Closing post

Introduction

Hi everyone! I’m Sebastián Méndez, a Computer Systems Engineering student at Universidad Fidélitas, Costa Rica. I’m happy to share my final report for the WPCredits course. This report summarizes my contributions to the Polyglots team, the challenges I faced, and the skills I gained. I hope my experience inspires others to contribute to open source projects.

Teams and Projects I Contributed To

I contributed to the Polyglots team, specifically working on the Costa Rican Spanish (es_CR) locale. My focus was translating the Astra theme — one of the most widely installed themes in the WordPress repository, with over two million active installations — making it more accessible to Spanish-speaking users in Costa Rica.

Learning Resources

I started by reading the Polyglots Handbook section on how to translate, which explains the rules for variables, HTML tags, and tone consistency. I also relied on the WPCredits course guides provided by Universidad Fidélitas, and the translate.wordpress.org interface itself, which includes references and discussion threads for each string.

Challenges and Solutions

One of the main challenges was handling strings with variables and HTML tags, such as “Transparent header settings updated: %s.” or strings wrapped in <strong> tags. I resolved this by carefully comparing the structure of the original string with my translation before submitting, making sure no variable or tag was altered.

A second challenge was maintaining consistent terminology across hundreds of strings. I addressed this by working thematically — translating strings from the same section of the theme together — instead of jumping randomly between unrelated strings.

My Contributions

You can verify my contributions directly on my public profile: profiles.wordpress.org/smendez09. As of the end of this course, I had submitted well over 100 strings between suggested and translated, surpassing my initial goal, and earned the Translation Contributor badge on the Polyglots team.

Some examples of my translations:

• “Logo settings updated” → “Configuración del logotipo actualizada”
• “Disable-on rules updated” → “Se han actualizado las reglas de desactivación”
• “Transparent header settings updated: %s.” → “Configuración de encabezado transparente actualizada: %s.”

Key Takeaways from WPCredits

WPCredits taught me that open source contribution comes in many forms beyond writing code. I learned to:

• Use translate.wordpress.org and follow the Polyglots translation workflow from suggestion to approval.
• Handle technical constraints within translation, like variables and HTML tags.
• Document a technical process clearly through written reflection.

I also connected with the global WordPress community through the #wpcredits and #polyglots channels on the Make WordPress Slack, which gave me a glimpse of how volunteers across the world coordinate to keep WordPress available in every language.

New Skills Gained

Technical: working with localization platforms, understanding string variables and HTML-safe translation, and basic WordPress theme structure.

Soft skills: written communication in a global, asynchronous community, attention to detail, and consistency in long-term documentation through my journal posts.

Personal Reflections and Next Steps

This experience was more rewarding than I expected. Seeing my username attached to real translations that will be used by people in my own country gave this project a tangible sense of purpose. Going forward, I plan to keep contributing to the es_CR locale beyond this course, and I’d encourage any student starting WPCredits to pick an area that connects directly to something they care about — it makes the work much more meaningful.