Staging notes
Source: https://wiki.gnome.org/TranslationProject/JoiningTranslation
To do: should be consolidated/organized with localisation guide, have lots of overlapping information and both aim to introduce project with how-tos. Either make each more distinct or consolidate/organize it into one guide.
GNOME Translation Project
GNOME Project is proud to be available in many different languages, and the translation team furthers our mission to make our software available to as many people as possible.
Translating GNOME documentation and applications is a huge and exciting ongoing project. The Gnome Translation Project translates the GNOME applications and documentation and you can help with your native language.
Even if you only have an hour here and there to contribute, you can help your language team. Every string translated makes a difference 
Join the GNOME Translation Project!
1. Join the gnome-i18n Mailing list
gnome-i18n@gnome.org is the mailing list used by GTP members and our primary way of communication. Please see the gnome-i18n mailing list wiki page for information (subscribing/unsubscribing etc.) We also encourage all package maintainers to send a mail to this list at least two days before release of any GNOME package. This is very important, to make sure that the translators have ample time to update their translations. Any changes that affect translations should be posted to this list.
Please check the List Of L10N Teams to see if your language is already represented. If so, you can contact the language-team leader listed there, to find out how to get started.
If not, you are welcome to start a team for your language.
Whether you're joining an established language team, or starting a new one, we welcome your effort.
Translations are needed in your language.
3. Read the documentation
Our home page contains several key guidelines for translators, including the document Localising GNOME Applications. These should help you get started. One of the best ways to find things out, is to ask questions. You're welcome to post questions on the our main gnome-i18n mailing list, Your language-team leader or co-ordinator is there to help you. S/he and will probably point you to information in your language, and you can also ask questions in your language on your team's mailing list.
4. Chat on #i18n
The GTP has an IRC channel called #i18n on the irc.gnome.org server. Join us on IRC to meet the other members and discuss translation and i18n issues. There should be someone there most of the time, and we do expect questions.
5. Join the gnome-doc mailing list.
The Gnome DocumentationProject (GDP) has its own mailing list. This is a good place to ask questions about translating documentation, help modules etc. The move to the documentation system gnome-doc-utils has meant more and more help and user documents are available for translation in our familiar PO format. So we can easily extend our application-file translation process to documentation.
See the DocumentationProject page for further information, including instructions for joining the list. This is a useful list to monitor, and its members support translation with a friendly welcome and practical help. You are welcome to visit the GDP IRC channel, #docs on the irc.gnome.org server, and ask questions or share your experience.
6. Enjoy your time with us.
- Every volunteer project is what we make of it. You can shape your own experience here. When things are going well, share your results, participate in creating the Wiki and/or documentation to help others. You can share your ideas on how to refine/improve the translation processes. When things aren't going well, when you find something hard to understand, when there is a misunderstanding, or things quite frankly don't work, you can change that. Ask questions, discuss the problem, discuss or suggest a solution. This is the spirit that has built the open-source software world.
Translations of this page
Việt ngữ Tham gia Dự án Thông dịch Gnome
中文(Chinese) 加入GNOME翻译项目
日本語(Japanese) GNOME翻訳プロジェクトへの参加
Русский (Russian) Присоединяйтесь к команде переводчиков GNOME
Bahasa Melayu (Malay) Sertai pasukan penterjemah GNOME