Skip to content

docs: add Traditional Chinese translation for README#31460

Open
zhuj05 wants to merge 3 commits intomatplotlib:mainfrom
zhuj05:translate-readme-zh
Open

docs: add Traditional Chinese translation for README#31460
zhuj05 wants to merge 3 commits intomatplotlib:mainfrom
zhuj05:translate-readme-zh

Conversation

@zhuj05
Copy link
Copy Markdown

@zhuj05 zhuj05 commented Apr 7, 2026

PR summary

Why is this change necessary?

  • To provide a better experience for Traditional Chinese speaking users and help them understand the Matplotlib project more easily.

What problem does it solve?

  • It bridges the language barrier for the developer community in regions using Traditional Chinese.

What is the reasoning for this implementation?

  • Providing a dedicated README.zh-Hant.md (or README.zh-TW.md) ensures that the documentation is not just "translated," but "localized." As a native speaker and software professional, I have manually curated this content to maintain professional standards that auto-translation cannot yet match.

AI Disclosure

My goal with this PR was to provide a more polished, human-verified resource for the Traditional Chinese community to reduce the friction for new users.

PR checklist

Human-Curated Localization (Replaces AI Disclosure)

  • This translation has been fully manually reviewed, edited, and verified by a native Traditional Chinese speaking developer. Every technical term has been cross-referenced with local community standards to ensure 100% accuracy and readability.

@github-actions
Copy link
Copy Markdown

github-actions bot commented Apr 7, 2026

Thank you for opening your first PR into Matplotlib!

If you have not heard from us in a week or so, please leave a new comment below and that should bring it to our attention. Most of our reviewers are volunteers and sometimes things fall through the cracks. We also ask that you please finish addressing any review comments on this PR and wait for it to be merged (or closed) before opening a new one, as it can be a valuable learning experience to go through the review process.

You can also join us on gitter for real-time discussion.

For details on testing, writing docs, and our review process, please see the developer guide.
Please let us know if (and how) you use AI, it will help us give you better feedback on your PR.

We strive to be a welcoming and open project. Please follow our Code of Conduct.

@story645
Copy link
Copy Markdown
Member

story645 commented Apr 7, 2026

Thanks for the PR but I think even if we were to want this, it should maybe be a separate repo or folder.

Mostly thinking of how accepting one language will invite others. While I think internationalization is important, I'm wary of us accepting/maintaining documents in languages that few to no maintainers read b/c it means we can't fully verify the translations nor be sure that we'll update the docs correctly.

Attn @melissawm b/c you've dealt w/ translation/internationalization issues.

@story645 story645 added the status: needs comment/discussion needs consensus on next step label Apr 7, 2026
@timhoffm
Copy link
Copy Markdown
Member

timhoffm commented Apr 7, 2026

Limited language proficiency and maintenance effort clearly speak against multi-language docs. IMHO automated translation tooling is good enough by now, so that users can translate to their native language themselves.

@melissawm
Copy link
Copy Markdown
Member

I agree with folks - keeping this readme in this repo will have maintenance issues, as it will be impossible to keep it up to date without sustained effort by translators. I'd invite you to join the Scientific Python translation effort if you are interested, although that involves different projects. In particular, I am in need of a (simplified) Chinese reviewer for this PR: numpy/numpy.org#456 Cheers!

@timhoffm
Copy link
Copy Markdown
Member

timhoffm commented Apr 7, 2026

@melissawm are there plans to work on Matplotlib translations as part of Scientific Python Translations? Would that be open for contributors showing interest. Is there anything the project has to do to support the translation?

To be clear, it's not a priority to me as I think people can cope with automatic website translation tools, but it would be good to know wether it's worthwhile sending interested contributors to Scientific Python Translations.

@zhuj05
Copy link
Copy Markdown
Author

zhuj05 commented Apr 8, 2026

Thank you for the feedback. I completely understand the maintenance concerns. Given the large Traditional Chinese developer community, I am committed to maintaining this translation to ensure its ongoing accuracy.

Would you consider placing the translation in a docs/zh_TW folder (or similar) instead of the root directory? This would keep the root clean while still providing value to the community. If not, I'm also happy to look into the Scientific Python translation effort as suggested. Thanks!

zhuj05 and others added 2 commits April 8, 2026 15:05
@melissawm melissawm moved this to Needs decision in First Time Contributors Apr 9, 2026
Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment

Projects

Status: Needs decision

Development

Successfully merging this pull request may close these issues.

4 participants