A dive log that
speaks your language.
DeepSix Dive Log's source strings are written in American English, then shipped with British (covering the Commonwealth) and Canadian variants, Simplified English, and full Dutch and Italian translations — done by divers who are native speakers, in-app Help included. Every other language divers actually dive in is open to community translation, shipping today. It needs real divers, real native speakers, real feedback.
Six ways to read your dive log,
shipping today.
The British and Canadian variants are spelling-only — no tone changes, no vocabulary swaps, no "favourite cuppa" nonsense. If you prefer Commonwealth spelling and want your dive log to stop shouting "CENTER" at you, switch your device language and DeepSix follows.
DeepSix also separates units from language. An Australian diver who prefers feet and Fahrenheit still gets "favourite" — their en-AU device maps to the British spelling table. Units are controlled in Settings → Units, independently of your device language.
The dive words stay. The jargon around them goes.
DeepSix Dive Log includes a Simplified English option for the divers and dive pros who run and log dives in English every day but don't read everyday English easily. If you've worked with a divemaster in Indonesia or Egypt who rattles off NDL, surface interval, gas mix, and ppO₂ without blinking but gets stopped cold by "swipe to reveal additional metadata" — that's exactly who it serves.
It is not dumbed-down English. The dive vocabulary doesn't change — those terms are the shared language of the trade, and every certified diver already knows them, so they stay exactly as they are. What we simplify is everything around them: shorter sentences, common words, no idioms, no office-speak. Keep the dive words; lose the jargon that isn't dive jargon.
Controlled-English standards already solve exactly this: the IMO's Standard Marine Communication Phrases for ships, and ASD-STE100 (Simplified Technical English) for aviation and defense manuals. STE's core rule is literally "keep the technical names, control everything else" — the same call we made, validated by a standard that's been in the field for decades.
It's a bridge, not a destination. Simplified English helps divers who have some English today; for someone with none, the real answer is proper translation by native speakers — which stays the goal for every language we can reach. This just means nobody has to wait in that queue to have a usable app now.
It's live now and opt-in — you'll see a sample of both styles side by side before you choose, pick whichever reads best, and switch anytime. We're still working through the last screens, so if a line reads stiff, that's exactly the feedback we want.
Fluent in English — a teacher, or a dive pro with limited-English guests — and want to help us get the wording right? Email [email protected].
Every language below is configured in Weblate, seeded with the dive glossary, and open to contributors — waiting for a native-speaking diver to take it on, the way Dutch and Italian translators already did. The progress bars below are live from our translation server.
Want to take one of these on, or don't see your language? Email [email protected] with "Translation" in the subject and we'll set you up.
Between your edit
and the build that ships.
Translating DeepSix Dive Log is a real workflow — not a "throw it in Google Translate" job. Here's what happens at each step.
You translate in Weblate
We translate on our own server at translate.deepsixdive.com — self-hosted, no corporate translation platform, no SaaS lock-in. To get going, email [email protected] and we'll set you up with access and your language; then pick a string and translate it.
Weblate shows you the dive-specific terminology glossary inline — dozens of terms covering gas mixes, dive computer fields, decompression concepts, marine life categories. Use the glossary terms consistently so BCDs don't become "buoyant vests" and SPGs don't become "pressure needles."
Weblate may show machine-translation suggestions to speed up your first pass — treat them as starting points, not finished work. Every merged string is human-edited.
AI verification runs before merge
Every translation is reviewed by Claude against the glossary before it lands in a build. The verifier catches:
- CRITICAL tag violations — Strings flagged as app-safety critical (decompression copy, BLE pairing flows, import/export/deletion) get the strictest scrutiny. Mistranslating "End dive" as "Cancel dive" in a safety flow is the kind of thing we never ship.
- Glossary drift — If you translate "surface interval" as something other than the glossary term, you get flagged.
- Placeholder breakage — %@ and %d and SwiftUI interpolation markers must survive translation intact. The verifier catches missing or malformed ones.
- Length surprises — German can be 40% longer than English, and some UI layouts break at 140% of source length. The verifier flags the worst offenders.
Weekly sync
Once a week, a script pulls every translation from Weblate, runs AI verification, and merges passing translations back into the app's string catalog. The next TestFlight build ships with the new strings.
You test in the real app
Once your translation is in TestFlight, you (and other native speakers) test it on a real iPhone, on a real dive. Bugs, awkward phrasing, and "nobody actually says that" feedback come back through Discord or the in-app feedback link.
The build ships. The next iteration is better. That's how you get a dive log that feels native, not machine-translated.
The dive-glossary.tbx file ships with Weblate and defines the authoritative English source term and usage guidance — never-translate vs translate-carefully — for the terms that matter. Translators fill in the per-language rendering. Some of what it covers:
- Gas mixes — EAN, Nitrox, Trimix, Heliox
- Dive computer fields — NDL, CNS, GF low/high, OTU, bottom time, surface interval
- Decompression concepts — deco obligation, ceiling, safety stop, off-gassing
- Equipment — BCD, BC, wing, sidemount, twinset
Where a regional diving community has its own term — twinset vs doubles, Hong Kong vs Mainland — the glossary flags it, and the translator picks the variant used in the target locale's diving community rather than the most common general-purpose word.
Bring your language
across the finish line.
What we're asking for
- Native speakers of any supported (or proposed) language
- Real divers — the glossary is dense and mistranslating it requires you to have actually seen a BCD
- Patience for feedback — AI verification catches a lot, but native speaker review is the only way to catch "technically correct but nobody says it like that"
- A note to [email protected] — tell us your language and we'll set you up on our translation server
What we're offering
- Credit, if you want it. Land a complete locale and your name or preferred handle goes in the app and here, alongside the language you brought across — or stay anonymous if you'd rather. Your call, either way.
- A voice in the dive glossary. If you think a term is wrong, say so. The glossary is not sacred — it's a living document maintained by people who dive.
- Early access to features. Translators see new strings before anyone else, because you're translating them before release.
How to start
- Email [email protected] with "Translation" in the subject — tell us the language you'd like to take on.
- We set you up with access on translate.deepsixdive.com and point you at the dive glossary.
- Translate your first batch of strings; AI verification and a weekly sync carry them into the next TestFlight build.
- Test it on a real dive and send feedback. The next iteration is better.
Prefer Discord? Find us at discord.gg/dtxADFqSUY.
- Achievements →
- AI Features →
- Apple TV →
- DeepSix Dive Log on Mac →
- Garmin FIT Import →
- Gear & Kits →
- GPS Extraction →
- Interactive Dive Map →
- MacDive Import →
- Marine Life ID →
- Photo Color Correction →
- Photos & Memories →
- Reef Context →
- Smart Lists →
- Suunto JSON Import →
- Tides & Conditions →
- Time Reconciliation →
- Trip Planner →
- Wonders →
- Wrecks →