sierra1bravo, it's a real pity for all the lost effort. :(
Next time you might try it again, do as andi suggested:
you don't need to translate everything in one go. translate a bit and submit it. then continue from where you left off last time.
To avoid disappointment, you can translate for 30 minutes (or whatever is comfortable for you), then submit. You can check if your translation made it through by looking at
https://github.com/splitbrain/dokuwiki/pulls. If there is a fresh "Translation update (ml)" at the top, then everything is fine.