[Xfce-i18n] When a string change is needed

Vincent mailinglists at vinnl.nl
Wed Oct 7 21:53:10 CEST 2009


On Wed, Oct 7, 2009 at 8:39 PM, Steve Dodier <sidnioulz at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> It is clear that in every application, we sometimes have to modify a
> string: we made a typo, we didn't use the most explicit phrasing, etc. In
> these cases, I noticed XFCE developers were more reluctant to do such
> changes (of course not when there is an actual typo :p) than other
> application developers I've met. I think this is because of the fear that it
> takes time to be translated again.
>
> I think one thing that can drastically help translators to quickly review
> those not-so-new strings is to make sure they don't need to understand why
> there is a new string and in what context it is. This is why I propose
> adding a line to the suggestions to developers page: when a developer has to
> change a string, (s)he could put a comment of the following form:
>
> # TRANSLATORS: string changed for reason <reason>, it previously was <old
> string>.
>
> This will sometimes make it much clearer why a string changed, and it will
> help to get in context (and for translators who don't use daily builds, to
> use their application's current translation as they see it as a base for the
> new translation).
>
> Cheers, SD.
>

Also, especially now with Transifex updating a single string isn't that much
work, I can usually fit that in easily. If developers really feel bad about
it they could also opt to have people mail the translated sentence to them
and commit it themselves ;-)

-- 
Vincent
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