[Xfce-i18n] Translating Panel and grammar difficulties

[Jasper Huijsmans]

Alexander Toresson schreef:
> 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.
> 

Hi Stavros, Alexander,

I read all xfce lists, except when I'm moving to a new house ;-) If 
anyone send me something in the last three weeks, please send it again, 
because I probably missed it.

Back to the problem at hand, it is possible to use a special gettext 
feature to distinguish between two different uses of the same English 
text. I will have to look it up again, but it works something like this: 
instead of using _("text"), I add a modifier Q_("menu|text"). Then in 
the translation you can use msgstr "menu|translation" and gettext will 
do the right thing.

I think I already used it somewhere else, but I'm not 100% sure. You 
will have to tell me about these issues of course, because I have no way 
of knowing beforehand.

I'll have a look at this one.

Thanks,
	Jasper

> Regards, Alexander Toresson
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