L10n:Teams:hi-IN/styleguide
Hindi Style Guide[DRAFT]
Introduction
Style guides define the standard against which we determine a translation's quality. They contain rules that are both defined by Mozilla and by Mozilla's localization communities on how to best translate text in Mozilla products, websites, and other projects. By following these rules, a translator has a better chance of producing a high quality translation that represents Mozilla values and culture
why should we Localize?
Whenever we are touching a key on a keyboard for translating anything into Hindi, we are having great responsibility. The responsibility of conveying the message of any source text into Hindi is having the responsibility to convey to the millions of users. And so the problem is acute. Hindi is not just a language in India. Hindi is not just one culture of India. Combine many languages, many cultures, many dialects, many traditions – the one result you will get is Hindi. That is why it is not a simple job to define what really Hindi is? You can find different forms of Hindi from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and From Gujarat to Arunachal Pradesh. That is why translating in Hindi is more challenging job than what generally it is being seen.
what is hindi?
According to WikiPedia, Hindi is the name given to various IndoAryan languages, dialects, and language registers spoken in northern and central India (theHindi belt), Pakistan, Fiji, Mauritius, and Suriname. Standard Hindi, a standardized register of Hindustani, is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and the primary official language of the Indian Union. In the broadest sense of the word, "Hindi" refers to the Hindi languages, a culturally defined part of a dialect contin-uum that covers the "Hindi belt" of northern India. It includes Bhojpuri, an important language not only of India but, due to 19th and 20th century migrations, of Surinam, Guyana, Trinidad and Mauritius, where it is called Hindi or Hindustani; and Awadhi, a medieval literary standard in India and the Hindi of Fiji. Standard Hindi is the official language of India and is the most widely spoken of India's scheduled languages. It is spoken mainly in northern states of Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar. It is the second major language in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and is also understood in Maharashtra and Gujarat. Hindi is the official language of India. It is also the official languages for 11 states.
Who is the target user for this project and what is their background?
General Translation Guidlines
- Font
- WhiteSpace
- Accelerators
- Program Syntax, Funtions, TAGs, Placeholders
- Message Length
- Numeral
- Calender
- Honorific Usages
- Acronyms
- Product/Brand/Company Name
- Key Name
- Currency
- Dates and Times Formats
- Units and Grammar
- Units and Unit Conversion
- Domain Name
- Tense
- Abbreviations
- Punctuation
How would I express that meaning in my own language?
Terminology
Should Not Translate
- Shortcuts and accesskeys
In Firefox and other software it's possible to use keyboard shortcuts to invoke a specific command. For example, to open a file in Firefox you can press the combination of keys CTRL+O (Cmd+O on Mac). The accelerator key depends on the operative system, but the letter itself is normally localizable. This is what is called a shortcut, or commandkey. For example, the Open File… menu item is stored as
<!ENTITY openFileCmd.label "Open File…">
<!ENTITY openFileCmd.accesskey "O">
<!ENTITY openFileCmd.commandkey "o">
The commandkey is stored in openFileCmd.commandkey (sometimes the string has .key in the identifier). Normally you should not localize this key, since shortcuts are often common across the entire operative system (e.g. CTRL+S to Save) or similar products (CTRL+T to open a new tab in most browsers). But it needs to be localized if the letter is not available in your keyboard layout.
In the code fragment above you see also an accesskey defined for Open File…. Accesskeys are used to access a UI element from the keyboard. Example: if File menu has an accesskey F, and the Open file… menu has O, you can press ALT+F to access the menu, and then O to open a file.
If the label is File, and the accesskey is F, it will be displayed as "File" on Windows and Linux, with an underscored F. If the accesskey was "O", so a character not available in the original label, it will be displayed underlined between parenthesis: "File (O)".
One important thing to determine is if, for your locale, it makes sense to have localized accesskeys: for example, if most users will use a keyboard with a different layout (English), it might make sense to keep the English original accesskey instead of using a letter available in your localization.
E.g.- <html>Clear Location bar</html>
Wrong: <एचटीएमएल>स्थानपट्टी हटाएँ </एचटीएमएल >
Correct: <html>स्थानपट्टी हटाएँ </html>
Accesskeys, like commandkeys, have their own lines within .dtd and .properties files and are usually identified by .accesskey in the string ID.
- Command Key should not be translated
- Variables
Variables should never be translated. You can recognize a variable within a string by its beginning with a specific character (e.g., $, #, %, etc.) followed by a combination of words without spacing. For example, $BrandShortName and %S are variables. You can move a variable around within a string, if the translation of the string requires it.
E.g.- Changes made to the document in the last %ld second will be permanently lost.
Wrong: दस्तावेज़ में अंतिम %एलडी सेकेंड में किये गये परिवर्तन हमेशा के लिए मिट जाएँगे.
Correct: दस्तावेज़ में अंतिम %ld सेकेंड में किये गये परिवर्तन हमेशा के लिए मिट जाएँगे.
- Brands, copyright, and trademark
Brand names, as well as copyright and trademarks should never be translated, nor transliterated into a non-Latin based script. See the Mozilla branding guide for more details.
[Add a note about Mozilla culture.]
- Legal content
Mozilla projects will often contain legal content in the form of user agreements, privacy statements, etc. When reviewing the translation of legal content, Mozilla localizers should do so according to the criteria concerning accuracy, fluency, style, and terminology found within this style guide and according to Mozilla culture and values.
- Fluency
To produce a fluent translation, not only should the translation follow the language's standard grammar, punctuation, and spelling rules, but it should avoid being ambiguous, incoherent, or inconsistent, and unintelligible.
To avoid ambiguity, the translator must thoroughly understand the meaning behind the source text, including any references that text might include. For example, if the English source text uses the word, "it", the translator must know what "it" is to avoid an ambiguous translation. Clearly understanding the source text will also allow a translator to make the source text's logical connections in their own translation. This helps to keep the translation coherent.
Meaning of “it” in Hindi: यह or इस should be properly used according to the String.
E.g: It should be done. “इसे किया जाना चाहिए. ”
It will be good. “ यह सही होगा.”
Clearly understanding the source text will also allow a translator to make the source text's logical connections in their own translation. This helps to keep the translation coherent.
Inconsistency can pop up in many forms. A translator must be consistent in their use of abbreviations, references, and links within each localization project. They must also be consistent with Mozilla and the localization communities' style guides and approved terminology. Abbreviations, like terminology, should come from either a standard reference (like a dictionary of abbreviations) or should follow your language's rules for creating abbreviations. Once used, the abbreviation must remain consistent every place that it is used in the translation. Cross-references (or links) must also be consistently used within a translation. If a text contains a hyperlink URL to a support article in English, the translation should also contain a hyperlink to a translation of that support article (if available) or the English version. Links should not redirect to other pages nor should they be broken and unusable.
Finally, there are times that a translation simply doesn't make sense. It's hard to put your finger on what exactly is wrong with it, but you know it is unintelligible and not fluent. While this is uncommon, it's important to report these unintelligible translations and offer suggestions to correct them.