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Common Translation Errors
Translators - even professional translators - usually make these error when
translating computer software.
Overview of common errors
* Capitalisation
Wrong: no capitalisation in translation
Correct: translation follows translation language capitalisation convention
* Double words
(translator could not decide which word was more appropraite)
Wrong: two translated words for one original word
Correct: choose one word if you have two options
* Translated things that should stay in English
Wrong: translating program function name like get_file_attributes()
Correct: leave program syntax or function names untranslated
* Variables
Wrong: variables left out of translation
Correct: variable in translation in the correct order for the language
Wrong: environment variable names (eg. EDITOR) and possible ficed values (eg.
COLOR, TRANSPARENT) translated
Correct: left in English and perhaps surrounded by single quotes to indicate
that they are not in the target language on purpose.
* Punctuation
Wrong: leaving out end punctuation and whitespace (eg. "File: ")
Correct: copying end punctuation and whitespace almost exactly as the origianl
into the translation.
Wrong: adding missing fullstops to translated sentence
Correct: if full sentences do not contain a fullstop in the original do not add
one to the translation.
Wrong: adding exclamation marks (!) to the transltion when they occur in the
original
Correct: use exclamation marks to correspond with the tone of the application
and the convention of the translated language. Ie you may leave them out of
the translation.
Wrong: leaving out elipses (...)
Correct: always add elipses to the translation
* Accelerators
Wrong: leaving out accelerators (either _&~ depending on the application)
Correct: if the origianl has an accelerator so should the translation
Wrong: placing the accelerator exacly in the same position as the original
Correct: place the accelerator on the word / sylabal / part of the sentence
that is accented in its pronounciation or is the focus of the sentence.
Wrong: using the same letter for accelarator keys
Correct: try to choose prominant sylabals and varied letters
* HTML
Wrong: HTML tags are translated
Correct: HTML tags are not translated
Wrong: translatable HTML entities are not translated
Correct: translate items that will be viewable. Eg HTML img tag's alt entity, a tag's title
entity.