Re: Standards for translations?

[Kenneth Christíqua <kenneth ripen dk>]

> Hello,
> 
> After looking at some of the translations, I have some questions, mainly
> about menu items.
> 
> For example, most File menus have an "Open" entry. In the Dutch, French,
> and German translations, this is replaced by "Openen", "Ouvrir", and
> "Öffnen", respectively. So apparently, the infinitive of the verb
> is taken. My question: Is it anywhere stated that this is the desired
> translation?
> 
> Personally, I view menu entries as commands. When I click File->Open,
> I tell the program to open a file for me. Consequently, my preferred
> translations would be "Open" and "Öffne" for Dutch and German (ack...
> I'm a bit uncertain about the correct French right now).
> 
> At some places my preffered translation is given, at most places
> one has chosen for the other option. Above all, I think the translations
> should be consistent in this respect.
> 
> Ah, although my knowledge of Norwegian is extremely limited, I understand
> enough of it to see that the Norwegian translator of gnome-libs
> shares my preferred way of translating menu items (Åpne). I have the
> impression that the same holds for the Spanish translator (Abrir) and
> the Italian tranlator (Abri).

"To open" is in danish called "at åbne"
"open the door" is in danish called "åben døren"

So in the danish translations I have replaced open with åben, which
I think is the way you want it to be

As far as I guess Åpne (norwegian) probably means "åbne" since the
norwegian language is based on danish

Abrir (spanish) means "to open" and "open the door" would
be translated to "Abri la puerta"

I think "to open" is called Abrire or something like that in italien, so 
Abri probably means "open!!!"

Mostly people translate GNOME to their language, like MS windows 
is translated, since that's what people are used to.

> 
> Another inconsistency is in the use of capitals. Should every word
> occurring in a menu item be capitalized or not. This might depend
> on the language in question. At the moment, even the original English
> versions are inconsistent. (For example, games have "New game", but
> most programs have "Open File" and similar.)
> 
> I'm interested to hear what other people think about this.
> 

In danish, you only write the first word with big signs, because of the
gramma.

It's allowed in English thought, but I don't like it that much. I think
that "Open file" looks way better than "Open File"

> Ronald
> 

Kenneth.