[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List:       kde-i18n-doc
Subject:    Re: KDE/Koffice application names
From:       "Dimitris Kamenopoulos" <el97146 () mail ! ntua ! gr>
Date:       2002-02-22 19:55:51
[Download RAW message or body]

On Tuesday 19 February 2002 14:09, Isam Bayazidi wrote:
> Hi All ..
>   One of the issues that we ( Arabic translation team in Arabeyes.org )
> face is the product names such as Kate, Kword, Kspread, Kdict, and so on ..
> We choose to translitrate the words to make them in Arabic letters rather
> than Latin ones .. but there are cases where those product names are
> meaningful as in Kword and Kspread, so should we translate the product
> name? or transliterating it would do ?
In general, translating the app name is not a very good choice. The app name 
is the least common denominator in issues such as bug reports, request for 
help in newsgroups etc. I don't think a message from an Arab user starting 
with "I have a problem with K[Arabic translation of Word]". Transliterating 
is not that bad, though. The Greek team (which also has a non-latin alphabet) 
usually does not trans* the app names, but then again, 99% of greek users 
know at least one latin-based language and 100% can understand latin 
characters. 

> And would be there any legal issues with the translated/translitrated
> product names? or we should not worry about it ?
If there is an application with:
a) Big similarities to the one you are translating (e.g. they are both Mail 
Clients, or Word Processors)
b) A name that has been registered as a trademark with the authorities of some 
country where your application is also distributed
c) A very greedy owner with an even more greedy lawyer

then you could have a problem. Usually changing the translated name will be 
just fine. See what happened with Kontour (formerly known as KIllustrator) 
for an illustrative example, although it was the original name and not some 
translation that had legal problems.

Regards,
Dimitris


[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]