>>> On 2 May 2020, at 08:12, Johan Ouwerkerk <jm.ouwerk...@gmail.com> wrote: >> On Sat, May 2, 2020 at 12:36 PM Eloy Cuadra <ecua...@eloihr.net> wrote: >> Hi, >> There is a widespread problem across many text strings to be translated: >> some isolated words are gender invariable in English, but not in many >> languages. >> For example, let's consider this case of a cascade menu: >> New >> Folder >> File > > What prevents you from arbitrarily re-naming a particular top level > entry? E.g. if you see "New", why not translate it as though it were > "Create" if that makes your translation work more naturally? > > I understand you'd want to stick as close as possible to the upstream > default, but languages being languages no doubt someone will point out > that verbs, too, could be conjugated differently depending on the > object. Or aspect, time, mood, actor, tense, whether or not it is > reflexive, medium, or otherwise. It could be that the verb might > change completely: i.e that creating a new folder somehow requires a > different translation of "create" than creating a new file would. > Which might mean that "New > File" is much more appropriate as a > starting point for *those* languages, because it avoids all the > verb-related pitfalls. > > English cares very little for any of that, so trying to account for it > in English might only serve to render it clumsy and awkward. > Conversely there are features which English is very particular about > like articles which many other languages don't bother with at all. > > All in all I think it is just easier if translation teams took some > liberties to get the point across rather than hoping for English to > become more like their native language. In particular this avoids most > of the need for complicated rules about "what words to use when".
New is an adjective, if you translate it as a verb, in most places it will make no sense. Suppose the string "New" is used in these two situations: New File Folder Messages received: - Information regarding GitLab migration - Context information needed for isolated words [New] In the first case it's the action to create a new thing (file or folder), in the second case it indicates the second message is new. In some languages you may get away with using the same word, in some maybe not. "Nuevo" in Spanish makes sense in both cases, except that (as Eloy said) "Nuevo Carpeta" (new folder) has a gender mismatch. But I don't think there is *any* language where you can translate "New" as the verb "Create" and have that work in both cases. - Context information needed for isolated words [Create] ?? That's why the code needs to use i18nc, so that the two cases can be translated differently. -- Nicolás
