Comments on: DTD limitations with the gender of translated words http://blog.mozilla.com/seth/2009/01/29/dtd-limitations-with-the-gender-of-translated-words/ localization and community at mozilla Tue, 07 Jun 2011 10:48:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: stef http://blog.mozilla.com/seth/2009/01/29/dtd-limitations-with-the-gender-of-translated-words/comment-page-1/#comment-136993 stef Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:09:14 +0000 http://blog.mozilla.com/seth/?p=305#comment-136993 @ Dwayne: nouns declension and/or different genders in different languages Even without declension this is more tricky; eg when you don't want to use brackets, you can add "keyword" that can force gender, like in real live example (commited today): en:$BrandShortName will be set as your default mail application. commited: Program $BrandShortName zostanie ustawiony jako domyślny klient poczty. should be: $BrandShortName zostanie ustawiony jako domyślny program pocztowy. I can't translate "default mail app" as "domyślny program pocztowy" since I used the word "program" on the start of the sentence already so, I'm forced to use quite strange wording in other places (default app) if the original sentence also contains my gender setting keyword or use brackets (even worse). @ Dwayne: nouns declension and/or different genders in different languages

Even without declension this is more tricky; eg when you don’t want to use brackets, you can add “keyword” that can force gender, like in real live example (commited today):

en:$BrandShortName will be set as your default mail application.

commited: Program $BrandShortName zostanie ustawiony jako domyślny klient poczty.

should be: $BrandShortName zostanie ustawiony jako domyślny program pocztowy.

I can’t translate “default mail app” as “domyślny program pocztowy” since I used the word “program” on the start of the sentence already so, I’m forced to use quite strange wording in other places (default app) if the original sentence also contains my gender setting keyword or use brackets (even worse).

]]> By: Axel Hecht http://blog.mozilla.com/seth/2009/01/29/dtd-limitations-with-the-gender-of-translated-words/comment-page-1/#comment-136860 Axel Hecht Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:57:58 +0000 http://blog.mozilla.com/seth/?p=305#comment-136860 The reason why we're not playing around with the entity substitution for XML is that that requires hacking up some very custom and very low-level hacks into expat. Sadly, it doesn't expose any API anywhere close to where we would need it, at least that's my recollection from digging into the source there. Which is one reason why I didn't try to work on the concept of XML DTDs to do string replacement in l20n for XML applications. The reason why we’re not playing around with the entity substitution for XML is that that requires hacking up some very custom and very low-level hacks into expat. Sadly, it doesn’t expose any API anywhere close to where we would need it, at least that’s my recollection from digging into the source there.

Which is one reason why I didn’t try to work on the concept of XML DTDs to do string replacement in l20n for XML applications.

]]> By: seth bindernagel http://blog.mozilla.com/seth/2009/01/29/dtd-limitations-with-the-gender-of-translated-words/comment-page-1/#comment-136858 seth bindernagel Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:49:19 +0000 http://blog.mozilla.com/seth/?p=305#comment-136858 @ Dwayne: Great suggestions. Have you ever had that conversation with a developer? And, thanks for pointing out another pain point with localization. :) @ Dwayne: Great suggestions. Have you ever had that conversation with a developer? And, thanks for pointing out another pain point with localization. :)

]]> By: Dwayne Bailey http://blog.mozilla.com/seth/2009/01/29/dtd-limitations-with-the-gender-of-translated-words/comment-page-1/#comment-136853 Dwayne Bailey Tue, 03 Feb 2009 11:28:12 +0000 http://blog.mozilla.com/seth/?p=305#comment-136853 I'm curious to know why it wouldn't be possible to expand the entities to have: &brandShortName-m; &brandShortName-f; In which case you could write: “&brandShortName-m; będzie sprawdzał odnośniki" Or “&brandShortName-f; będzie sprawdzała odnośniki" @Seth: by the way you forget to include the semi-colon in &brancShortName so your example localisation of Firefox just crashed. Sorry :) I’m curious to know why it wouldn’t be possible to expand the entities to have:

&brandShortName-m;
&brandShortName-f;

In which case you could write:
“&brandShortName-m; będzie sprawdzał odnośniki”

Or
“&brandShortName-f; będzie sprawdzała odnośniki”

@Seth: by the way you forget to include the semi-colon in &brancShortName so your example localisation of Firefox just crashed. Sorry :)

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