[Vtigercrm-developers] A translation question (i18n)

[Kristóf KOVÁCS]

...and sorry for the much-more-than-usual typo count :)
K.

On Mon, Nov 24, 2008 at 3:36 PM, Kristóf KOVÁCS <
kristof.kovacs at onlineprojects.hu> wrote:

> Hello Tigers,
> I was talking with Dávid of CafeOpen about vTiger translations, and there
> is one issue which my team often faces with, and this is word order. Let me
> illustrate it with an example (using German instead of Hungarian to make it
> more clear, but the concept is the same).
>
> For example, in ActivityEditView.tpl there is the following code:
>
> <input title="{$APP.LBL_ADD_NEW} {$APP.Contact}" .....
>
> And this shows a button called "Add Contact". It seems all well since
> "$APP.LBL_ADD_NEW" is "Add" and "$APP.Contact" is "Contact".
>
> But "Add Contact" in German is "Kontakt hinzufügen" (notice that the words
> are in a different order). Now we have a problem since "{$APP.LBL_ADD_NEW}
> {$APP.Contact}" can not be forced to display this, and saying "hinzufügen
> Kontakt" does not sound quite right (it sounds very bad indeed).
>
> Translation quirks can circumvent some of such problems (one could write
> "Neue Contact"), but often these strings are reused at other parts of the
> code, and fixing it in one place often destroys grammar at other places.
>
> One idea would be to use printf()-like format strings to correct such
> issues, even if it may require an introduction of a now Smarty function. I'm
> thinking along the lines of something like this:
>
> {a_smarty_printf_function
> $APP.ADD_NEW_SOMETHING_FORMATSTRING, $APP.LBL_ADD_NEW, $APP.Contact}
>
> Then, in english, the .lang file would read:
> [...]
> 'LBL_ADD_NEW' = 'Add',
> 'Contact' => 'Contact',
> 'ADD_NEW_SOMETHING_FORMATSTRING' => "'%s %s", // Very simple format string,
> no surprise here
> [...]
>
> And in german, it would be:
> [...]
> 'LBL_ADD_NEW' = 'Hinzufügen',
> 'Contact' => 'Kontakt',
> 'ADD_NEW_SOMETHING_FORMATSTRING' => "'%2$s %1$s", // Notice how I used "1$"
> and "2$" to access arguments in different order
> [...]
>
> I don't feel it elegant enough (but more elegant than the original), so
> comments, suggestions, ideas, better solutions are very much welcome. Please
> all brainstorm this ever the next coffee. :o)
>
> Kristóf
>
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