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List:       kde-devel
Subject:    Re: Context information needed for isolated words
From:       David Hurka <david.hurka () mailbox ! org>
Date:       2020-05-02 11:50:31
Message-ID: 179702792.21430.1588420231125 () office ! mailbox ! org
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> Hi,
Hi!

> It would be highly desirable that all the words that appear isolated had a context \
> to ease the  task of the translators. For all these words, I would advise against \
> using i18n() and would  prefer using i18nc() in source code (or using \
> disambiguation comments in UI files).

I think you are totally right here. Any developer who wants its application to be \
translated should care about this, and should use i18nc() instead of i18n() \
everywhere. I mean everywhere. Even if the context appears clear from the message, a \
single UI marker as context is little work compared to writing the message itself.

This is my opinion as someone who sometimes writes application code, and never \
translated anything. Honestly, I don't understand why we have i18n() without c. Do \
you agree as translator?

> Going back to the case of the aforementioned cascade menu, the solution would be to \
> use  other words:
> 
> Create
> New folder
> New file

If I understand you right, the original translation could stay New->Folder, \
New->File, but with i18nc it would be possible to use this alternative in other \
languages. Is that what you mean?

And for this example, I think it should be the same in English. First, "create" \
appears more specific than "new", and an action called "Folder" makes very little \
sense itself. Many menu actions can appear alone somewhere, and if Dolphin had a \
toolbar button called just "Folder", that would be nonsense. Same for "New".

Cheers, David


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