Use of articles

[Martin Eberhard Schauer <Martin.E.Schauer@gmx.de>]

Hi,

recently i reviewed a translation on debian-l10n-german.
> > > # German SquirrelMail Compatibility Plugin Translation File
> > > ...
> > > #, php-format
> > > msgid "The file %s is missing from plugin %s."
> > > msgstr "Die Datei %s fehlt der Erweiterung %s."
> > >       
> > (translated) I'm afraid the article is missing in the Englisch text.
> >
> > msgid "The file %s is missing from the plugin %s."
> >                                   ^^^
> >     
> (translated) IMHO no article is missing - it is often omitted in English texts.
> I suggest asking a native speaker before filing a bug report.
To me (i'm German) the example sounds very strange without an article.
Until now i often considered  missing articles as mistakes.

I would be grateful for an explanation regarding the correct use (and
omission) of articles.

Cheers
  Martin