Looking for somebody to finish the AstroBin translation to Simplified Chinese, plus more input

Salvatore Iovene:
Hello members of the Chinese astrophotographers group on AstroBin!

Thanks for accepting me into your group. This is Salvatore, the owner of AstroBin.

I'm writing because I would like to see more Chinese astrophotographers on AstroBin, and for that I need your help

I would like to complete the Simplified Chinese translation, and for that I need somebody who is willing to spend some time doing it. I'm willing to offer compensation because this task will require many hours even with the aid of automated tools.

Is anybody here willing to help, or know anybody?

Additionally, I would like to ask for your input for what might be required to reach more Chinese astrophotographers. Questions like "does AstroBin work well enough in China without/with a VPN? Do I need to replicate the infrastructure there to achieve more speed? Is the price too high for the Chinese astrophotographers?"

I appreciate any input.

Thank you very much in advance!
Salvatore

I am willing to do the translation job

Salvatore Iovene:
Hello members of the Chinese astrophotographers group on AstroBin!

Thanks for accepting me into your group. This is Salvatore, the owner of AstroBin.

I'm writing because I would like to see more Chinese astrophotographers on AstroBin, and for that I need your help

I would like to complete the Simplified Chinese translation, and for that I need somebody who is willing to spend some time doing it. I'm willing to offer compensation because this task will require many hours even with the aid of automated tools.

Is anybody here willing to help, or know anybody?

Additionally, I would like to ask for your input for what might be required to reach more Chinese astrophotographers. Questions like "does AstroBin work well enough in China without/with a VPN? Do I need to replicate the infrastructure there to achieve more speed? Is the price too high for the Chinese astrophotographers?"

I appreciate any input.

Thank you very much in advance!
Salvatore

Welcome to our group. I am willing to help you do the Simplified Chinese translation and I do have some relevant experiences about this.

Salvatore Iovene:
Hello members of the Chinese astrophotographers group on AstroBin!

Thanks for accepting me into your group. This is Salvatore, the owner of AstroBin.

I'm writing because I would like to see more Chinese astrophotographers on AstroBin, and for that I need your help

I would like to complete the Simplified Chinese translation, and for that I need somebody who is willing to spend some time doing it. I'm willing to offer compensation because this task will require many hours even with the aid of automated tools.

Is anybody here willing to help, or know anybody?

Additionally, I would like to ask for your input for what might be required to reach more Chinese astrophotographers. Questions like "does AstroBin work well enough in China without/with a VPN? Do I need to replicate the infrastructure there to achieve more speed? Is the price too high for the Chinese astrophotographers?"

I appreciate any input.

Thank you very much in advance!
Salvatore

Count me in，my friend

Salvatore Iovene:
Hello members of the Chinese astrophotographers group on AstroBin!

Thanks for accepting me into your group. This is Salvatore, the owner of AstroBin.

I'm writing because I would like to see more Chinese astrophotographers on AstroBin, and for that I need your help

I would like to complete the Simplified Chinese translation, and for that I need somebody who is willing to spend some time doing it. I'm willing to offer compensation because this task will require many hours even with the aid of automated tools.

Is anybody here willing to help, or know anybody?

Additionally, I would like to ask for your input for what might be required to reach more Chinese astrophotographers. Questions like "does AstroBin work well enough in China without/with a VPN? Do I need to replicate the infrastructure there to achieve more speed? Is the price too high for the Chinese astrophotographers?"

I appreciate any input.

Thank you very much in advance!
Salvatore

Welcome Salvatore to join us. Although I can afford the price personally, it is a little expensive considering the exchange rate and the overall income in China. This has led to a higher threshold for many Chinese astronomy enthusiasts to enter the astronbin platform. You can weigh it all together. Thank you for providing a good astronomical exchange platform.

Hello everyone,

thank you very much for the many responses, including some emails and private messages I got!

It's very exciting to see this kind of positive response, and I want to do my best to support the Chinese astrophotography community.

