Welcome!

The translations for all the files have now been checked and merged back into our files, as you can see from the progress page. The name of the translator will appear in the published file.

Thanks to everyone for their help in getting this work done!
Adriana Acevedo (herring11, herring12)
Vanesa Bonavota García (sastre5, sastre8, sastre9, zeledon4, zeledon7, zeledon8)
Marika Fusser (herring1, herring6, herring16, sastre11, zeledon6)
Magdalena Gazda (sastre6)
Renata Kendall (zeledon5)
Ana Muerza Aguirre (sastre10)
Jennifer Plaistowe (zeledon1, sastre3)
Mary Silva (herring3, herring13, zeledon14)
Olga Vert Bolaños (herring5)
Sara Viñas Serantes (sastre1)
Bronwyn Wrigley (herring2)
Renée Zeichen Ortega (herring14)

Instructions

What needs to be translated?
We need any Spanish in the file translated into English. Sometimes the file is mostly in English, with only a few snatches of Spanish. To help you pinpoint where the English translation needs to be inserted, each translation line has a number, and is followed by a completely blank line.

Where do I put the translation?
Each file is a word-processor document, and all you have to do is type the English translation into each numbered line. So, if you have:

you would end up with:

Should the numbers be kept in the translation line?
YES - leave the numbers in. They allow us to insert your translations back into the correct place in our file.

What do I do if the line is a mixture of Spanish and English?
Translate the Spanish, and insert the English into the proper place in the translated line.

Should I aim for a literal translation or a freer translation?
The finished files will include a line giving grammatical data for each word, so a very literal translation is not required. You should try to give the sort of English that might be used by an English-speaker in a similar context. All distinct words should be translated, but they don't need to be translated word-for-word.

Do I translate repetitions?
Since these are conversations, the speakers often repeat a word, or backtrack and start again. For instance:

In such cases, you don't need to copy the repetitions, so something like "in, and many ..." would be acceptable here. You can use a comma to stand for the backtrack.

What should I do about punctuation?
Begin each English translation with a small letter (not a capital), and end it with the same punctuation mark as the Spanish (. ? !). However, don't leave a space between the text and the end punctuation mark.

For the English to make sense, I have to add some words that are not in the Spanish.
If some things in the Spanish are understood but not actually said, and you think the translation makes better sense with them, you can add them in round brackets in the English translation.

The spelling of the Spanish has some mistakes in it.
It would be a big help to our proof-reading if you could note these as you come across them, perhaps by colouring them red. Keep track of how much additional non-translation time this required, and let us know.

Some lines are marked for translation, but can't really be translated.
These files are converted from our normal format, and the converter is not perfect. Sometimes it will mark a line as needing a translation when in fact it doesn't. So you may get:

This marks a non-verbal response from the speaker, and cannot be translated. In cases like this, just delete the translation line, or leave it blank.

What about other characters in the line?
Sometimes the Spanish will have other characters in it, which in the original file give information about how the speaker delivered the line. These include things like [/], [//], [///], (.), +..., +<, [=! whine], &=smirk, etc. These do not need to be included in your translation.