Re: Gnome desktop files doesn't follow the freedesktop standards

[Christian Rose <menthos gnome org>]

sön 2003-11-02 klockan 12.12 skrev Ole Laursen:
> > > > > At least for Danish, "Mozilla Web Browser" is unfortunately nearly
> > > > > impossible to translate to a good menu item. It is too clunky. I
> > > > > suspect the same is true for other languages. For instance, I can
> > > > > translate it directly to:
> > > > > 
> > > > >   Mozilla internetsurfning
> > > > > 
> > > > > But that is not correct Danish.
> > > > 
> > > > In Swedish we translate it to "Webbläsaren Mozilla", i.e. the equivalent
> > > > of "[the] Mozilla web browser".
> > > > 
> > > > Is there a reason something similar can't be done in Danish?
> > > 
> > > It is a possibility, but I think it is too bulky. For example, it
> > > would then be "Cd-lydudtrækkeren Sound Juicer". It does not seem to
> > > fit well in Danish.
> > 
> > IMHO bulky and correct is *way* better than short and incorrect...
> 
> Now you are getting besides the point, Christian. :-) I don't
> translate menu items to the incorrect example you cited. The problem
> is precisely that any correct translation is bulky. That's why I hope
> people will settle on another form, cf. your other message about going
> straight to the root of the problem. ;-)

Yeah, but one always has to consider if the source of the problem is
actually a problem, i.e. if the original message in this case is
actually incorrect, or if the problem comes in a later step. I think
that's the case here, as the original English message is actually
correct.

But I fully agree with you that the wording, even though correct in
English, is problematic for translation, at least for some languages. I
was just trying to point out that that wasn't necessarily the case for
the scandinavian ones... :-)


> > > (BTW, the equivalent would be "[the] web browser Mozilla".)
> > 
> > "the web browser Mozilla" and "the Mozilla web browser" are AFAIK
> > equivalent in English.
> 
> I was referring to the rearrangement of the words. Even if the meaning
> is not altered, it may change what is being emphasized. I am not sure
> it is important here.

What is being emphasized is totally up to the pronounciation even in the
English example. "Webbläsaren Mozilla" can also have two different
meanings, depending on the emphasis. So the net effect is nil with
translating it this way; you don't enforce a particular emphasis.

Another nice thing with translating it this way in scandinavian
languages, in addition to it being both correct linguistically and it
working with the original message unmodified, is that you get a nice
grouping effect in menus with similar applications:

        Webbläsare
        Webbläsaren Konqueror
        Webbläsaren Mozilla

Thus, if you have more than one browser installed on the system, you
have them grouped instead of scattered all around the menu.

What are you translating these menu entries into now?


Christian