Restarting W3C translations program

In January 2017, due to operational considerations, W3C announced it would no longer be tracking volunteer translations of W3C specifications.

We are happy to announce that W3C is now able to support again the translator community in their efforts to publish translations of W3C specifications. This renewed support comes with a more robust system, a new listing of translations of W3C specifications (incorporating all the translations that have been announced since January 2017), updated instructions on how to contribute to our translation efforts.

W3C is extremely grateful to the continuous efforts of its community in ensuring our various deliverables in general, and in our specifications in particular, are made available in other languages, ensuring their exposure to a much more diverse set of readers.

To put that effort in perspective, consider that on the 300 current W3C Recommendations, nearly half of them have been translated in at least one language. The Japanese translators community, the most active to date, has translated more than a quarter of these 300 Recommendations!

The volunteer translation efforts complement our continued Authorized W3C Translations program, developed under a more formal policy.

Additionally, the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) is launching a new effort to encourage more translations of accessibility resources (beyond specifications) and make them available throughout the WAI sub-site, as illustrated in a demo page.

We hope this renewed support will encourage existing translators and new volunteers to contribute in expanding the reach of our Web standards and supporting resources.