Re: Standards for translations?

[Kenneth Christíqua <kenneth ripen dk>]

When you find out the right way of doing it, it would be great if you
make a small translations guide to be included in the FAQ

Kenneth.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Ronald de Man <deman@win.tue.nl>
To: <gnome-list@gnome.org>
Sent: 25. april 1999 03:18
Subject: Re: Standards for translations?


> On Sun, Apr 25, 1999 at 01:28:37AM +0200, Kenneth Christíqua wrote:
> > > Hello,
> > > 
> > > After looking at some of the translations, I have some questions, mainly
> > > about menu items.
> > > 
> > > For example, most File menus have an "Open" entry. In the Dutch, French,
> > > and German translations, this is replaced by "Openen", "Ouvrir", and
> > > "Öffnen", respectively. So apparently, the infinitive of the verb
> > > is taken. My question: Is it anywhere stated that this is the desired
> > > translation?
> > > 
> > > Personally, I view menu entries as commands. When I click File->Open,
> > > I tell the program to open a file for me. Consequently, my preferred
> > > translations would be "Open" and "Öffne" for Dutch and German (ack...
> > > I'm a bit uncertain about the correct French right now).
> > > 
> > > At some places my preffered translation is given, at most places
> > > one has chosen for the other option. Above all, I think the translations
> > > should be consistent in this respect.
> > > 
> > > Ah, although my knowledge of Norwegian is extremely limited, I understand
> > > enough of it to see that the Norwegian translator of gnome-libs
> > > shares my preferred way of translating menu items (Åpne). I have the
> > > impression that the same holds for the Spanish translator (Abrir) and
> > > the Italian tranlator (Abri).
> > 
> > "To open" is in danish called "at åbne"
> > "open the door" is in danish called "åben døren"
> 
> Oops :)
> 
> (I suppose Danish and Norwegian are alike in this respect.)
> 
> Well as I said, my knowledge of Norwegian is extremely limited :)
> 
> > 
> > So in the danish translations I have replaced open with åben, which
> > I think is the way you want it to be
> 
> Personally, I'd like to see it that way, yes.
> And I think that's how the original English versions are supposed
> to be read (as commands to the program).
> 
> > 
> > As far as I guess Åpne (norwegian) probably means "åbne" since the
> > norwegian language is based on danish
> > 
> > Abrir (spanish) means "to open" and "open the door" would
> > be translated to "Abri la puerta"
> 
> Yes, again my mistake. In fact, just 'abrir' did appear to me as
> being the infinitive, but reading the translations of a few more
> items I got the wrong impression that the translator had taken
> my approach.
> 
> > 
> > I think "to open" is called Abrire or something like that in italien, so 
> > Abri probably means "open!!!"
> 
> Yes! (So I got this one correct! :))
> 
> > 
> > Mostly people translate GNOME to their language, like MS windows 
> > is translated, since that's what people are used to.
> 
> Yes, I suppose this has something to do with it (but I never used
> a Dutch version of windows long enough to remember what approach
> is taken there).
> 
> Hmmm. I just found an document giving directions for Amiga tranlators
> (all in Dutch). They apparently think that the English 'Open'
> should be translated as 'Openen' (infinitive) instead of 'Open' (open!!!).
> But that's so clumsy!!!!!
> 
> 'Openen bestand' in a Dutch menu, is like 'Opening File' in English.
> 
> > 
> > > 
> > > Another inconsistency is in the use of capitals. Should every word
> > > occurring in a menu item be capitalized or not. This might depend
> > > on the language in question. At the moment, even the original English
> > > versions are inconsistent. (For example, games have "New game", but
> > > most programs have "Open File" and similar.)
> > > 
> > > I'm interested to hear what other people think about this.
> > > 
> > 
> > In danish, you only write the first word with big signs, because of the
> > gramma.
> > 
> > It's allowed in English thought, but I don't like it that much. I think
> > that "Open file" looks way better than "Open File"
> 
> Yes, this might really be language dependent. As with titles: in Dutch,
> only the first word of a title is capitalized. In English titles, only
> words like 'of' and 'the' do not get a capital. Apparently, Danish is
> like Dutch in this respect.
> 
> Ok, more reactions are greatly appreciated.
> 
> Ronald
> 
> 
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