[Localization] [Important] Translating strings for the ActivationServer

[info at olpc-peru.info]

Alex,

My comments INSIDE the lines with GREEN color...

Regards,

Javier


Alexander Dupuy wrote:
> 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.
*ok, understood.  You are talking about "activation leases".  Why you 
want to use shorter words or shorter sentences for all? (don't 
answer!)... you are using the last word of the concept: leases.  In 
spanish, and in all translations, we need to translate the meaning, not 
the words.  And we need to adapt to local use (I am saying something you 
know... sorry).   What we must do is to use the word "activation" for 
the short form of "activation leases".  Remenber that we, spanish 
speakers ("castellano"  language speakers), we put the noun first and 
the adjetive at the end.  We say "car white" and not "white car".  So, 
if I am not wrong, "lease" is the noun and "activation" is a modifier 
(not an adjetive)... so following the rule the previous rule we ARE 
talkiing about LEASES, what kind of leases? Activation leases.  That is 
the reason because you are talking about "leases".

But, I can not explain why in this case is different, in spanish talking 
we are talking about "activation leases" in this sense: about what we 
are talking? ACTIVATIONS... what kind of activations? Activations that 
provide a lease...

If all this is a gramatical nonsense, just follow any simple native 
speaking person: I say "hey, brother... I will give you an "activation" 
(una ACTIVACION)... he will say: activations? ok... what are you going 
to give me? what activations? when? where? when?.  He think he is going 
to receive something.  Oposite sense, you tell this latino andean man: 
"hey bro, I am going to give you a "lease" ("cesion", "concesion", 
"prestamo","lote","parte")...."... this man will look without ANY answer 
in his face because he has never use or heard the word "concesion" or 
"cesion"... and if it has been used it is related to mining activities 
(very bad activity in the eyes of many andean communities) or 
telecomunications business (that are nationally seen as an ofense to the 
whole country...).

So we need to talk about "ACTIVACIONES" and that solve all, everybody 
will understand that when you give "activations" you will get a slice of 
time or some rights... you were will be "activated" by the "activation 
server"... straight concepts.*
> 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)
>
*Sounds much better, more sense: "Usted no tiene autorizacion para pedir 
ACTIVACIONES de este tipo"
*
> The requested leases are ready for download.
> Las concesiones pedidas son listas para descargar.
Las ACTIVACIONES pedidas ESTAN listas para descargar.

*Please don't argue about "son" and "estan".  The verb "are" has two 
meanings in spanish, according to the fact that is permanent "son" or 
temporal "estan".  No spanish native language person would say "son 
listas para descargar" (sorry if it sounds pretentious).
*
>
> You have not yet made any lease requests.
> Usted todavía no ha pedido ninguna concesión.
>
*Usted no ha pedido ninguna activacion
*
>> /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")./
>>
> 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
*Historia de solicitudes DE activaciones y claves
(fix that "para"...it is not correct)
*
> (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")
>
*Nope.  In any case that "para" is correct.  If I say that sentence in 
front of my parents they will believe that the "solicitudes" are for 
some person named "concesiones" and other person named "claves"... I 
mean they, my fathers are not computerized in any term...... they will 
look at me to check if the money they have spend in my education has 
vaporized... or I am trying to develop some kind of new poetry style... 
if I say "solicitud de concesiones y claves" they will not look at me 
because it is a normal common sentence.

*
> Developer key request
> Solicitud para clave de desarrollador
> (this might be an entry in the history)
*Solicitud DE clave de desarrollador
*
>
> 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?) /
>>
>>     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"?
>
*uhmmm.... crazy thing.. we have adopted the name... we call it an 
"USB"... just that.  I have heard that in some "nerd" or "techie" 
circles (!) there are many different names... specially in young 
computer science students... next time that I visti the "computer store" 
I will ask the vendor all the names that are in use here in Peru... but 
I am TOTALLY sure that we don't use the word "key" (llave) to do 
reference to the "USB"s...
*
>> /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?/
>>
> 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.
>
*I would use "Codigo de Identficacion"... but if you want to "create" a 
noun.. ok... UUID will be name of the "Authorization code"...  no problem.

But, let me tell you that in spain they think that some devices are 
masculine (el portatil)... here in Peru (I would say in all andean 
countries) we use more soft ways to talk, more humble, more subtle... so 
we like to put femenin nouns to some devices... and the computer is "LA 
computadora" (in the country of Spain is "EL computador").  So.. now you 
have a problem: are you using "spain spanish" or "latino spanish" ? I 
think is the last one that is been used in this translation.. so it is 
"computadorA portatil" and it should be "Codigo... DE LA portatil"...
*
>> /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.

*Ok, it goes in the same sense than my previous comment.
*
>
> 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.  

*Correct.  100%
*
> 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.
> *
> *
*Vd was used by the conquerors.. around 1530... until 1890-1900... not 
so archaic.. but old enough!

rules:
a) NEVER abbreviate, never, never, never.  It is a lack of good manners 
(you are trying to honor the other person and you don't have time to put 
his whole title? you put Dr. and not "Doctor" ?  "Usted" is "Usted" and 
not "Ud."  This abbreviations were very common until 100 years ago.  
Today they are used ONLY by some burocrats of middle level that want to 
sound like pretenders.

b) "Usted" goes with capital initial letter if it is at the beginning of 
the sentence.  Never put "Usted" in the middle.  It is like trying to 
put more elegance in a sentence, or give more honor to the reader.  But 
it is OLD fashion that is banned in this moment of the correct writing 
rules... hold on...

** Here is some info from the web that confirm the education my fathers 
pay (thanks pa! thanks ma!)

**/ 4.° Los tratamientos, y especialmente si están en abreviatura, como 
Sr. D. (señor don), U. o V. (usted), V. S. (usía), etc. Usted, cuando se 
escribe con todas sus letras, no debe llevar mayúscula; también domina 
el uso de minúscula con señor y don en igual caso.
_http://www.avizora.com/publicaciones/literatura/textos/mayusculas_minusculas_espanol_0047.htm_/

Best regards,

Javier
*


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