From: Shubhankar <s....@ii...> - 2003-04-26 05:21:57
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Hi, This was very helpful. I got the funda of localization. Thanx to all Regards Shubhankar > Hi, > > Following yesterday's discussion on linux-utf8 about the > internationalization of proper names, I'm adding the text appended > below to the GNU gettext manual. Comments? > > (François, please pardon the use of your name, but it's an excellent > real-world example.) > > =========================================================================@node > Names, , Special cases, Sources > @section Marking Proper Names for Translation > > Should names of persons, cities, locations etc. be marked for translation > or not? People who only know languages that can be written with Latin > letters (English, Spanish, French, German, etc.) are tempted to say > ``no'', > because names usually do not change when transported between these > languages. > However, in general when translating from one script to another, names > are translated too, usually phonetically or by transliteration. For > example, Russian or Greek names are converted to the Latin alphabet when > being translated to English, and English or French names are converted > to the Katakana script when being translated to Japanese. This is > necessary because the speakers of the target language in general cannot > read the script the name is originally written in. > > As a programmer, you should therefore make sure that names are marked > for translation, with a special comment telling the translators that it > is a proper name and how to pronounce it. Like this: > > @example > @group > printf (_("Written by %s.\n"), > /* TRANSLATORS: This is a proper name. See the gettext > manual, section Names. Note this is actually a non-ASCII > name: The first name is (with Unicode escapes) > "Fran\u00e7ois" or (with HTML entities) "François". > Pronounciation is like "fraa-swa pee-nar". */ > _("Francois Pinard")); > @end group > @end example > > As a translator, you should use some care when translating names, because > it is frustrating if people see their names mutilated or distorted. If > your language uses the Latin script, all you need to do is to reproduce > the name as perfectly as you can within the usual character set of your > language. In this particular case, this means to provide a translation > containing the c-cedilla character. If your language uses a different > script and the people speaking it don't usually read Latin words, it means > transliteration; but you should still give, in parentheses, the original > writing of the name -- for the sake of the people that do read the Latin > script. Here is an example, using Greek as the target script: > > @example > @group > #. This is a proper name. See the gettext > #. manual, section Names. Note this is actually a non-ASCII > #. name: The first name is (with Unicode escapes) > #. "Fran\u00e7ois" or (with HTML entities) "François". > #. Pronounciation is like "fraa-swa pee-nar". > msgid "Francois Pinard" > msgstr "\phi\rho\alpha\sigma\omicron\alpha \pi\iota\nu\alpha\rho" > " (Francois Pinard)" > @end group > @end example > > Because translation of names is such a sensitive domain, it is a good > idea to test your translation before submitting it. > =======================================================================Having > written this down, and attempting to apply this to the names of > authors of GNU packages (for the --version message), I immediately > encounter several problems: > > 1) > - How should a complete name being written in a translator comment? > The Unicode escapes and HTML entities are not convenient, it'd > be better to use the c-cedilla character itself. (Note: xgettext > already has provisions for converting non-ASCII characters in > translation comments to UTF-8.) > > - Denoting the pronounciation in English ("fraa-swa pee-nar") is > a bad hack. It should really be written in IPA notation (the > notation you find in dictionaries). > > But this means that - since the translator comments get copied into > POT and all PO files - all PO files must be encoded in UTF-8. Which > presents a problem because one of the recommended translation > environments is the PO mode, and xemacs with proper UTF-8 support is > not yet stable. (And FSF Emacs with proper UTF-8 support is far away.) > > 2) The same name occurs as part of different packages. If my name is > translated to Japanese by different people, for different message > catalogs, the result can be different. But a characteristic element of > a "name" is that it's unique, so that people can recognize it when > they see it multiple times. Therefore different translations of a > particular name to Japanese should be avoided. > > 3) If every POT file contains one or two hard-to-translate proper > names, every translator needs to read the above text and understand > the issues, also how to type c-cedilla (maybe not easy in a Japanese > environment!) and similar characters. I'd really prefer if only one > translator per translation team would need to acquire this knowledge. > > > A possible solution to 1)-3) would be to make a single POT file for > names of persons ONLY. Let's call it whoiswho.pot. That would solve > the issues. But since every now and then a new GNU package appears, > with a new author name in it, this list would have to be extended from > time to time. Which means someone (in the TP?) would be in charge of > taking requests from authors to be added to the list, asking them for > the pronounciation of their name and publishing the whoiswho.pot > regularly. Someone from the TP willing to do this? > > > Bruno > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > This sf.net email is sponsored by:ThinkGeek > Welcome to geek heaven. > http://thinkgeek.com/sf > _______________________________________________ > Translation-i18n mailing list > Tra...@li... > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/translation-i18n > |