I'm not sure how to proceed with the translations. There's a lot of them to do (several thousand sentences!) so we have a few options:

1. Have one person do them all (better for consistency, so the same term is always translated the same way when there are multiple options)
2. Split the work (less work for each person, we complete the work sooner, but there will be some inconsistencies)
3. Have the translation done by AI and then you guys fix the mistakes before deploying to the live site, by going thru the sentences
4. Have the translation done by AI and deployed to the live site, and you guys fix the mistakes when you notice them on the site

Personally I would propose number 3, then a quick check, then proceed with 4.

Please let me know if that's okay with you!

Regarding some of your comments above:

GRX:
could you elaborate more in detail what do you mean by 'replicate the infrastructure'?

I meant that if AstroBin is too slow in mainland China, I could setup servers directly in China.

Pricing Context: Due to currency exchange rates, Chinese users' purchasing power for digital services is relatively lower (e.g., China is classified as a "low-price region" on platforms like Apple/Steam). The astrobin Lite membership price aligns with mainstream music/video app subscriptions here (~$17/year), which feels reasonable.

AstroBin does something similar. I used a list of countries sorted by GDP per capita, and divided it into 4 parts:

1st quarter gets full price
2nd quarter gets 25% discount
3rd and 4th quarter get 50% discount

China falls into the second quarter, so it already has a 25% discount from the full price.

