Recently I switched my phone back to German locale after having used French for a longer time. Changing the language made some issues reoccur to me that I had already noticed when starting to use Sailfish OS in German.
As far as I can evaluate this as a non-native speaker: The French translation is quite well done in terms of two aspects: Natural style* and Consistency.
Both of the above to lack in many places within the German locale. The old style guide from the SFOS Wiki is a bit dusty and e.g. contains erroneous example phrases. Also my impression is that nobody follows it (check for presence of the formal address âSieâ in actively used strings, for example).
This is why I would like to list the issues I noticed and suggest some ideas for a âcanonâ as well as general improvements of the current translations.
Maybe some translators are willing to chime in and expand on my issues, correct mistakes or false assumptions and help in creating a good reference for new and old translators alike?
Well, here we go.
*despite the general tendency of the French to forcefully translate anglicisms
1 Language Style
Passive voice
Thereâs lots (loads!) of passive constructions using the Verb âwerdenâ in strings. Even though it might not be grammatically wrong, it does lead to a generally passive tone which contradicts the advised engaging one from the official style guide. This can mean to deviate from the English original but that is justifiable, I think - if not exaggerated.
Exceptions would be translations of the Loading
string.
Examples:
-
Die E-Mail, die um %1 am %2 an %3 gesendet wurde, wurde gelesen
Better: %3 hat deine E-mail vom %2, %1 Uhr gelesen -
MMS Nachricht wurde von %1 gelesen
Better: %1 hat MMS-Nachricht gelesen (analogously for SMS and E-Mails) -
Kontakt wurde gespeichert
Better: Kontakt gespeichert -
Du kannst E-Mail-Dienste fĂŒr dieses Konto aktivieren, nachdem die E-Mail-App aus dem Store installiert wurde
Better: Du kannst E-Mail-Dienste fĂŒr dieses Konto aktivieren, sobald die E-Mail-App aus dem Store installiert ist -
Datei kann nicht gefunden werden
Better: Datei nicht gefunden -
X kann nicht angezeigt werden
Better:X nicht anzeigbar
Literal translations & unnecessary anglicisms
-
einloggen
=> anmelden -
Voicemail
=> Sprachnachricht (itâs even listed in terminology) -
Passwort
=> Kennwort (debatable, may actually be straw splitting) -
RĂŒckgĂ€ngig-Banner
=> Abbruch-Timer (difficult, mabye not good but the current translation is bad) -
Keys
(in Settings) => SchlĂŒssel or SchlĂŒsselverwaltung -
Historie
=> Verlauf (current translation is ok but maybe this is more natural?)
Engaging instructions
This oneâs bit hard to describe. A recent example is the new string for remorse timers: Tippen fĂŒr Abbruch
. Itâs not strictly wrong but feels a bit off. Plus, the official guide mentions verbs as preferred over nouns. So a nominalized verb would be better => Tippe zum Abbrechen
other examples
-
Tippen um zurĂŒckzusetzen
=> Tippe zum ZurĂŒcksetzen -
Zum Abhören tippen
=> Tippe zum Abhören (avoiding infinitive form âtippenâ to make it a more imperative prompt)
Natural translation
As the point above, hard to formalize. It needs practice and a good sense of language.
But reading out the sentence aloud already helps identify bumpy parts in a translation. Might work for simpler strings as well.
Regarding literal translations: A thesaurus can help immensely finding better synonyms. And using good dictionaries, too (e.g Leo.org and dict.cc are good sources that usually list many synonyms and translation variants).
2. Grammar
-
Missing article in english text:
Sender gets notified when you have opened the MMS
is translated asDer
Absender wird benachrichtigt [âŠ]Examples:
-
MMS is ready to download
: Eine MMS-Nachricht ist bereit zum Herunterladen
-
3. UI Space
There are a few cases I noticed where the translations donât fit their view within the UI.
Examples are the shortcuts from the Top Menu (Flugzeugmodus
) or the labels of thumbnail remorse timers and missing previews in Gallery. There are more strings but you get the idea.
Here it may be legitimate to use a more nominal and abbreviated style instead of the verbal and thus also more elaborate one.
Iâd suggest using a shortened style, leaving out articles. The mentioned strings from the top menu might be edge cases but still it would be useful specifying a consistent style.
Examples:
Top Menu
-
Flugzeugmodus
=> Flugmodus
-
Nicht vertrauenswĂŒrdige Software erlauben
=> Fremdpakete (or as below Fremd-Software)
Curiously this shortcut seems to use the same string as the dedicated settings page (sideloading.qml
) itself. In the list of the settings page the string isFremd-Software
. So this issue maybe is on UI side more than on translation since the wrong string is referenced in the Top Menu.
-
Android-App UnterstĂŒtzung
=> Android-Dienst
Other
-
Der Anmeldevorgang wurde abgebrochen
=> Anmeldevorgang abgebrochen -
XXX kann nicht angezeigt werden
=> Keine Vorschau möglich or Miniaturansicht nicht verfĂŒgbar
Orthography, terminology & common phrases
1. Denotation, orthography
Simple but important: Use a spell checker and take care of correct cases.
MMS Nachrichten
=> MMS-Nachrichten
2. Variations to canonize
Candidates for a canon (does anybody still maintain Pootleâs translation memory?).
-
user data
= Benutzerdaten / Nutzerdaten -
tap
= Tippe(n) / Antippen -
Oops
= Ups / Hoppla (or insert âleiderâ into the phrase?) -
Got it
= Verstanden
3. Missing pootle terminology
-
user data
= (Be-)Nutzerdaten -
authorize/authorized
= berechtigen/berechtigt -
secret storage
(Sailfish Secrets) = SchlĂŒssel? / ?? -
undo banner
= Abbruch-Timer? -
credentials
= Anmeldedaten -
device manager
= GerÀteverwaltung
4. Recurring phrases
Phrases prone to be translated in passive voice and others
-
Failed to X
=> X fehlgeschlagen. -
Could not do [X]
: Should we translate this with A) âKonnte [X] nicht ausfĂŒhrenâ or B) â[X] nicht machbar?â Right now there are many strings using â[X] konnte nicht ⊠werdenâ (see passive voice for why this should be avoided) and also the variant A.Examples:
-
Could not determine package name for %1. Aborting installation.
Currently translated as âDer Paketname fĂŒr %1 kann nicht ermittelt werden. Installation abgebrochen.â
Could be âDer Paketname fĂŒr %1 ist nicht ermittelbarâ or âKonnte Paketname fĂŒr %1 nicht ermittelnâ -
Could not fetch your keys
=> Abrufen deiner SchlĂŒssel fehlgeschlagen / Konnte deine SchlĂŒssel nicht abrufen
-