Survey for Ubiquity localization

How can we localize this set of commands in Italian (see Mitcho’s post)?

1. search HELLO
2. search HELLO with google
3. translate HELLO from English to French
4. lookup the weather for PLACE
5. shop for SHOES with Amazon
6. email HELLO to Bill
7. email HELLO to ADDRESS
8. map PLACE
9. find HELLO
10. tab to HELLO or switch to HELLO tab

1. cerca HELLO

Italian uses the same order of English, so this one is easy.

2. cerca HELLO su google

First minor problem (see also this comment): do you search “on” Google, “with” Google or “in” Google? The form “cerca su” (“search on”) is probably the most used nowadays. Note that the object is placed between the verb (cerca) and the preposition (su).

3. traduci HELLO da inglese a francese

Removing definite articles maybe gives a little less natural feeling (“da inglese a francese” instead of “dall’inglese al francese”), but it still sounds good.

4. controlla meteo di PLACE
5. compra SHOES su Amazon

Same order and structure of English, just need to find the most appropriate verbs (for example, you “check” the weather or “display” weather conditions?).

6. email HELLO to Bill
7. email HELLO to ADDRESS

These two commands are quite problematic to localize:

• we don’t have a single Italian verb for “to email”
• you can “send (or write) an email to someone”, the tricky part is to include the object (HELLO)

If “HELLO” is an object (like a map, a selection or a link), the structure “send this by email to someone” is ok:

invia HELLO per e-mail a Bill/ADDRESS

What if HELLO is a text, like “email «good luck» to Bill”? In this case the proposed structure sounds weird, but honestly I can’t find a better structure (any suggestion out there?).

6. invia HELLO per e-mail a Bill
7. invia HELLO per e-mail a ADDRESS

8. cerca mappa di PLACE

Since we don’t have a single verb equivalent to “to map”, we can use something like “search map of”.

9. trova HELLO

Same order of English.

10. passa alla scheda HELLO

“Tab to HELLO” is almost impossible to translate, while “switch to HELLO tab” has a different order in Italian (equivalent to “switch to tab HELLO”).

This is the final result, hopefully with chances of improvement on 6 and 7

1. cerca HELLO
2. cerca HELLO su google
3. traduci HELLO da inglese a francese
4. controlla meteo di PLACE
5. compra SHOES su Amazon
6. invia HELLO per e-mail a Bill
7. invia HELLO per e-mail a ADDRESS
8. cerca mappa di PLACE
9. trova HELLO
10. passa alla scheda HELLO

1. search this with google
2. translate this to French
3. bookmark this tab

The only problem in these 3 commands is the lack of a single verb for “bookmark”, which can be changed to “add to bookmarks”. The correct form is “aggiungi questo ai segnalibri” (“add this to bookmarks”).

1. cerca questo con google
2. traduci questo in francese
3. aggiungi questo ai segnalibri

Technorati Tags: ubiquity, l10n

Localizer: Follow That Address!

A brief follow-up to the previous post: after the discussion held in mozilla.dev.l10n, a new pseudo account has been created in Bugzilla (see bug 484645) to track changes that affect the localization process in an earlier stage.

If you’re a localizer, maybe it’s a good choice to follow that account: in BugZilla’s Preferences, open the Email Preferences panel and add community@localization.bugs to the User Watching list.

Technorati Tags: community@localization.bugs