# Data from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita
        countries_sorted_by_gdp_per_capita = [
            "LI",  # 1: Liechtenstein
            "LU",  # 2: Luxembourg
            "MC",  # 3: Monaco
            "SG",  # 4: Singapore
            "IE",  # 5: Ireland
            "QA",  # 6: Qatar
            "IM",  # 7: Isle of Man
            "BM",  # 8: Bermuda
            "CH",  # 9: Switzerland
            "FK",  # 10: Falkland Islands
            "AE",  # 11: United Arab Emirates
            "KY",  # 12: Cayman Islands
            "NO",  # 13: Norway
            "MO",  # 14: Macau
            "US",  # 15: United States
            "GI",  # 16: Gibraltar
            "BN",  # 17: Brunei
            "HK",  # 18: Hong Kong
            "DK",  # 19: Denmark
            "NL",  # 20: Netherlands
            "JE",  # 21: Jersey
            "SM",  # 22: San Marino
            "AT",  # 23: Austria
            "IS",  # 24: Iceland
            "SE",  # 25: Sweden
            "DE",  # 26: Germany
            "GG",  # 27: Guernsey
            "BE",  # 28: Belgium
            "TW",  # 29: Taiwan
            "AD",  # 30: Andorra
            "AU",  # 31: Australia
            "BH",  # 32: Bahrain
            "FI",  # 33: Finland
            "CA",  # 34: Canada
            "PM",  # 35: Saint Pierre and Miquelon
            "FR",  # 36: France
            "GB",  # 37: United Kingdom
            "MT",  # 38: Malta
            "SA",  # 39: Saudi Arabia
            "KR",  # 40: South Korea
            "KW",  # 41: Kuwait
            "NZ",  # 42: New Zealand
            "IL",  # 43: Israel
            "IT",  # 44: Italy
            "GL",  # 45: Greenland
            "CY",  # 46: Cyprus
            "JP",  # 47: Japan
            "CZ",  # 48: Czech Republic
            "SI",  # 49: Slovenia
            "FO",  # 50: Faroe Islands
            "LT",  # 51: Lithuania
            "AW",  # 52: Aruba
            "EE",  # 53: Estonia
            "ES",  # 54: Spain
            "VI",  # 55: U.S. Virgin Islands
            "GU",  # 56: Guam
            "SX",  # 57: Sint Maarten (Dutch part)
            "PL",  # 58: Poland
            "OM",  # 59: Oman
            "VG",  # 60: British Virgin Islands
            "MS",  # 61: Montserrat
            "PT",  # 62: Portugal
            "HU",  # 63: Hungary
            "PR",  # 64: Puerto Rico
            "LV",  # 65: Latvia
            "SK",  # 66: Slovakia
            "HR",  # 67: Croatia
            "TR",  # 68: Turkey
            "NC",  # 69: New Caledonia
            "RO",  # 70: Romania
            "BS",  # 71: Bahamas
            "GR",  # 72: Greece
            "PA",  # 73: Panama
            "SC",  # 74: Seychelles
            "RU",  # 75: Russia
            "KN",  # 76: Saint Kitts and Nevis
            "MY",  # 77: Malaysia
            "KZ",  # 78: Kazakhstan
            "CL",  # 79: Chile
            "MP",  # 80: Northern Mariana Islands
            "BG",  # 81: Bulgaria
            "TT",  # 82: Trinidad and Tobago
            "UY",  # 83: Uruguay
            "LY",  # 84: Libya
            "GY",  # 85: Guyana
            "AR",  # 86: Argentina
            "CR",  # 87: Costa Rica
            "MU",  # 88: Mauritius
            "CW",  # 89: Curaçao
            "ME",  # 90: Montenegro
            "RS",  # 91: Serbia
            "BY",  # 92: Belarus
            "MF",  # 93: Saint Martin (French part)
            "AG",  # 94: Antigua and Barbuda
            "MX",  # 95: Mexico
            "MV",  # 96: Maldives
            "DO",  # 97: Dominican Republic
            "TC",  # 98: Turks and Caicos Islands
            "CN",  # 99: China
            "TH",  # 100: Thailand
            "PF",  # 101: French Polynesia
            "CK",  # 102: Cook Islands
            "MK",  # 103: North Macedonia
            "BA",  # 104: Bosnia and Herzegovina
            "GE",  # 105: Georgia
            "TM",  # 106: Turkmenistan
            "BW",  # 107: Botswana
            "SR",  # 108: Suriname
            "CO",  # 109: Colombia
            "GQ",  # 110: Equatorial Guinea
            "AL",  # 111: Albania
            "AZ",  # 112: Azerbaijan
            "AM",  # 113: Armenia
            "BR",  # 114: Brazil
            "MD",  # 115: Moldova
            "GA",  # 116: Gabon
            "BB",  # 117: Barbados
            "PW",  # 118: Palau
            "GD",  # 119: Grenada
            "VC",  # 120: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
            "PY",  # 121: Paraguay
            "LK",  # 122: Sri Lanka
            "ZA",  # 123: South Africa
            "LC",  # 124: Saint Lucia
            "LB",  # 125: Lebanon
            "UA",  # 126: Ukraine
            "PE",  # 127: Peru
            "IR",  # 128: Iran
            "CU",  # 129: Cuba
            "AI",  # 130: Anguilla
            "ID",  # 131: Indonesia
            "XK",  # 132: Kosovo
            "NR",  # 133: Nauru
            "MN",  # 134: Mongolia
            "EG",  # 135: Egypt
            "AS",  # 136: American Samoa
            "DZ",  # 137: Algeria
            "BT",  # 138: Bhutan
            "DM",  # 139: Dominica
            "EC",  # 140: Ecuador
            "VN",  # 141: Vietnam
            "FJ",  # 142: Fiji
            "TN",  # 143: Tunisia
            "JM",  # 144: Jamaica
            "JO",  # 145: Jordan
            "SV",  # 146: El Salvador
            "NA",  # 147: Namibia
            "IQ",  # 148: Iraq
            "SZ",  # 149: Eswatini
            "GT",  # 150: Guatemala
            "BZ",  # 151: Belize
            "PH",  # 152: Philippines
            "MA",  # 153: Morocco
            "BO",  # 154: Bolivia
            "LA",  # 155: Laos
            "SH",  # 156: Saint Helena
            "VE",  # 157: Venezuela
            "UZ",  # 158: Uzbekistan
            "IN",  # 159: India
            "CV",  # 160: Cape Verde
            "TO",  # 161: Tonga
            "TK",  # 162: Tokelau
            "MH",  # 163: Marshall Islands
            "BD",  # 164: Bangladesh
            "AO",  # 165: Angola
            "NU",  # 166: Niue
            "NI",  # 167: Nicaragua
            "HN",  # 168: Honduras
            "PS",  # 169: Palestine
            "WS",  # 170: Samoa
            "GH",  # 171: Ghana
            "MR",  # 172: Mauritania
            "CI",  # 173: Ivory Coast
            "PK",  # 174: Pakistan
            "TL",  # 175: East Timor
            "DJ",  # 176: Djibouti
            "NG",  # 177: Nigeria
            "TV",  # 178: Tuvalu
            "KG",  # 179: Kyrgyzstan
            "KE",  # 180: Kenya
            "KH",  # 181: Cambodia
            "MM",  # 182: Myanmar
            "ST",  # 183: São Tomé and Príncipe
            "TJ",  # 184: Tajikistan
            "NP",  # 185: Nepal
            "WF",  # 186: Wallis and Futuna
            "CM",  # 187: Cameroon
            "PG",  # 188: Papua New Guinea
            "SD",  # 189: Sudan
            "SN",  # 190: Senegal
            "BJ",  # 191: Benin
            "FM",  # 192: Micronesia
            "CG",  # 193: Congo
            "ZM",  # 194: Zambia
            "KM",  # 195: Comoros
            "HT",  # 196: Haiti
            "SY",  # 197: Syria
            "VU",  # 198: Vanuatu
            "TZ",  # 199: Tanzania
            "GN",  # 200: Guinea
            "YE",  # 201: Yemen
            "SB",  # 202: Solomon Islands
            "ET",  # 203: Ethiopia
            "LS",  # 204: Lesotho
            "UG",  # 205: Uganda
            "RW",  # 206: Rwanda
            "BF",  # 207: Burkina Faso
            "GM",  # 208: Gambia
            "TG",  # 209: Togo
            "ML",  # 210: Mali
            "ZW",  # 211: Zimbabwe
            "KI",  # 212: Kiribati
            "GW",  # 213: Guinea-Bissau
            "KP",  # 214: North Korea
            "ER",  # 215: Eritrea
            "SL",  # 216: Sierra Leone
            "SS",  # 217: South Sudan
            "AF",  # 218: Afghanistan
            "MG",  # 219: Madagascar
            "MW",  # 220: Malawi
            "LR",  # 221: Liberia
            "TD",  # 222: Chad
            "NE",  # 223: Niger
            "MZ",  # 224: Mozambique
            "CD",  # 225: DR Congo
            "SO",  # 226: Somalia
            "CF",  # 227: Central African Republic
            "BI"  # 228: Burundi
        ]

