Versione italiana disponibile qui.

Over the last year, considered the queue in PTE requests and the growing use of automated translations tools, which multiplied the requests (but not necessarily the quality of the suggested translations), the italian GTE started a conversation regarding the adoption of new rules to improve the current system and find a balance between the amount of PTE request, the available resources and contribution time and, most of all, the quality of translations.  

After WordCamp Europe 2026, with the opening of the international WordPress Slack to other communities beyond the English speaking ones and, for what concerns us, the creation of both a new Italian Polyglots channel (#polyglots-it) and a new channel dedicated to PTE requests for Italian translations (#polyglots-it-pte), we decided to speed things up and publish a first version of the new guidelines for PTE requests for Italian translations, that we will recap as follows:

• Read the guidelines for Italian translations and the use of our glossary.
• Send on the Make Slack’s #polyglots-it-pte a link with up to 50 translated strings, possibly not just common terms, that show how you follow the guidelines and correctly use the glossary for Italian translations.
• Wait for feedback on the suggested translations. If necessary, you’ll receive specific mentoring as soon as possible. 
• If your translations meet the quality requirements and follow the guidelines, you can be appointed PTE for the project you asked.

• Only requests from (real) people that actually speak Italian will be taken into consideration. 
• Revision requests with more than 50 suggested strings, especially if clearly translated using AI or automatic tools, will be rejected in bulk.
• PTE requests can only be made for individual contributor accounts, in order to have a single point of contact. This means no business accounts or shared accounts.

The goal of these new rules for PTE requests is to speed up revisions, ensure the quality of translations and the respect for guidelines in place for Italian translations. 

The basic idea is to shift the responsibility for those who send a PTE request, while respecting the resources and availability of GTEs, whose main goal is not providing free editing of each and every suggested translation, but rather to help those who want to contribute to become editors for the projects they have chosen, improve their translation skills and, at the end of the day, to keep both the Italian and international Polyglots team active and in good shape.

A massive approval of poor quality strings that do not respect standards and guidelines, jeopardizes years of good work and the quality of the translation memory, especially if used without paying the correct attention to context and actual meaning of translations.