[Localization] [Important] Translating strings for the ActivationServer

[Alexander Dupuy]

Javier Rodriguez writes:
> />One of the trickier terms was "lease" - rather than use arrendamiento or arriendo, 
> /
>
>     In Peru we don't use "arrendamiento" o "arriendo"... we use
>     "alquiler"... but your "lease", in the way it is used in the DHCP
>     should be something near to "prestamo" (borrowing)...
>
> />I chose concesión, which appears to be commonly used for DHCP leases, the most similar use of the termi "lease" that I could think of. Native speaker feedback is particularly welcome here/
>   
>
>     lease... "concesion" means give something to someone for a limited
>     time... but it is used for "land sales" and "telecommunication air
>     spectrum" that the government does. A better word would be
>     "cesion" that means the same ("I own this and I give it to you for
>     a moment") but it doesn't have the "gubernamental" or "telco"
>     meanings. But, please, give the whole sentence and not only the
>     word. Then I can do a better translation.
>
>     1st word: CESION would be better than CONCESION... but I am not
>     happy yet.
>

For context here, this is the web interface for the activation server 
which is intended to be used not by schoolchildren but rather by 
developers and adults working in the school system; at ministries of 
education and potentially even down to the level of schoolteachers.  The 
purpose of the activation server is to allow activation of the XO 
laptops when they are received in the target country. The Bitfrost 
theft-deterrence system prevents laptops from being used without an 
activation lease, so that even if laptops are stolen en-route to 
schools, they cannot be used. Activations are set up as (potentially 
time-limited) leases so that in conditions where children may be at risk 
of having their laptops stolen, the laptops can be set to require new 
activation leases every month or so; if a laptop is stolen, it will stop 
working when the lease expires.  If individual theft is not an issue, it 
is possible to get activation leases without a time limit; this will 
typically be restricted by policy at the country or local level.

There's a fairly elaborate system of management, whereby a ministry of 
education that is getting 10,000 laptops can delegate rights to create 
activation leases to many individuals (who would have their own accounts 
on the OLPC activation server), placing limits on the number of 
activations each may have outstanding - this would allow local school 
directors and teachers to manage these activations if needed.  In 
addition to the management of these leases, the activation server can 
also be used by developers to request a developer key allowing them to 
install an unofficial version of the XO system (which would allow them 
to bypass the activation control)

In this context, I don't see the governmental or telco meanings as a 
problem (since the laptops will often in fact be given by the 
government) but if there's agreement that "cesión" is better than 
"concesión" then we should make this change.  We certainly shouldn't use 
technical jargon when more direct terms are possible, as long as it 
doesn't distort or lose the meaning entirely.

Here are a couple of example sentences, in English and Spanish:

You are not authorized to request leases of this type.
No tiene autorización para pedir concesiones de este tipo.
(for example, you asked for a non-time-limited activation lease, but 
local policy doesn't allow that)

The requested leases are ready for download.
Las concesiones pedidas son listas para descargar.

You have not yet made any lease requests.
Usted todavía no ha pedido ninguna concesión.

> /For "request" (noun) I standardized on solicitud (rather than petición), however where practical I tried to recast in a more direct form using the verb pedir (e.g. for "hasn't made any requests for leases" I used "no ha pedido concesiones")./
>   
>
>     oopps... "Usted no ha pedido concesiones..."... sorry to say that
>     if we talk like that then the kid (peruvian kid) will have to
>     learn many spanish words (because he has never use that word
>     previously... "concesiones" is not a word that is in the
>     vocabulary of the poor children... it is a word that we, very well
>     educated people by the favor of our parents, use in very formal
>     enviroments and technical or legal issues...
>
>     2nd idea: uhmm.... "... hasn't made any requests for leases..."...
>     it can be "... no has pedido mas XXX" (sorry... what are you
>     leasing? time? IP numbers? bandwidth? illustrate me more... maybe
>     we can use the exact word (time, IP number, bandwidth and not a
>     generic word as "lease")...
>

I hope the above explanation and examples has addressed the issues you 
raise here.  Here are some concrete examples of the use of solicitud and 
pedir:

Lease and key request history
Historia de solicitudes para concesiones y claves
(in this case, "key" refers to developer keys - I am assuming that the 
English should be parsed as "(lease and key) request" rather than "lease 
and (key request)" - and using "solicitud para" rather than "solicitud de")

