From: Bjoern Fischer <bfischer_at_Techfak.Uni-Bielefeld.DE>
Date: Sat, 28 Sep 2002 03:00:11 +0200

Hello Uwe, hello translators,

> This was a really bad "improvement", I nearly had a heart attack! :-(

I get this feeling usually every time I touch a Unics operating
system that tries to talk to me in my native language (german).

> How to translate is often a matter of taste.

This problem is underestimated far too often.

> So what can we do to prevent this? I suggest that only one to three
> people (native speakers of that language, I'd do that job for the
> deutsch.lang if all agree) are responsible for each lang file and that
> you developers (with cvs write access) only accept lang diffs from
> these people. The 1-3 responsible people then discuss (private mail)
> if/how they change something.

Yes, I partially agree. I don't think that 1-3 people will hit the
taste of the masses, but it should prevent cruelties like these.

Usually I am against excessive L10N (locali[sz]ation) as it is performed
here. Personally I think it's sufficient for an MP3 player to have some
I18N (internationali[sz]ation) in it, e.g. use a font that can display
most western languages (mostly for ID3 tags).

In germany, many technical devices have english labeled knobs and
switches, and noone has a problem with that. But what I (and many
others) really dislike is to do things by halves. So if you want
to have a german translation in rockbox either do the full job or
don't do it at all.

> DS> eng: "Playlist"
> DS> -new: "Playliste"
> DS> +new: "Spielliste"

This is a good example: As Uwe mentioned "Playliste" is neither english
nor german. It is nothing. But I have to agree Uwe that "Spielliste"
is not appropriate, too. A professional translator once told me a trick:
"Don't translate the word. Think about the function that is described.
And then think in that language you want to translate it to."
So "Playlist" may be "Programm" or "Titelliste" in german.

> When talking in german, I ever say Playlist or Playliste,
> never Spielliste! (And I think the most people do.)

Semi agree: Right, I never would say "Spielliste". Wrong, I never
ever would say "Playliste".

> What should RR mean? I NEVER saw that somewhere.

"RR" is a medical term (blood pressure, or something).

> DS> id: LANG_LOUDNESS
> DS> desc: in sound_settings
> DS> eng: "Loudness"
> DS> -new: "Loudness"
> DS> +new: "Verstärkung"

Ah, "Loudness", my favorite. Of course you can translate it to
german: "Lautheit", every german technician should now it. The
full description of the function is
"gehörrichtige Lautheitskorrektur", but it is a bit long.
Volume ("Lautstärke") is level or amplitude; loudness ("Lautheit")
is sensation.

So long,

Björn (Fischer)
Received on 2002-09-28