work;
* facilitate Zotero training in Timorese universities;
* strengthen the presence of Tetun in higher education and digital environments.
This request concerns the **Zotero interface itself**—menus, buttons, settings, item types, bibliographic fields, and messages—not only PDF translation.
We have begun discussing a preliminary glossary:
| English | Preliminary Tetun Dili |
| -------------- | ---------------------- |
| File | Arkivu |
| Edit | Edita |
| View | Haree |
| Tools | Ferramenta sira |
| Help | Ajuda |
| Library | Biblioteka |
| My Library | Ha’u nia biblioteka |
| Collection | Kolesaun |
| New Collection | Kolesaun foun |
| New Item | Item foun |
| Title | Títulu |
| Author | Autór |
| Publication | Publikasaun |
| Abstract | Rezumu |
| Notes | Nota sira |
| Attachment | Aneksu |
| Open | Loke |
| Close | Taka |
| Save | Rai |
| Delete | Hamoos |
| Search | Buka |
| Settings | Konfigurasaun |
| Citation | Sitasaun |
| Bibliography | Bibliografia |
| Import | Importa |
| Export | Esporta |
| Cancel | Kansela |
| Continue | Kontinua |
This is only an initial proposal. The terminology would be reviewed by native speakers, doctoral students, educators, researchers, and language specialists, following the official Tetun orthography.
Could the Zotero team advise us on the process for adding a new interface language? Is there an official localization platform or repository? What translation coverage is required, and how can contributors test the interface?
We are willing to organize a collaborative translation team involving native Tetun speakers and students from the first doctoral cohort in Education.
Language: Tetun Dili
International name: Tetum
Language code: tet
Suggested locale: tet-TL
Country:** Timor-Leste
Making Zotero available in Tetun would contribute to linguistic inclusion, postgraduate education, and research development in Timor-Leste.
Thank you for considering this request.
I was in East Timor a few years ago. Beautiful place. After seeing your post I had a quick ferret around. Check out this URL:
https://www.zotero.org/support/dev/localization
Other than finding the webpage, I've not gone any further so it's now over to you to see if it has the info you need.
As written in the proposed link, translations take place on the Transifex platform. The actual work is performed by volunteers. I guess anyone can request a new language in the Zotero project on Transifex, wait for the team to be created by the overall project admins and ask to join the team.
I don't know how extensive the translation needs to be before the Zotero developers include it. At the moment, there are 63 language projects and apparently 47 of them are available in the desktop application. I assume they have seen more progress, and on Transifex the 47th language is about 30% complete (> 1000 strings translated out of 3000+). So it is probably not absolutely necessary to be exhaustive, although some languages might have been accepted years ago and not updated when newer strings were developed.
It's great if you can assemble a team with a few native speakers somewhat knowledgeable about Zotero and willing to contribute. It is probably fine to get some automated assistance in the process, but it still takes a bit of manpower.
As a member of the French translation team, I'm actually curious about testing newly proposed translations before they are included in a Zotero beta - I could have asked earlier but forgot about it, silly me. I personally don't know if there is a simple way to do that? I can think of several rather complicated ones ;-)