Hi Yoseph,
eh, you're right, that's so weird. Even when you think you explicitly choose the GUI part, you get documentation... I've clicked on another plus sign, please test if it works now!
Maren
Am 25.06.26 um 18:47 schrieb ዮሴፍ ፈለቀ:
Hi Maren,
Thanks for the screenshot! I see what happened there.
The pencil icon shows up on the main project dashboard because to me it seems like it defaults to generally showing active languages across all components (as shown in Slide 1).
However, when clicking through that pencil icon from the main project dashboard, it only grants access to translate the documentation files. While the interface breadcrumbs doesn't explicitly show this at first glance (Slides 2), selecting any of the individual strings below immediately reveals that it has loaded the documentation catalog (side 3).
To me, the issue seems to be with the actual application GUI component. If you go to the "Components" tab and select "Inkscape (dev)" specifically, Amharic is still completely grayed out with a plus sign (the screenshot I sent in my previous email).
Could you please check the "Inkscape (dev)" component on your end?
Thank you! Yoseph
On Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 6:01 PM Maren Hachmann maren@goos-habermann.de wrote:
Hi Yoseph,
Amharic seems to be available for the master branch at the moment.
If someone else added it (Marc?), please, someone-else, don't just fix things but tell us about it, so we don't have to check and wonder what happened.
Maren
Am 25.06.26 um 05:30 schrieb ዮሴፍ ፈለቀ:
I just logged onto the Inkscape Weblate server to get started on the master branch, but it looks like the Amharic translation component is currently locked or uninitialized.
As seen in the translation dashboard, Amharic is grayed out with a plus sign rather than an edit pencil. I clicked the plus sign to start the language component, which triggered a notification stating that a request for a new translation has been sent to the project's maintainers.
Could you please approve that request on your end whenever you have a moment? Once it's initialized, I'll be able to jump right in and start translating the core menus. Thank you!
Yoseph
On Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 5:27 AM Maren Hachmann maren@goos-habermann.de wrote:
Am 25.06.26 um 03:27 schrieb ዮሴፍ ፈለቀ:
Thank you both for the insights and for explaining how the LINGUAS
file
works!
Duarte, I gave your suggestions a thorough try—including the
environment
variable method and attempting to swap out the .mo file in an existing language directory—but unfortunately, I still couldn't get the
translation
to register or display locally on my version of Inkscape.
Since the local testing workarounds didn't pan out, I want to pivot my focus entirely to working directly on the Weblate server as you both recommended. I will prioritize the high-traffic areas Maren mentioned,
like
the main menus, the Export dialog, and the Fill and Stroke panels.
Before I dive in, could you let me know if there are any specific documentation links, guides, or resources you recommend for learning
how
to
navigate and use Weblate effectively?
I've never needed any documentation for doing translations in weblate, it was pretty self-explanatory, so I can't give any recommendations.
For administration, yes, but nothing beyond what is linked from the weblate page itself. The three-dots menu at the top has the link to the documentation.
MarenYoseph
On Wed, Jun 24, 2026, 7:49 PM Maren Hachmann maren@goos-habermann.de wrote:
Hi Yoseph,
for documentation, there is a threshold of '80% translated' per po
file.
For the GUI translations, such a threshold does not exist, however we may manually disable languages that have a very low percentage / no translations, as has happened with Amharic in the past.
For a translation to be valuable to users, also the location of the translated strings in the interface is important. You can have lots of rarely seen strings translated, but the Fill and Stroke and Export dialog and menu items are not, for example. When starting out, I'd not focus on completion, but on the most important locations.
Let me know when you've uploaded your po file for the master branch
for
the first time! Maren
Am 23.06.26 um 23:11 schrieb ዮሴፍ ፈለቀ: > Thanks for the clarification! > > Regarding updating the LINGUAS file once the translation is
available
in
> the repository from Weblate: does the Amharic translation need to be
100%
> complete for you to add it to the file, or is there a minimum
completion
> percentage required before it can be included so I can start testing
it
> normally? > > Best regards, > Yoseph > > On Fri, Jun 19, 2026, 7:32 PM Maren Hachmann <
maren@goos-habermann.de>
> wrote: > >> Hi all, >> >> yes, Duarte is right. >> >> When a new translation language is added, I need to update the
LINGUAS
>> file. I'll do that once the translation is available in the
repository,
>> coming from Weblate. >> >> When I do that, I'll also check whether any other languages might be >> missing. >> >> Please get your po file from the Weblate server, because that one is >> updated from the Inkscape codebase automatically. >> >> If Inkscape is not available in the PATH, other programs on your >> computer will not find it, and you will not be able to launch
Inkscape
>> from the command line. >> >> Thanks! >> Maren >> >> >> Am 19.06.26 um 11:26 schrieb Duarte Farrajota Ramos: >>> Yeah, you are right, I could not get it to work either. I mostly
use
>> Weblate >>> these days, so I might be giving you outdated or incorrect
information.
