Translating an article from Chinese version to English version requires skill and both proficiency in Chinese and English. Translation errors will cause misleading information to the public and so every editors are expected and are assumed to read this guideline before translation.
Tool use[]
Use of Google Translate is strongly discouraged due to high percentage of translation errors.
A better tool is DeepL, which is a more accurate translation tool. It supports both Chinese and English translations.
How to translate[]
Basics[]
- You are expected to be proficient in both Chinese and English for translation as this kind of translation requires knowledge of the Cantonese-derived terminologies which you will have to replace the wrong ones in the translated text.
- Please do not include the wikitext in the translation as it will create errors in subsequent translation result. Just copy the text with the read page into the translation tool.
- Set the origin language as "Auto detect language" and the translation language into "English (UK)". As Hong Kong officially uses British English, so English (UK) should be used instead of English (US).
- Make good use of the Glossary function to input terminologies (max 10 for free version, DeepL Pro required for unlimited glossary).
- It is normal to see some translation mistakes from translator even with high accuracy. You are expected and advised to proofread the text and replace the wrong words, terms and texts.
- Try to use your own words. Do not always rely on translators as they are never 100% accurate.
- If the reference quotation still remains in the translator text, leave it in the translation. It will be useful for replacing it with the references in wikitext.
- Before publishing, add back the wikitext and the corresponding template, and proofread again the whole text before publishing to see if there are any mistakes and source errors.
Date format[]
The date format follows British standards - e.g. 10 January 2000.
Route articles[]
- Format for opening text
The (Route category) (Route number) is operated by (company). It runs between (origin) and {destination), via...
Basic section names include:
- History
- Service hours and headways
- Fares
- Bus deployments (Minibus deployments for minibus route articles)
- Bus deployment evolution history (optional)
- Routing
- Ridership
- Related events/incidents (if any)
- Gallery
- Remarks (use template {{annotations}})
- Related articles
- References (use template {{references}})
- External links
Place names[]
You are responsible for checking the English name of the place, street or road name is correct. You are advised to refer to the descriptions of corresponding Chinese version articles and street maps such as OpenStreetMap and Google. If you are not sure or you think the English place name from the text converted by translator is wrong, leave that blank. Do not force your way to fill that up.
Terminologies[]
Some terminologies are hard to be accurately translated into English - such as "scheduled bus" (掛牌車), "order" (柯打), etc.
Try to understand the Chinese version text of the terminology article before working on it.
Links[]
For Chinese links, you should try to find an English version if there is (especially press releases, notices, etc.)
Press releases[]
Press releases are provided mostly in bilingual format, with different URLs to different language versions.
Some press releases in Chinese only. You should retain the same title in Chinese and mark "(Chinese only)" next to the URL and its Chinese title.
Notices[]
Notices by franchised bus companies, MTR Bus, DBTSL and PITCL are all in bilingual format in the same link. What you have to do is to directly copy the English title of the notice. Conversion into an English link is not required.
Note that some minibus companies do not provide notices in English. You may add a translated title for it in this case.
Transport Department's Traffic Advices[]
Transport Department's Traffic Advices are provided in bilingual format. However, for those published between 2005-2007 (with the "inmode" in the URL, the TD does not keep these TAs up and no one has ever archived a Chinese version so you should provide a translated title whenever possible, or directly leave "(Chinese only)".
News[]
Most news links used in EBTHK are from local Chinese news outlets. You should retain these Chinese news links and whenever possible, supplement it with local English news links (e.g. SCMP, The Standard).