[Freeciv-Dev] (PR#19049) Problematic/buggy strings.

["sini.ruohomaa@xxxxxx" <sini.ruohomaa@xxxxxx>]

<URL: http://bugs.freeciv.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=19049 >

Hi,

I've a bunch of problematic/buggy strings for you, all reports based on
ftp://ftp.freeciv.org/pub/freeciv/latest/freeciv.pot.bz2 which is as far
as I understand from the trunk. 

#: client/text.c:176 client/gui-sdl/mapview.c:626
msgid " with "

This string needs a translator comment at the least, but it is also
buggy: sentences of any sort should not be split up like this, they
should be produced with e.g. "%s with %s" (and translator-commented) so
that we can move the with to be somewhere else as well if needed.

------------------------------------------------------------

#: client/helpdata.c:1310
#, c-format
msgid "* Each of your cities will avoid paying %d %s towards unit
upkeep.\n"

The above string seems to be buggy as well, if it can be filled with 1
Gold, it should be possible to translate separately for singular. But
the confusing bit is what is %s?

------------------------------------------------------------

#: client/helpdata.c:678
#, c-format
msgid "* Allows all players with knowledge of %s to build %s units.\n"

What can the latter %s be? These kinds of strings are in a few places in
the helpdata stuff, please add a translator comment to at least this
one.

------------------------------------------------------------

#: client/helpdata.c:170
#, c-format
msgid ""
"Requires the %s government.\n"
"\n"

Please don't make us translate linebreaks, unless you are completely
utterly certain the formatting around this string will never change.
Translators should not be made to translate formatting:
<b>Does %s and %s</b>
Does %s and %s
* Does %s and %s
Does %s and %s\n\n
should be replaced with one "Does %s and %s" and possibly separate
strings for "<b>%s</b>" (some may want to translate bold as something
else, although stuff like this is luckily rare in Freeciv), and a
translator-commented "* %s" and "%s\n\n". But for now, I figure it's
best not to touch them, but if you touch them, make them be just the
string and push the formatting out.

------------------------------------------------------------

#: client/gui-gtk-2.0/gui_main.c:197 client/gui-gtk-2.0/gui_main.c:202
#: client/gui-gtk-2.0/gui_main.c:207 client/gui-gtk-2.0/gui_main.c:212
#: client/gui-gtk-2.0/gui_main.c:217 client/gui-gtk-2.0/gui_main.c:222
#: client/gui-gtk-2.0/gui_main.c:227 client/gui-gtk-2.0/gui_main.c:232
#: client/gui-gtk-2.0/gui_main.c:237 client/gui-gtk-2.0/gui_main.c:242
#: client/gui-gtk-2.0/gui_main.c:247 client/gui-gtk-2.0/gui_main.c:252
msgid "FIXME"

Should things like this really be translated?

------------------------------------------------------------

#: client/gui-gtk-2.0/gui_main.c:201
msgid "Notify Label"

All these labels are unclear. Could you add translator comments to
gui-gtk-2.0/gui_main around lines 196-241?

------------------------------------------------------------

#: server/diplhand.c:392
#, fuzzy, c-format
msgid "You receive %s's worldmap."

These kinds of nightmares make me wish I could inflict words with a
simple 's too (mind that there's still people who think e.g. "fox's" and
"Giles's" is bad English as well). Since we have a genetive defined
("The Finnish People", hence "The Finnish map"), please use it instead
of using whatever "MyLeaderName's worldmap" or "sini's worldmap" or
"Finland's worldmap". 

It would be nice to have TRANS-marked all exceptional uses of
usernames/connection names/leader names in the various "You steal tech
from %s" or "The %s unit-of %s does this and that" contexts where the
nation genetive or plural are most often used. It's often rather
troublesome to try to figure out what the different parameter names mean
exactly from the code.

------------------------------------------------------------

#: server/diplomats.c:714
#, c-format
msgid "You caught %s %s attempting to incite a revolt in %s!"

This is a very generic example of a sentence which will need to be
translated starting with %s %s for reasons of general Freeciv
untranslateability to a non-analythical language. In addition, %s is
e.g. "Finnish", which in Finnish is translated as
'suomalaisten' (of-the-Finnish-people). I'm suspecting the sentence will
begin with a non-capital letter as a result. What can be done about it?
It's bad form to cap all genetives in Finnish.

The general problem of untranslateability is that a language like
Finnish would need separate translateable strings to e.g.
"your %s" (unit)
"object?%s" (as an object of a sentence, like you caught %s)
to make sentences really work.

In addition, all town names really need separate translations for "in %
s", "near %s" and "to %s". And town names are untranslateable to begin
with. But I'll have to write about this more after I consult the Gnome
Finnish team for more wisdom. Basically, the Finnish translation sounds
like a mechanized horror because all these need to be tweaked around:
"You caught the %s unit of %s attempting to incite a revolt in the town
of %s!" is an example of the more sensible adjustments I've made. It
causes me motivational problems to translate something that sounds so
horrible I wouldn't use it myself, but working with Freeciv seldom
enough is good for forgetting such misthoughts and getting some work
done instead. ;)

--Sini