Translator version 0.4.0 Beta 3 introduces support for PO translation!

[wasertech]

Translator now supports translating PO (Portable Object) files commonly used with gettext for localization. This is perfect for Poedit workflows and supports multi-language projects.

Basic Usage

Translate a single PO file from English to French:

❯ translate --po en fr messages.po

For now, the Translator mainly focuses on translating Django projects with its directory flag, you need to make sure beforehand that each PO file is marked for auto-translation using the following syntax near the beginning of your file.

# Beginning of your PO file
...
"Language: {TARGET_LANG}\n"
...
# Your messages here

With {TARGET_LANG} being your target language for the translation. (i.e fr, es, it, etc.).

Once your PO files have been marked, you can start the translation by running.

❯ translate --po --directory {PATH_TO_DJANGO_PROJECT_ROOT}

Advanced Features

Language-Aware Translation

The --po flag includes smart target language detection that looks for PO files in target language directories and validates Language metadata. This ensures you only translate the intended target language files:

# In a Django project with locale/en/, locale/fr/, locale/es/ directories
❯ translate --po --directory . en fr
# Finds and translates PO files in locale/fr/ directories with Language: fr metadata

# Short form (defaults source to English)
❯ translate --po -d . fr
# Equivalent to above - finds French target files and translates from English

Force Translation Mode

Use --force to retranslate all entries in PO files:

# For PO files: translate ALL entries, not just empty msgstr fields
❯ translate --po --force --directory locales en de

Key Features

The --po mode:

• Preserves Structure: Maintains all PO file metadata, comments, and formatting
• Target Language Detection: Finds PO files in target language directories and validates Language metadata
• Selective Translation: Only translates untranslated entries by default (empty msgstr fields)
• Multi-Language Safety: Only processes files in target language directories with matching metadata
• Recursive Processing: Finds all .po files in nested directory structures
• Batch Optimization: Uses Translator's optimized algorithms for efficiency

This allows you to leverage Translator's optimized batch translation algorithm on your localization files while maintaining compatibility with Poedit and other gettext tools.