Re: [nvda-translations] Use of Multi Meaningful words: A headache to translator!
- From: "Joseph Lee" <joseph.lee22590@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <nvda-translations@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 8 Sep 2012 23:04:41 -0700
Hi,
Another option (which was put forth by Korean users) is to leave on/off
messages alone like:
* Numlock %s: Numlock on/off.
* Speak typed characters %s: Speak typed characters on/off.
There are entries for the words "on" and "off" which are used in many contexts,
so it was suggested by Korean users to leave these words as English for now.
As for introducing specific translatable strings, I think this could delay the
translation time, as more messages would need to be translated. For this
reason, I'd like to recommend that other translators read the translation
reference string and automatic translator comments while translating, as these
provide contexts, thereby aiding with speedier translations. Also, I'd suggest
periodically save your translated file and test it while using NVDA, as it
could help you spot errors and come up with better translation messages.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Joseph
-----Original Message-----
From: nvda-translations-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:nvda-translations-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of James Teh
Sent: Saturday, September 08, 2012 10:25 PM
To: nvda-translations@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [nvda-translations] Use of Multi Meaningful words: A headache to
translator!
Hi.
It's true that some of these issues can and should be solved in the way Mesar
and others have described. However, it's worth noting that solving some of them
is infeasible/unreasonable, even for English. For example, for a particular
control, you might hear "Warn before exiting NVDA checkbox checked". This isn't
strictly grammatical in English either, but this is just how the information is
communicated; screen readers aren't intended to speak natural language for
reasons of efficiency and generalisation. Similarly, "caps lock on" probably
isn't strictly grammatical in English; the correct message might be "caps lock
has been enabled". Again, this is way too verbose and specific. My point here
is that this is not always due to a bias to English.
Therefore, I don't think it makes sense to introduce specific messages for
every situation; e.g. "caps lock has been enabled". However, we should perhaps
provide a separate message to specify when a key has been locked; e.g. context:
key lock, message: on. As Mesar has pointed out, this requires translators to
be specific about particularly problematic messages.
Jamie
On 8/09/2012 11:12 PM, Him Prasad Gautam wrote:
> Dear All,
> Are you also getting the same nature of problem as below?
> Either yes or no, let you give your opinion….
>
> As a translator, I am questioned by some ne locale users regarding the
> inappropriateness translation of some 'multi meaningful English word'
> messages like 'on' or 'off'. As we all know that these words are used
> in many but entirely different situational cases e.g.
> Caps/Scroll/Numlock key: on/off, AC line: on/off, Mouse tracking:
> on/off and many things can be said by the same word of 'on/off'. It
> is appropriate for English but the same does not apply to other
> language. In Nepali, there exists no a single word which may be used
> to express the situation of a key on a keyboard and state of the
> supply of the electricity! Just to address different conditional
> states of different messages, like msgid "on" or msgid "off" are a
> great headache and seriously challenge the quality of the translator.
> What to do if a common word fit for all such messages does not exits
> in own language? Instead if the developer use the word something
> like 'locked/unlocked' for keys of a keyboard,
> 'connected/Disconnected' for power supply, 'yes/no' for mouse tracking
> and so on; there would no problem of looking an appropriate words for
> translators!
>
> I request James and Mesar to pay an attention in this issue and make a
> strict policy of using specific word for message instead of using a
> common English word (like on/off) unless an alternate specific English
> vocabulary exists. Definitely, this concept increases the list of
> messages to be translated but additional work for just few more words
> is not that much burden. Present list of 1129 message may be 1200, so
> what? it will be easily translated but in a flexible environment for
> choosing an appropriate words! This will increase the quality of
> translation.
>
>
> Him Prasad Gautam
> Kathmandu, Nepal
>
--
James Teh
Director, NV Access Limited
Email: jamie@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Web site: http://www.nvaccess.org/
Phone: +61 7 5667 8372
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