Re: Please translate hex-a-hop -- a funny game
On Fri, Aug 17, 2007 at 02:15:36PM +0930, Clytie Siddall wrote:
> Thanks to both Miriam and Helge for their helpful replies. :)
Yep, we still need to improve i18n of hex-a-hop. But please note that we
started less than a week ago.
Here are a few screenshots for vi:
http://alioth.debian.org/~jseidel-guest/vi/
You see it still needs some work but translatable messages will probably
not change so you can send further translations for other languages.
> On 16/08/2007, at 5:43 PM, Miriam Ruiz wrote:
> >I suggest using the msgctxt feature to supply contextual information.
I think translator comments are more useful as contextual information is
especially useful if one and the same message occurs multiple times in a
PO file and needs to be translated differently (because of grammar, ...)
Translating "number|a few explanations for Translators" is also a little
bit more difficult (no neeed to translate the explanations).
> >#: 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.
No, "% 3d" ensures already that the text starts with a space. I will
nevertheless see whether it's indeed possible to change this into " %3d"
to avoid confusion.
(You don't want to use "Best :", right?)
> >#: menus.h:87
> >msgid ""
> >"Basic controls:|Move around with the keys Q,W,E,A,S,D or the
> >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?
Isn't it (nearly) obvious (you translated it also right)? It is just a
(internal) separator between a short string (the dialog title) and a
longer string (the dialog text). "|" should not be translated.
I agree that this message should be splitted into two messages without a
visible "|". Will change this and unfuzzy all translations.
> >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?
To hardcode something could make no sense for real exotic languages. Does
e.g. Japanese or Chinese use spaces as European languages? I doubt it ...
> Best practice when preparing text for i18n is to remove as much
> formatting as possible. You wouldn't believe (or you would, if you
I fully agree. But we also depend on such suggestions (there is no need
to fine tune everything if we do not recieve translations, or if the
program is not yet capable of displaying most languages (a few days ago
only 7bit ASCII was displayable)).
> yourself translate) the amount of translator time and storage space
> wasted over the non-literal difference between:
We also always accept patches from translators, this way I started
working on hex-a-hop.
> So yes, please do remove any formatting not essential to the creation
> of an effective translation.
Will try it ...
Thanks again,
Jens
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