>>> Looking at the source tree, there seems to be a hardcoded list of >> available >>> languages for Inkscape at >>> >>
https://gitlab.com/inkscape/translations/-/blob/4c5583adc297cd4a2e2d68b0e3c3...
>>> Which probably means you have to ask the developers to add that new >> language >>> to the list, and will only be available in either future versions
or
>> alpha >>> builds. >>> Either way since this is likely to be a process that will take some >> time, in >>> the meantime so you are not waiting around, you could try something else. >>> Try translating your new po file normally with the correct
language,
but >> when >>> you create the .mo file place it in the folder of some other
existing
>> language >>> you don't plan on using, and replace the inkscape.mo file there
(maybe
>> rename >>> the original for safe keeping), then from the UI pick that one
language
>>> instead, and it should show you your translation in progress
instead
of
>> the >>> actual language you picked. >>> Once it gets sorted out and your language does exist, you can then place >> it in >>> the correct folder. >>> On 19/06/2026 at 01:18, ዮሴፍ ፈለቀ yosephfeleke22@gmail.com wrote: >>> Thanks for the detailed steps! >>> I actually tried that exact setup before your email—compiling my >> progress into >>> an inkscape.mo file and placing it under >>> Inkscape\share\locale\am\LC_MESSAGES\inkscape.mo. However, when I
open
>>> Inkscape, Amharic doesn't show up as an option in the language
dropdown
>>> settings at all. >>> To help me figure out what I might be doing wrong, could you
clarify
a
>> couple >>> of things? >>> 1) The Source Files: I want to make sure I didn't download the
wrong
>> files >>> from the server. Could you point me to the exact URL or directory where I >>> should pull the correct .po files for the master branch? >>> 2) System PATH: When installing Inkscape, there is an option that
says
>> "By >>> default Inkscape does not add its directory to the system PATH."
Does
>> leaving >>> this unchecked impact how Inkscape detects custom local translation >> folders? >>> If these two things are not the source of the issue, do you have
any
>> idea what >>> else might be causing it not to appear? >>> Yoseph >>> On Fri, Jun 19, 2026, 1:20 AM Duarte Ramos <
duarte.framos@gmail.com>
>> wrote: >>> You can edit it by hand with any (programmer) plain text editor,
like
>> Notepad >>> or Kate, but that is error prone and easy to mess up. >>> For a more user friendly GUI approach, you can use any pot file
editor
>> like >>> PoEdit or Lokalize, or any other that you find that you may like. >>> I only used to use PoEdit, but they all probably have an option to >> compile and >>> export an .mo file. >>> You can then navigate to your Inkcape installation folder, under >>> Inkscape\share\locale\ >>> You will find a list of languages. If your translation target isn't >> there, >>> create one with the corresponding language ISO code. In it place a folder >>> called LC_MESSAGES, such that it ends up being something like >>> Inkscape\share\locale##\LC_MESSAGES\ where ## is your language ISO code. >>> In it place your .mo file named inkscape.mo you should then be able
to
>> run >>> Inkcape normally, and see your language as an option in the UI language. >>> You should end up with something like >>> Inkscape\share\locale\am\LC_MESSAGES\inkscape.mo >>> On 18/06/2026 at 22:28, ዮሴፍ ፈለቀ yosephfeleke22@gmail.com wrote: >>> I have a quick question regarding the workflow. >>> I prefer not to do the translations directly inside the Weblate web >> interface, >>> so I went to the server and downloaded a ZIP file containing the
.po
>> files to >>> work on them locally. However, looking at the files has left me a
bit
>>> confused. >>> Could you please guide me on: >>> What the best practice is for working on these .po files locally? >>> How I can properly test the translations to see how they look
inside
>> Inkscape >>> on my machine? >>> Yoseph >>> On Wed, Jun 17, 2026, 12:50 PM ዮሴፍ ፈለቀ yosephfeleke22@gmail.com wrote: >>> Hi Maren and Duarte, >>> Thanks so much for the warm welcome and for pointing me in the
right
>>> direction! >>> I will look through the documentation links you shared and log into
the
>>> translation server to check out the master branch. I'll let you
know
if
>> I run >>> into any questions as I get started. >>> Yoseph >>> On Tue, Jun 16, 2026, 1:50 AM Duarte Ramos <
duarte.framos@gmail.com>
>> wrote: >>> Hi Yoseph. >>> UI translation these days is mostly done through >>> https://translate.inkscape.org/ >>> Otherwise have you gone through >>> https://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/Translation_information ? >>> Let us know if you have any further difficulties. >>> On 15/06/2026 at 00:06, ዮሴፍ ፈለቀ yosephfeleke22@gmail.com wrote: >>> I want to work on translating Inkscape into Amharic. Can you please tell >> me >>> what I need to do? >>> Yoseph >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Inkscape Translators mailing list -- >> inkscape-translator@lists.inkscape.org >>> To unsubscribe send an email to >> inkscape-translator-leave@lists.inkscape.org >> >> >