Improve Polish language translations

[BilalHassona]

Assalamu alaykum, I would like to improve Polish langugage translations in the Android app. As far as I know they are ChatGPT-generated. I could improve those translations as I am native Polish speaker and fluent in English (Level C1/C2). I already prepared a PR for web app: quran/quran.com-frontend-next#2120 Now I would like to do the same for Android and iOS apps (for iOS I will create a separate issue). Would that be accepted and merged? I am mid/senior front-end dev - I don't know much about Android/iOS development but I plan to use this old issue and translate all files mentioned there: #2284

[ahmedre]

wa3laikum alsalam,
actually, they're not ChatGPT generated - I think the problem though is we somehow renamed the Portuguese translations into Polish translations, which is wrong. If you see here, you'll see at the bottom that it was renamed from values-pt, which seems incorrect to me. I traced it back to #1927 from @benomaire.

would really appreciate PRs to fix this in sha' Allah! I guess on top of the paths listed in the issue you mentioned, any values/strings.xml file you find should have a corresponding values-pl/strings.xml file with all the translatable strings in it (i.e. anything except strings that say translatable=false).

jazakumAllah khairan,
walsalam 3alaikum

[BilalHassona]

1. in the issue you mentioned, the file: https://github.com/quran/quran_android/pull/1927/files#diff-33eb97878bc1c93d6b6371526b256ce286ecbff23bda6bb385c80bc5104bf1f4 was renamed from values-pt to values-pt-rBR, not to values-pl. I am not sure if this was intended change (or if it was fixed later) and if the Portuguese language works correctly, but Polish version of the app works well (I use the latest version downloaded from the Google Play Store) - the only problem I see is that some translations could be improved.
2. @benomaire conacted me in April and said that these Polish translations are auto-generated. I checked some files in the repo and I see room for improvement: some words aren't conjugated properly, some sentences could be clearer and some strings aren't translated at all (even in the app from the Play Store on my phone). I plan to review all the files and correct everything I find in sha Allah. I love this app and I have been using it for many years. May Allah reward you greatly for all the work.

[ahmedre]

Wa3laikum alsalam,
JazakumAllah khairan for the clarification! Would really appreciate the PRs, and may Allah reward you greatly.
Walsalam 3alaikum

[BilalHassona]

Assalamu alaykum, awesome, I will prepare the changes then. It will probably take around a week. JazakaAllahu khairan, assalamu alaykum.

[BilalHassona]

Assalamu alaykum dear brother. I am almost done — tomorrow (today) I will make a PR in sha Allah. I've got questions. In the Google Play Store the app name is "Quran for Android" even though I have polish language set as the system language. Do you want to internationalize it and is it even possible? Also, should I translate "Quran for Android" to polish? There are few places in the files where the name appears and I didn't know if I should translate it or no since the app name is in English. JazakaAllahu khairan, assalamu alaykum.

[ahmedre]

wa3laikum alsalam,
happy to hear that, jazakumAllah khairan!
sure, please translate the app name - I checked and, in Arabic, we translate it as just "Quran". So either the Polish word for "Quran" or the translation of "Quran for Android," will be good.
walsalam 3alaikum

[BilalHassona]

assalamu alaykum. Done! jazakaAllahu khairan for help and accepting the translation. What should I do after translating iOS app? I see that Android app doesn't have any Polish translation available. The front-end app has Józef Bielawski's translation. The apps use separate sources of translations? What would need to be done to add this translation to the Android app? Also, do you have any other apps that I could translate to Polish?

[ahmedre]

wa3laikum alsalam,
re: iOS - guessing @mohamede1945 will look at it when he gets some time in sha' Allah.
re: Polish translation - we can take the version from Quran.com for the apps in sha' Allah. today, the data source isn't the same (though most translations come from the same sources), though we're planning on unifying those in the future in sha' Allah.
jazakumAllah khairan

[BilalHassona]

assalamu alaykum. Great, it would be awesome to add this translation to the app as well. There is a second translation in Polish, better than Józef Bielawski's. I am in contact with the person that did the second translation (Musa Czachorowski) — he should agree and give permission to share his translation. Would it be possible to add it? I could deliver it in any format you would need. Should I open a separate issue and close this one? jazakaAllahu khairan

[ahmedre]

Wa3laikum alsalam
JazakumAllah khairan - sure, I will ask one of the shuyookh advising quran.com to advise. Just to be sure, is that a sunni translation?

[BilalHassona]

Yes. To give you a quick comparison:
Józef Bielawski uses a more eloquent langugage, so sometimes it's nicer to read (this is opinion of one Polish Imam — I read Quran in Arabic/English but I heard fragments of both), whereas Musa Czachorowski translated Quran more directly/raw — you could compare it to Sahih International in English. The problem with Józef Bielawski's translation is that he was an orientalist non-muslim and he was against Islam — apart from normal mistakes he incorrectly translated some of the "controversial" verses, many believe on purpose, and his translation was used for many many years in Poland to attack Islam. For many years it was the go-to translation because there was no better one (Musa Czachorowski's is quite new) — but in general the language is not bad and both can be used. Currently, I am working with one masjid in Poland to print 5-10k Musa Czachorowski's Quran translations. There is a third Quran translation which is Sufi and fourth done by Ahmadis so I wouldn't use them, but the first two I believe are okay.

[ahmedre]

from what you're saying, sounds like we should replace the one on Quran.com also - I've forwarded your comments to the sheikh and will tell you what he says in sha' Allah.

[BilalHassona]

Sure, jazakaAllahu khairan. You might be right – I asked one more person about Józef Bielawski's translation and I heard more negative feedback. I think it's best to read both translations myself and to know 100% which translation is better, has less mistakes and if both can be used or not as I currently rely on the opinions of others. It will take me few weeks to read both translations – after that I will let you know in sha Allah. I will also inform different masaajid in Poland as I know that many of the masaajid still print and give out the Bielawski's translation – they warn people that it contains errors but perhaps Musa Czachorowski's one is just better. You can contact me on Discord as well, my username is: "0_.b.h._0" – or here – as you prefer. JazakaAllahu khairan assalamu alaykum