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Conventions for translations
The following update was made during the R Project Sprint 2023, Warwick and Online (hybrid) during 30 Aug - 1 Sept 2023:
- Unless having very strong reasons not to, please follow your language specific glossary and guidelines
- If you encounter ambiguous or difficult strings to translate that aren't captured in the language specific glossary and guidelines, refer to the core-translation slack channel to discuss it with other translators
- Some languages, like spanish, have specific channels to discuss translation. Refer to your specific channel to discuss issues related to your language: if you need a slack channel set up for a language, send a direct slack message to @mcnanton
Translating R programming messages and warnings from English to other languages requires careful attention to both the technical accuracy and linguistic clarity of the translated text. Here's a translation guide to help you with this process:
1. Understand the Context:
Before translating any message or warning, it's crucial to understand the context. Know what the message is conveying, what part of the code it relates to, and its intended audience.
2. Maintain Technical Accuracy:
Ensure that the translated message conveys the same technical information as the original. The goal is to make sure that users can still understand the issue or information provided.
3. Preserve Clarity:
Clarity is paramount in translations. Make sure the translated message is clear and easy to understand. Avoid overly complex or verbose translations.
4. Use Formal language:
When translating messages for a general audience or professional context, use formal languange.
5. Consistency:
Maintain consistency in your translations. Use consistent terminology and wording throughout the translation to avoid confusion.
6. Be Mindful of Length:
Ensure that the translated message fits within the space allocated in the code or interface.
7. Retain Technical Terms:
For technical terms and code-related elements such as function names, object names, and variable names, it's often best to keep them in English.
8. Handle Plurals:
Some languages nouns have different forms for singular and plural. Ensure that you correctly handle plurals when translating messages that involve counts or quantities.
9. Punctuation:
Use the punctuation and ensure proper spacing around punctuation marks.
10. Special Characters:
Some technical messages may contain special characters like %s, %d, or %f for string, integer, and floating-point substitutions. Keep these special characters and their order in the translated message, making sure they correspond correctly with the placeholders.
11. Test the Translation:
After translating, test the messages in the R environment to ensure they appear correctly and are still functional.
12. Document Translations:
Keep a record of your translations for reference. This documentation can help maintain consistency in future translations and facilitate collaboration with other translators.
- Seek Feedback:
If possible, seek feedback from native speakers who are also familiar with programming to ensure the translations make sense in the intended context.
- Revise and Update:
Programming languages evolve, and so should your translations. Periodically review and update your translations to align with changes in the R programming language or best practices in translation.
Remember that translating programming messages is a specialized skill that requires a strong understanding of both the source and target languages as well as the technical context. Collaborating with other experienced translators can also improve the quality of your translations.
- Keyboard keys
- Function names
- Placeholders like %s, %d
- Acronyms (if they are, for example, function arguments)
Process to be defined
| Language | Team Leaders (Contributor/Translator/Dedicated Reviewer) |
|---|---|
| Arabic | Iman Al-Hasani, Abdulrahman Alswaji |
| Bengali | Debartha Paul |
| Brazilian-Portugese | Caio Lente, Renata Hirota |
| Chinese 中文 | Shun Wang |
| Hindi | Saranjeet Kaur Bhogal, Ayush Patel |
| Japanese | Reiko Okamoto |
| Nepali | Binod Jung Bogati |
| Spanish | Geraldine Gómez, María Nanton, Macarena Quiroga |
Saranjeet wanted to know how to handle translating strings such as "Keyboard: PgUp, PgDown, Ctrl+Arrows, Ctrl+Home, Ctrl+End". She has currently translated to Hindi as "कीबोर्ड: पेज अप, पेज डाउन, कंट्रोल+एरोज , कंट्रोल+होम , कंट्रोल+एन्ड ,", which is in Hindi script but is spoken the same as the English words, since these are imported/foreign words.
We looked at how other languages translate this string using the "Other languages" button on Weblate: https://translate.rx.studio/translate/r-project/base-r-gui/hi/?checksum=05ce1e10588b237c&sort_by=-priority,position#translations
- French translates all the keys apart from those that are in English on a French keyboard: "Clavier : PageHaut, PageBas, Ctrl+Flèches, Ctrl+Début, Ctrl+Fin," According to Hugo: "keys that are translated in a French keyboard: del, end, screenshot, insert. I believe that other keys usually don't include text but use symbols (arrows, shift, pgup, pgdown). Ctrl and Alt are not translated". It looks like Chinese takes a similar approach.
- Italian does not translate the keys: "Tastiera: PgUp, PgDown, Ctrl+Arrows, Ctrl+Home, Ctrl+End,". Most languages take this approach.
- Best to discuss among translation team for specific language if possible, to decide best approach. General guidance: don't translate unless these terms are commonly translated on the keyboard, commonly used in other technical documentation, or are simply a translation of the English word into the language script. (The latter advice because if people are choosing to see R messages in a non-English language, they may prefer to see everything in that script where possible).