Launchpad Help > Translations > General Translation Guide

Overview

This guides contains information about what strings should be translated and what not, what are plurar forms and other general things about working with Launchapad Translations (Rosetta).

You are free to translate this guide and include it into your language specific guide, otherwise please make sure your language guide contains a reference to the general guide.

After reading this guide please find the guide specific to your language into the list of translation guides for all languages.

What should not be translated

Data placeholders and variable names

In many development languages, a developer can insert data into a string by using a placeholder such as %s or %d. You may also see more complex variations, such as %(variablename)s, $name or ${name}. Copy these variables and placeholders exactly as you see, placing them in the exact order in whichever part of the string makes most sense in the target language.

If you're in doubt, ask another translator for advice.

Examples:

Original: I found $name ethernet device.
Wrong: S-a găsit $nume dispozitiv ethernet
Right: S-a găsit $name dispozitiv ethernet

Original: Delete %(name)s ?
Wrong: Ștergeți %(nume)le?
Wrong: Ștergeți %(nume)s?
Right: Ștergeți %(name)s?

Formatting tags

You may see HTML, such as <strong>, used to format text in a string. Copy these tags exactly as you find them and apply them to the relevant part of the text, remembering to close the tags as appropriate. You may also see other tags, such as XML, and should treat them the same way.

Examples:

Original: <strong>File name</strong>
Wrong: <puternic>Nume fișier</puternic>
Right: <strong>Nume fișier</strong>
}}

== Program parameters ==

Command line parameters should not be translated.

Example
{{{
Original: "The command line options are:\n"
          "       --quick         speeds up the processing\n"
          "       --slow          slows everything down."
Wrong:    "Opțiunile comenzii sunt:\n"
          "       --repede         grăbește procesarea\n"
          "       --încet          încetinește totul."
Right:    "Opțiunile comenzii sunt:\n"
          "       --quick         grăbește procesarea\n"
          "       --slow          încetinește totul."

TRUE/FALSE, GTK constants

Strings like "TRUE" , "FALSE" or gtk constants like "gtk-ok", "gtk-cancel" or "toolbar-icon" should not be translated.

GCONF configuration keys

Examples:

Orignal: The port which the server will listen to if the 'use_alternative_port' key is set to true.
         Valid values are in the range from 5000 to 50000.
Wrong:   Portul pe care să asculte serverul în cazul în care cheia „folosește_port_alternativ” este activată.
         Valorile valide sunt între 5000 și 50000.
Right:   Portul pe care să asculte serverul în cazul în care cheia „use_alternative_port” este activată.
         Valorile valide sunt între 5000 și 50000.

Context text

In some old GNOME translations you might encounter translations context encoded into the original string. For for information please see: http://leonardof.org/2007/12/01/context-in-gnome-translations/en/

Examples:

Original: "Orientation|Top"
Wrong: "Orientare|Sus"
Wrong: "Orientation|Sus"
Right: "Sus"

Menu accelerators / shortcuts

Different development languages and frameworks use different ways to signify which key within a string should be used as a keyboard shortcut. Very often, if you see an underscore (e.g. Save _As) or ampersand (e.g. Print previe&w) at the beginning or within a word, it may well be a keyboard shortcut. Ensuring you have a unique shortcut for each function is important and you should, at the very least, view the software in action and draw up a list of the shortcuts you plan to use before you start translating. You should place the underscore, ampersand or whichever other control character directly in front of the letter you want to use as the shortcut.

Examples: {{ _File New &Tab ~Downloads }}}

Plural forms

Rosetta specific