When I began exploring the different ways to contribute to WordPress, I realized that the community is much broader than I had imagined. There are teams dedicated to code, design, documentation, support, accessibility, and many more. Each one plays an essential role in keeping WordPress a free, open project available to everyone. Faced with so many options, choosing where to contribute was a decision I made calmly and thoughtfully.
Why I chose the Polyglots team
I chose the Polyglots team, responsible for translating WordPress, its plugins, and its themes into every language in the world. The decision had both personal and strategic motives.
On a personal level, language has always been an area that interests me and in which I feel comfortable working. Combining my knowledge of English and Spanish with a concrete technical contribution seemed the most natural way to give back. Translation is not just about changing words from one language to another: it requires understanding the context, respecting the original intent, and finding the clearest, most natural expression for the end user.
On a strategic level, I was struck by the state of the Spanish (Costa Rica) locale (es_CR). Unlike Spanish from Spain, which has a large and active community, es_CR has very few contributors. This means that each contribution has a much greater local impact and that there is a real need for people willing to translate. I felt I could make a genuine difference there, rather than joining an already saturated space.
The project I chose
Within Polyglots, I decided to focus on translating the Elementor Website Builder plugin, one of the most widely used page builders in WordPress. When I reviewed its translation status in es_CR, I found thousands of untranslated strings, which represented a clear opportunity to add value.
I chose this plugin for several reasons. First, because of its reach: it is used by millions of sites, so improving its translation benefits a large number of Spanish-speaking users. Second, because of the technical challenge: translating software is not the same as translating ordinary text. You have to preserve variables such as %s and %d, respect HTML tags, maintain terminological consistency, and decide with judgment which terms are translated and which are kept in English. Third, because it allows me to combine my technical background with my interest in language, something few projects achieve so well.
My approach to the work
From the outset I established some principles to maintain the quality of my translations. I use the formal “usted” treatment, appropriate for a professional and neutral register. I rely on glossaries to ensure that each recurring technical term has a single translation throughout the project. And when a string is ambiguous out of context, I investigate where and how it appears in the interface before translating it, so as not to mistake its meaning.