Thanks to both Miriam and Helge for their helpful replies. :) On 16/08/2007, at 5:43 PM, Miriam Ruiz wrote:
I suggest using the msgctxt feature to supply contextual information.I'm not exactly sure on how msgctxt works, is there a URL I can read on it? It might be useful to know when translating other games later.
Quote from the release notes, several gettext versions back: ___ * GUI program support: - PO files can now contain messages constrained to a certain context.Most often such a context is a menu, dialog or panel identification.
The syntax in the PO file is
msgctxt "context"
msgid "original"
msgstr "translation"
- The xgettext program can be told through the --keyword flag which
function/macro argument has the role of a context.
- The (non-public) include file gettext.h defines macros pgettext,
dpgettext
etc. that take a context argument.
For more information, see the node "Contexts" in the manual.
___
The gettext manual is here [1], but it's not the most readable text
available. :S
4. #: hex_puzzzle.cpp:2737 #, c-format msgid "Best:% 3d" Should there be a space after the colon? Should the percentage sign be part of the placeholder?We've already talked about this in a mailing list, and "% 3d" is supposed to be correct. I have no clue on what the differece with " %3d" would be, anyway. Maybe in the negative numbers.
I now understand that the space between % and 3 is protected, but what about the lack of space between "Best" and the colon ":" ? I would recommend inserting a space there, for readability.
6. #: menus.h:87 msgid """Basic controls:|Move around with the keys Q,W,E,A,S,D or the numeric ""keypad. Alternatively, you can use the mouse and click on the tile you'd " "like to move to. Use 'U', backspace or the right mouse button to undo " "mistakes. The 'Esc' key (or middle mouse button) brings up a menu from " "which you can restart if you get stuck." What is the function of the pipe symbol after "Basic controls:"? It also appears in other strings.
I don't think I've received an answer to this query yet. Is the pipe symbol another non-standard formatting aid?
8. #: menus.h:660 msgid "<Design & Direction:" What does the < sign signify in this context? (Appears in several other Credits strings.)Yup, there's also some strings closing it ">" in the credits texts. I wasn't sure if I should let it there and let translators play with it in case they needed, or remove it and put it hardcoded in the program. What do you think?
Best practice when preparing text for i18n is to remove as much formatting as possible. You wouldn't believe (or you would, if you yourself translate) the amount of translator time and storage space wasted over the non-literal difference between:
msgid "Delete" and msgid "Delete " or msgid "Delete" and msgid "<b>Delete</b>"So yes, please do remove any formatting not essential to the creation of an effective translation.
I'll send in my translation. :)
from Clytie (vi-VN, Vietnamese free-software translation team / nhóm Việt hóa phần mềm tự do)
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/vi-VN [1] http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/
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