UX Suggestion: Adding instant translation buttons under comments (like Xiaohongshu does) could boost international interactions.

That's an excellent suggestion, I will do this as soon as possible!

I need to also find a way to create a more localized sense of community on AstroBin. When it started, since it was small, everything has been global. But now that it's bigger maybe it starts to make sense to prioritize more local content.

Consideration Efficiency: Some users find the IOTD/TP consideration process too slow. For reference, Chinese astronomy communities have similar process that are typically completed within 48 hours.

Sure, I understand that the process might feel slow. I'm sure I could make it a bit shorter by reducing the times in the queues a little bit, and adding more submitters to avoid frequent automated resubmission due to not reaching enough views initially, but (and I don't know how the process works in Chinese astronomy communities) the IOTD/TP has almost 100 staff members and the images go thru a progressive selection done in stages, and there's a lot of images being submitted (hundreds every day).

Perhaps it would help if I provided better UI to gauge the progress of your image in the process.

In any case, while I know that for many people the IOTD/TP is a big reason to use AstroBin, I really want to emphasize the other many advantages of being on AstroBin!

Dear all,

following my previous message, I've prepared preliminary translations from English to Simplified Chinese using ChatGPT. It would be ideal if they are manually checked. Common mistakes (e.g. terms that should not be translated at all, but the AI translated, can be fixed with search & replace).

Now for the logistics.

AstroBin's translations are split in sub-project:

AstroBin (the main one) is about 2600 sentences (could also be single-word sentences)
AstroBin Angular App (the frontend) is about 2000 sentences
All the rest is small sub-projects and all together make 1000 sentences or a bit less

I would propose that we have 3 people checking the translations:

1 for AstroBin
1 for AstroBin Angular App
1 for the smaller sub-projects

Please volunteer below which you would to take on! If you want to be paid, please let me know an hourly rate or a total that you would like (you can do it publicly or you can send me a private message if you prefer).

After I have the 3 responsible persons for each sub-project, I will invite you to the translation platform used internally and send you some instructions and screenshots on how to use it.

PS: I'm already doing work to add a "Translate" button under image descriptions and comments all over AstroBin!

