Re: CVS: commit dom abi/src/wp/impexp/unix ie_exp_PDF.cpp

On Sun, 7 Aug 2005 msevior@physics.unimelb.edu.au wrote:

> Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 14:38:31 +1000 (EST)
> From: msevior@physics.unimelb.edu.au
> To: Hubert Figuiere <hfiguiere@teaser.fr>
> Cc: msevior@physics.unimelb.edu.au, abiword-dev@abisource.com
> Subject: Re: CVS: commit dom abi/src/wp/impexp/unix ie_exp_PDF.cpp
>
>
> >
> >>>- *szDesc = "PDF (.pdf)";
> >>>+ *szDesc = "Portable Document Format (.pdf)";
> >>
> >>
> >> Should this be a translatable string?
> >>
> >
> > No. This is the exact meaning of the PDF acronym.
> >
> > In Quebecois this would make "Format de Document Portable" which is hard
> > to understand.
> >
>
> Is Quebecois a different language from French?

Is American a different language from English?

That is a debate for another day but for computer software we should
really be able to phrase things to avoid the need to retranslate again
into different dialects unless absolutely necessary. (I always use the
example of Favorites/Favourites being a really awful choice compared to
Bookmarks which is not only a better metaphor but doesn't require further
localisation.)

Can the string be marked translatable but with a comment that recommends
against translation? I imagine there will be some reason to
translate it and some langauges where the individual words can
be translatated without necessarily losing the meaning and still making
it clear this is PDF. I expect we have to make all the importer exporter
names translatable already and although it makes some sense not to
translate the string it doesn't make sense to have an exception. I think
the decision should be put in the hands of the translators but hopefully
it can be commented or marked fuzzy or something to discourage them from
doing so unnecessarily.

I'd ask Dobey for a second opinion, he seems to do a little localisation
work and be well informed about the technology of it and he might have
something worthwhile to say. Either him or someone who does a lot of
internationalisation work.

Hope that helps.

Sincerely

Alan Horkan
http://advogato.org/person/AlanHorkan/
Received on Sun Aug 7 14:10:10 2005