[Xfce-i18n] Translating Panel and grammar difficulties

[Alexander Toresson]

On 11/26/05, Stavros Giannouris <stavrosg2002 at freemail.gr> wrote:
> Hello Jasper & list;
>         I don't know if you read xfce-i18n, but I'm CC-ing you to grab
> your attention anyway ;-).
> I have a problem with the Greek translation, which may affect some
> other languages, too.
> In the attached picture, it is the right click menu you get on the
> seperator, and the seperator properties dialog translated. I've circled
> "Seperator", or "Διαχωριστικό" in Greek.
> The problem is that while this form is correct for the dialog box, it
> is grammatically wrong as it is in the right click menu.
> Instead, the menu should have been "Ιδιότητες Διαχωριστικού"
>
> The same applies to almost all panel items, like launchers, pager,
> etc.
> Is there any other translator facing a similar problem?
>
> The first workaround I can think of is to give each menu entry its own
> string in the .pot file, so people can translate it correctly instead
> of the "%s Properties" one-for-all that there is now.
> Can anyone else think of a better way?
>

I'm facing the same problem when I'm gonna translate xfce 4.4 (which I
won't do until it begins to reach a releasable state). A translation
with the current method would result in "Separator Properties" being
translated into "Avgränsare Inställningar", while the correct one is
"Inställningar för avgränsare". I think your idea of adding extra
string for the menu entries and dialog boxes is a good idea, btw.

Regards, Alexander Toresson