Thank you!
Salvatore

Salvatore Iovene:
Dear all,

following my previous message, I've prepared preliminary translations from English to Simplified Chinese using ChatGPT. It would be ideal if they are manually checked. Common mistakes (e.g. terms that should not be translated at all, but the AI translated, can be fixed with search & replace).

Now for the logistics.

AstroBin's translations are split in sub-project:

AstroBin (the main one) is about 2600 sentences (could also be single-word sentences)
AstroBin Angular App (the frontend) is about 2000 sentences
All the rest is small sub-projects and all together make 1000 sentences or a bit less

I would propose that we have 3 people checking the translations:

1 for AstroBin
1 for AstroBin Angular App
1 for the smaller sub-projects

Please volunteer below which you would to take on! If you want to be paid, please let me know an hourly rate or a total that you would like (you can do it publicly or you can send me a private message if you prefer).

After I have the 3 responsible persons for each sub-project, I will invite you to the translation platform used internally and send you some instructions and screenshots on how to use it.

PS: I'm already doing work to add a "Translate" button under image descriptions and comments all over AstroBin!

Thank you!
Salvatore

Hi Salvatore,

I would like to volunteer for checking the translation of the smaller sub-projects.

Best Regards,
Boyi Liu

On a second thought, I'm not so sure about @boyi liu. The account is only two weeks old, and has no content. The account is from China, but you never know because there are always spam attempts these days... (sorry @boyi liu, I hope I'm not offending!)

I hope to receive some more volunteers.

@Weitang Liang, @Mingway, @WenchaoShan, @HaiYang, @Jiang Wu, @Barry Li 
?
Thanks!
Salvatore

Salvatore Iovene:
On a second thought, I'm not so sure about @boyi liu. The account is only two weeks old, and has no content. The account is from China, but you never know because there are always spam attempts these days... (sorry @boyi liu, I hope I'm not offending!)

I hope to receive some more volunteers.

@Weitang Liang, @Mingway, @WenchaoShan, @HaiYang, @Jiang Wu, @Barry Li 
?
Thanks!
Salvatore

Hi Salvatore,

I would like to help you for checking the translation of the smaller sub-projects OR AstroBin.
Regards,
Barry

Salvatore Iovene:
@xlong, @Mingway ​​​​@Barry Li: if you find terms that are translated but should not have been translated because they are technical terms that should be left in English, or find terms that consistently translated incorrectly (e.g. non-technical context), could you please make a list? This way I will include that information in the prompt for the next languages I'll do.

Thanks!

Okay, I'll keep an eye on this.

Salvatore Iovene:
On a second thought, I'm not so sure about @boyi liu. The account is only two weeks old, and has no content. The account is from China, but you never know because there are always spam attempts these days... (sorry @boyi liu, I hope I'm not offending!)

I hope to receive some more volunteers.

@Weitang Liang, @Mingway, @WenchaoShan, @HaiYang, @Jiang Wu, @Barry Li 
?
Thanks!
Salvatore

Hi Salvatore,
Sorry for the misunderstanding created. I started astrophotography as a hobby since 2024 jan, and until few weeks ago I was always active on similar astrophotography platforms in China and I had not went to astrobin simply because I've heard we need to pay in order to upload images and at that time I didn't think it's necessary, so before 2025 feb I always upload my works onto the platform in China. That's why I created this account very late and had not posted anything yet(because I didn't have time to create new works recently) So I completely understand why you will suspect this account... If you would like anyone else to help for checking the translation I'm totally fine! In fact, I was just worrying about my fully occupied time schedule in this week before I opened astrobin, I'm happy that someone else had already taken over my role, which means(from another perspective) I could have less workload this week: )
Again, sorry for the misunderstanding created, I shouldn't volunteer in the first place considering the fact that I had not post anything and this account is too new. Hope that I could still help in the future(by that time I should already posted a lot of my works XD)

Best regards,
Boyi Liu

Salvatore Iovene:
@xlong, @Mingway ​​​​@Barry Li: if you find terms that are translated but should not have been translated because they are technical terms that should be left in English, or find terms that consistently translated incorrectly (e.g. non-technical context), could you please make a list? This way I will include that information in the prompt for the next languages I'll do.

Thanks!

confirmed