Developer key request
Solicitud para clave de desarrollador
(this might be an entry in the history)

Request developer key
Pedir clave de desarrollador
(this is the action that a developer would make)

> /For "password" many of the translations had used clave (de aceso) - I replaced these with contraseña, which I find more common, and which also avoids confusion with clave de desarrollador. (Although I wonder if that should be llave de desarrollador?) /
>   
>
>     llave de desarrollador? no, no, no. "clave de desarrollador" is
>     much better and makes sense, "llave" is the key that open the door
>     in a home, but we don't use "llave" for opening computers or
>     accesing to systems, etc. Keep "contraseña" or "clave"... and,
>     since we peruvians are eager to "become" americans (!).. we use
>     "password" very frequently... a problem that we will solve with
>     the royal academy of spanish language (smile)....
>
>     ok 3rd word: not "llave"... use "clave" or "contraseña".
>

OK, I think that the current translations are okay then (just fixed "un 
clave" -> "una clave").  Just as a question on llave - would you use 
"llave USB" to describe the physical USB memory stick that in English is 
often referred to as a "USB key"?

> /In one case UUID was translated as CUIT (something like a social security number?) but I don't see any benefit in using another term than UUID itself - are there any localized use cases for UUID (like DHCP leases) that could provide guidance?/
>   
>
>     UUID = Universal Unique Identifier = Codigo Universal de
>     identificacion or Codigo de Identificacion Universal... but we can
>     left the "universal" out of the game (we translated meanings not
>     words). UUID can be "Codigo de identificacion" or just "Codigo"...
>     so each XO computer has a "Serial Number" AND a "Codigo de
>     Identificacion" or "Codigo" for shortness. We need to left the
>     "tech" words out of the game... using a group of LETTERS (UUID)
>     for something that has a clear meaning and a right words doesn't
>     makes good for anyone. Systems mus be friendly and not
>     sophisticated and only understood by the "inner circle"...
>

This gets rather verbose in some cases, currently "Laptop UUID" is 
translated as "UUID del portátil" but it seems that you would prefer 
something more like "Código de identificación de computadora portátil"?  
I could see something like "Código UUID del portátil" which provides 
more information than just UUID, but I haven't made this change.

> /Based on discussion on the wiki, for "laptop" I standardized on portátil./
>   
>
>     I hope it will be "computadora portatil" and not only
>     "portatil"... we can not make a noun from an adjetive...well we
>     can but we shouldn't!
>

Perhaps we shouldn't, but others already have.  The (very interesting 
and informative) wiki page is 
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Translating/Spanish_terms, and to be honest, 
it makes a fairly strong case for "la laptop" rather than "el portátil" 
at least in the Americas.  My recollection that the most common term on 
the web was "el portátil" was based on the global numbers, which are 
strongly biased by much larger internet population in Spain.  Rereading 
this page (and looking at the wiki in general) it seems that for OLPC, 
una laptop is preferred, so I've gone back and changed the translations 
to use that.

> /... it uses both "laptop" and "machine" without any clear distinction between the terms 
> ("machine" should probably only be used when the machine in question might not be an XO laptop).
> /
>
>     I can see that in written documents once must keep some kind of
>     formal behavior.. I understand that in daily work/life we can say
>     the "laptop" and use "machine" as a generic name for those "not
>     XOs" computers.  But for written documents we can say "laptop
>     computer" (computadora portatil) and "desktop computer"
>     (computadora de escritorio).  And you need to keep same style in
>     your writing: you are using "Usted" (a very formal way to talk in
>     spanish), a more common, friendly way would be to use "tu" instead
>     of "Usted".  
>
> I hope this helps, if not... I ask your forgiveness!

Your comments were very helpful, thanks.  As for usted vs. tu; if this 
application were to be used primarily by children, the tone of "tuteo" 
might be more appropriate - as it is targeted for adults in positions of 
some authority, I think it's better to use usted.  Something I'm not 
quite sure is whether this should be abbreviated as Ud. (not Vd. - that 
is a bit too archaic!).  It seems that the abbreviation is a bit more 
formal.  If not abbreviated, should it still be capitalized if it is not 
at the beginning of a sentence?  It seems not, but it is not entirely 
clear to me.

@alex

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