My WP Credits Journey: Final Report
Introduction
My name is Arianna, and this is my final report for the WP Credits program.
Over the past six months, I have had the opportunity to contribute to the WordPress community as part of the Polyglots team, mainly working on the translation of themes and plugins from English into Italian.
In this report, I look back on the activities I completed, the main challenges I faced, and the skills I developed during the program.
Team and Projects I Contributed To
During my internship, I mainly worked with the Italian Polyglots team, with the support of my mentor, Matteo Enna.
My main activity was translating strings through the WordPress translation platform. I worked on the Header Footer Code Manager plugin and on the Bluehost Blueprint, Minimalio, and SaasLauncher themes.
I also created and managed a personal WordPress website, which I used to document the activities and contributions I completed during my internship.
Learning Resources
To learn how the translation process works, I consulted the official WordPress Polyglots Translator’s Handbook, the How to Translate documentation, and the Italian WordPress Glossary.
The glossary was particularly useful for checking terminology and maintaining consistency throughout my translations.
Another important tool was WordPress Slack, which I used to communicate with my mentor and the Italian Polyglots team. Matteo was an important point of reference throughout the internship and helped me whenever I had doubts or needed clarification.
Challenges and Solutions
One of the main challenges was learning how to correctly handle technical and interface terms. It is not always possible to translate a string word for word, especially when working with specific terminology.
To deal with this, I learned to compare existing WordPress translations and consult the glossary to understand which terms should be translated and which should remain in English.
Remote communication was another challenge. Using Slack helped me develop a clearer and more precise way of asking questions and taught me how to organize my work more independently.
Finally, balancing my internship with my university studies required good time management and constant monitoring of my progress.
My Contributions
During the program, I completed several contributions, mainly related to WordPress translations:
Header Footer Code Manager – translated 506 strings.
Bluehost Blueprint – translated 308 strings.
Minimalio – translated 355 strings.
SaasLauncher – translated 1,181 strings.
Personal WordPress website – created and updated the website to document my internship activities.
WordPress Meetup – attended the online WordPress meetup “Oltre il tool del mese: la cassetta degli attrezzi per sviluppare con l’IA”.
To learn more about my contributions, I recommend reading the eight posts on my website, where I documented my activities and progress throughout the WP Credits program.
Main Lessons Learned
This experience helped me understand that contributing to an open source project is not only about completing tasks, but also about collaborating and communicating with a community.
I learned that a good translation requires attention to context, terminology, and consistency, in addition to knowledge of languages.
I also had the opportunity to learn more about how a large open source project like WordPress works and how people with different skills can contribute to the same project.
New Skills Developed
Technical Skills
Using the WordPress CMS and managing websites
Understanding the WordPress translation process
Translating themes and plugins
Using the WordPress translation platform
Using the Polyglots glossary and documentation
Understanding WordPress terminology and localization
Creating and updating a personal WordPress website
Communication and Soft Skills
Asynchronous communication through Slack
Working remotely and independently
Time management and organization
Asking questions and receiving feedback
Collaborating within an open source community
Greater attention to detail and consistency
Personal Reflections
One of the things I appreciated most was discovering the community behind WordPress and the different ways in which it is possible to contribute.
The internship helped me become more confident in using WordPress and gave me the opportunity to challenge myself in a real work environment, developing greater independence and organizational skills.
After completing WP Credits, I would like to continue following the WordPress community and, whenever possible, contribute to WordPress translations.
I am grateful for this experience and for everything I learned during these six months.