Re: [Translation-i18n] Different translations for a single string in debian installer

[Bruno Haible <bruno@clisp.org>]

Hello,

Clytie Siddall wrote:
> msgctxt is a formal context field, e.g.
> 
> msgctxt "This is a button: keep it short"
> msgid "Convert"
> msgstr "Đổi"
> 
> It's an innovation we've needed badly for a long time, but until  
> enough people and servers are running gettext 0.15, we can't use it. :(
> 
> Bruno, where does one find info on msgctxt in gettext-0.15? "msgctxt  
> --help" doesn't respond.

You find the documentation in the GNU gettext manual ("info msgfmt", up, up,
or "firefox gettext_toc.html") in section "Contexts"/"Using contexts for
solving ambiguities".

The example
   msgctxt "This is a button: keep it short"
is not good because that is a typical comment from the programmer to the
translator, and should better be given like this:

   #. TRANSLATORS: This is a button: keep it short

A better example is therefore:

  #. TRANSLATORS: This is a button: keep it short
  msgctxt "OperationDialog"
  msgid "Convert"
  msgstr "Đổi"

The same PO file can also have

  msgctxt "Menu>Tools"
  msgid "Convert"
  msgstr ""

Bruno