Hi english and debconf message experts,
Christian PERRIER <bubu...@debian.org> wrote:
> MOst of Debconf interface (and specifically the most common one,
> dialog) show note synopsis as a "title". That explains why a fulle
> sentence with a verb is mostly viewed as inappropriate.
Uups. I just tried with DEBIAN_FRONTEND=dialog, and what I get looks
like this:
┌─────────────────────────────────┤ ├────────────────────────────────┐
│
│
│ TeX configuration cannot handle the system paper size Monarch
│
│
│
│ Your system-wide paper size is set to Monarch. However, the TeX
configuration system cannot handle this paper │
│ size for all programs.
I assumed that there would be the package name between the ──┤ ├── at
the top, but it isn't. Which means that after the wording change
>> -_Description: TeX configuration cannot handle the system paper size
>> ${libpaperPaper}
>> +_Description: Unmanageable system paper size (${libpaperPaper})
it is hard for the user to understand what the dialog is talking about -
they need to read to the second sentence in the second paragraph before
finding the information that this is about TeX.
Doesn't that mean we should reword the english short description again?
And after adding a mention to TeX somewhere, we'd end up somewhere near
to "System paper size not manageable by the TeX configuration" (note that
'TeX' only would be technically wrong). Quite near to the initial
phrase...
Moreover, I don't see why the title cannot be a short sentence, in
particular since IIRC there are frontends that display only the short
description. But it seems I am in a minority position here.
> That may differ in German, but I think that most German translators
> have stick to that "rule" (which is described in the DevRef).
Hm, I don't read that there. There's no specific rule for error
templates, but for some types, sentences are explicitly requested. For
notes, it's said to be a title, and notes are near to errors. But I
don't see why a good short error description shouldn't be a sentence.
>> >> msgid "Unmanageable system paper size (${libpaperPaper})"
>> >> msgstr "Nicht verwaltbare Systempapiergröße (${libpaperPaper})"
>> >
>> > This is correct, but I find it horrible to read in German. Is there any
>> > rule no to use a short sentence like "systemweite Papiergröße kann nicht
>> > eingestellt werden"?
[...]
>> In German, the original translates quite well to what I suggested above,
>> although I didn't remember the original wording. Whereas the
>> translation of the changed english phrase sounds ugly and quirky to me.
>> I would expect such a wording in an administrative decision, written by
>> a clerk that doesn't care about language at all.
>
>
> Hard for me to comment, here..:-)
>
> My very limited knowledge of German shows me a translation that
> parallel to what we did in French. At least in French, I think this is
> both understandable and quite normal wording but it may differ in German.
It's understandable, and it may even be common. But then it's common
because there are lots of people, in particular in technical fields (and
in that sense, administration is technical, too) that don't care about
language... That doesn't make it less ugly to me, but ugly is a word
that expresses a taste...
Regards, Frank
--
Frank Küster
Sprecher B90/Grüne OV Miltenberg und Umgebung
VCD Miltenberg, ADFC Aschaffenburg-Miltenberg
Debian Developer (TeXLive)
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