Around two and a half years ago we started translating our tutorials–in all languages imaginable–with the aim of teaching everyone, not just those fluent in English. Today we’ve published over 3,000 translations and that milestone is entirely thanks to the Tuts+ community! This post will take a look at the Translation Project, what it’s achieved, and where it’s headed.
Top Languages
Let’s jump straight in and check out some numbers!
We’ve published translations in 42 different languages, from obvious players like French and Russian, to less well-known languages like Telugu and Tamil (which, by the way, boasts some stunning typography):
We’ve posted over 100 translations in each of the following languages:
| Spanish | 657 |
| Portuguese | 521 |
| Russian | 330 |
| French | 219 |
| Indonesian | 215 |
| Italian | 192 |
| Croatian | 141 |
| Polish | 126 |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 117 |
| Vietnamese | 115 |
Top Translators
A massive 664 community members have published translations on Tuts+ (thank you all!)
Two people have been leap-frogging each other at the top of the table since the project began; Erick Patrick (currently with 219 Portuguese translations) and Javier Salesi (currently with 214 Spanish translations). Incredible effort!
Top Posts
So which translations have resonated with our global audience? In the last couple of months, these have been the most visited:
Note: you may see flags below; flags aren’t the best way to show languages, they more accurately represent nations, but I couldn’t resist using some emojis.
- 🇪🇸 Las 12 Mejores Plantillas para Presentación en Power Point-Con Magníficas Diapositivas de Infografías
- 🇪🇸 100 ajustes preestablecidos para Lightroom gratuitos (y cómo hacer el tuyo)
- 🇪🇸 100 acciones de Photoshop gratis (y cómo crear tus propias acciones)
- 🇪🇸 Como integrar “No CAPTCHA reCAPTCHA” en tu website
- 🇫🇷 Les 30 Sélecteurs CSS à Absolument Connaître
- 🇪🇸 5 maneras para hacer AirPlay de tu mac a tu televisión
- 🇷🇴 Vreau să desenez: exerciții simple pentru începători
- 🇪🇸 Creando un sencillo email HTML responsive
- 🇪🇸 Los 30 selectores CSS que debes memorizar
Right, so that’s a fairly convincing performance from Spanish! This makes complete sense, given that there are an estimated 470 million native Spanish speakers worldwide, and Spanish has official status in over 20 countries.
Ignoring Spanish for a Moment
It actually wasn’t Spanish which took the number one spot in our most visited translations, that accolade goes to 10個阻擋你進步的繪圖迷思 (the Traditional Chinese version of “10 Drawing Myths That Block Your Progress”). With almost 250,000 pageviews this translation has seen more traffic than most other single pages, including English originals, in the last year. Amazing!
If we remove Spanish from the equation altogether, the most visited languages are a lot more diverse, including Korean, Russian, German, Portuguese, Polish, and Indonesian.
Most Translated Posts
Some tutorials seem to grasp the imagination of visitors from a particular region of the world, others appeal to everyone. The following tutorials have been translated into the most number of languages:
- 18 The Holy Grail of CSS Centering
- 13 How to Translate Tuts+ Tutorials (obviously)
- 10 Web Design for Kids: Welcome to Tuts+ Town!
- 9 Web Design for Kids: Getting Ready to Build a Website
- 9 Create a Pride Rainbow Gradient Overlay in Adobe Illustrator
- 8 Web Design for Kids: HTML Structure
- 8 Simple Visual Enhancements for Better Coding in Sublime Text
- 8 Principles for Successful Button Design
- 8 The 30 CSS Selectors You Must Memorize
Where in the World
Visit our interactive map; click on a language and you’ll see some countries turn green. The darker the green, the more traffic comes from that area. Portuguese translations, for example, see more visitors from Brazil than Portugal itself:
Then again, Brazil is the fifth most populous country in the world, with 208 million people living there compared to Portugal’s 10 million. Given that Brazil has a higher proportion of younger people, and enjoys an internet connectivity only 10% lower than Portugal, the extra traffic makes sense. Read more on findthedata.com.
Miscellaneous
Allow me to introduce ZCOOL, a Beijing-based team whose “Design Article Translation Squad” curates design tutorials from around the world, translates them into Chinese, and republishes them on their platform. Residents in some areas of China often struggle to gain access to western websites, so we publish ZCOOL’s Tuts+ translations on both platforms. Check out the Envato Tuts+ page on their website:
For more on what we’re doing to push translation in China reach out to Kendra, or follow us on WeChat!
More Ways to Connect
Our Twitter channels @tutsplus_es (sooo nearly 1,000 followers!) and @tutsplus_pt, for Spanish and Portuguese respectively, are used as a way of broadcasting new translations. Follow them!
Over 5,000 people have subscribed to the Translation Project newsletter–sign up, and you’ll receive regular updates about what we’re doing, plus inspiration if you’re interested in getting involved and translating something yourself:
The Future
So what lies ahead for the Translation Project? We’re working on two major plans which we think will take things to the next level (and way beyond):
Payment for Translators
The Tuts+ community has expressed a number of motives for being part of this project; giving back, helping others learn, improving their own learning through translation, but we’d like to take that further. In partnership with Native we’re currently working on a system for paying translators; a reward scheme which allows people to earn while they translate. This idea is still in the early stages, but stay tuned for more news before the year’s out!
Localisation of Tuts+
Much of our non-English traffic comes from organic search, but those visitors struggle to use the Tuts+ platform beyond that first page. Visitors who aren’t fluent in English typically find it difficult to find more relevant content in their own language, so we want to rectify that. A fully localised Tuts+ platform is an ambitious prospect–it will have to take cultural as well as linguistic differences into account–but it’s something we feel will be worth pursuing.
Thank You
3,000 published translations is a fantastic milestone, we’re so happy that this endeavour is proving popular. And there’s plenty more room to grow. Please leave your thoughts and feedback below to help the translation project live up to its full potential!
