Hi Anthony! In this specific case we are having some sort of elusive way to comprehend, we say something like: "Please choose...", while in Hebrew you can say "Please choose" in a genderless manner (נא לבחור, Na Livhor), I can't think of any equivalent term in English (Maybe: Something should be chosen, no genders involved as well).
In some cases we are also using another elusive way of writing a gender oriented word that can be interpreted as both male or female when written without diacritics (Niqqud in Hebrew). Kind regards, Yaron Shahrabani <Hebrew translator> On Mon, May 7, 2012 at 3:07 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Yaron, > Many thanks for that. I also have that issue but it comes into play mainly > when used in conversation. > On the other hand, it seems in your case you have chosen to depict an > action without considering who is carrying it out right? > For example, from the debian installer string: "Choose the next step in > the install process" yours would be like "Choosing ......" > > Thanks for your help. > > Anthony > > > ------------------------------ > *From: *"Yaron Shahrabani" <[email protected]> > *To: *[email protected] > *Cc: *[email protected] > *Sent: *Monday, May 7, 2012 1:32:11 PM > *Subject: *Re: Who speaks Frist: Human or Computer > > > Hi Anthony, > We had the same conflict with the Hebrew translation. > Our problem is slightly different, in Hebrew there are differences when > addressing a male or a female. > > The first approach we tried is using a muscular plural form, I didn't like > that approach die to implied schizophrenia, if the user is all alone in the > room, how can one assume he might be many instead of one... > Not ideal. > > The rules of the Hebrew academy suggest that when the gender of the > addressee is unknown you should relate to him as a male. > > I decided to take a different approach, making the translations > genderless, in English it's something like: Opening file and Closing > (Instead of Open file and Close). > > Kind regards, > Yaron Shahrabani > > <Hebrew translator> > > > > > On Mon, May 7, 2012 at 1:35 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Hello fellow translators, >> >> I have hit what I might call a big problem with my language, Bemba. In >> this language, the way we address a young person is different to the the >> way we address an older person in speech and writing. >> When I started to translate Ubuntu from English to Bemba, I assumed that >> the computer is telling the user what it can do and so is in a way talking >> to the person first. Because of this, I chose to use the respectful >> alternative to >> addressing a human user. This way the computer will always sound like it is >> not being rude to the user. This approach has presented a small problem >> with some people who have reviewed some of my translations. They are of the >> opinion that I should always assume that the user is telling the computer >> to do something, thus the instruction should be like a human talking to >> someone they supervise in order for them do have something done for them. >> The respectful manner should only be used by the computer when it displays >> something as a reaction to the user input. >> >> An example is 'Open File'. The question is: In this case, is the menu >> item in the computer application telling the human that it able to open a >> file or it is the human who is telling the computer to open the file? I ask >> this because depending on which is which, my translations approach will >> have a whole new twist and I would have to re-check my approach. >> >> Please advise if any of you have such a language challenge and what side >> you have taken: Is it the human that tell the computer what to do such that >> its responses are only when a dialogue box opens or it is the computer that >> tells the human what it can do and so seems to 'speak' first and advises >> the human of what it is able to do? >> >> Many thanks for any help. >> >> Anthony >> >> >> -- >> ubuntu-translators mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-translators >> >> >
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