[Bf-committers] Quality of translations - is this project worthwhile continueing?

[Alexander Ewering]

Hi,

I've just reviewed the German translation (well, if you can call it even
that - maybe 1/20th of all strings in Blender are translatable anyway), and
I must say that my impression is mixed.

I don't know if all translations are like this, but I can guarantee that
any German who wants to use Blender is better off taking a quick VHS course in
English than using this translated interface ;)

It's very clear from the translations that the translator had at least
one problem: an insufficient understanding of the application.

Examples:

- "Make track" -> "Make railroad" (wrong German word used)

- "Clear Location" -> "Delete Location" (translator had
   wrong understanding of "Clear" in this context)

- "View" [menu] -> "Display" (he used the word "Anzeige", though in every
   other germanized application on earth, this menu is called "Ansicht")

- Imperative forms in English are normally translated to infinitive forms
   in German - not so in this translation. The imperative forms are also
   used in German, which just sounds strange

- "Armature" has been translated to "Armatur", which means "tap" or
   "faucet" in German, NOT "control" (the intended meaning). This word
   is so special to Blender that it should be kept untranslated - same
   with "Lattice" and "Empty".

- "Plane" has been translated to the German word "Plane", which means
   "Cover". It should have been "Ebene".

- "Circle" has been translated to the German word "Zirkel", which means
   anything but circle. A "Zirkel" is a *tool* for *drawing* circles.
   Holy cow.

- Seperate words are used where compounds are mandatory ("Bearbeitungs
   Modus" instead of "Bearbeitungsmodus")

- "Shrink/Fatten" has been translated to "Scale down/scale up"

- "Shear" has been translated to "Crop"

- "Warp" has just been left as is ;)

- "Aspect" has been translated to "characteristic" ("Aspekt"), while it
   should have been translated to "Seitenverhaeltnis".

- "Convert menu" has been translated to "Menue konvertieren". This is
   even correct style this time - an infinitive is used instead of the
   imperative form. Unfortunately, the meaning is completely wrong -
   the German translation reads "Convert this menu". It should have been
   "Konvertierungsmenue". Same for "Delete menu". Nobody will every use
   this menu item because they'll be afraid of permanently deleting the
   menu :)

- "Separate" has been translated to "Separieren", which is a special term
   used in CMYK print to describe the process of getting the individual
   C/M/Y/K plates. It has nothing to do with 3D though and conveys no
   useful meaning at all. It should have been "Abtrennen".

- Wrong forms. In the "Key" menu (key means "Schluessel" in German and is
   masculinum), a neutral form of the adjectives is used, very confusing as
   the user won't know what they refer to.

- "Empty" has been translated to the literal german *adjective* ("leer") =>
   Translator didn't know what an Empty is.

[...]

This is in no way meant as an offense to the translator, who just tried to
do his best to somehow contribute to Blender. However, the fact remains that
there is a lack of quality control in the translations, and this will in
turn scare away many potential Blender users because they will think "what
the hell is the interface trying to tell me".

THEN, I would rather propose leaving it all untranslated and have people
pick the right translation from a dictionary manually.

Anyway, so that people won't say I only complain ;), I've attached an almost
completely rewritten de.po file to this mail, even though I still think this
whole translation thing should be kept out of releases until the
translations themselves are more mature and revised, and the number of translatable
strings is a *bit* more useful.

| alexander ewering              instinctive mediaworks
| xx-mail.com/instinctive     http://www.instinctive.de
-------------- next part --------------
# Copyright (C) 2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
# snts <snutlix at hotmail.com>, 2003.
#

###########################################################
###
###  Render Window
###
###########################################################
msgid "Start the rendering"
msgstr "Rendering starten"
msgid "Display edge settings"
msgstr "Zeige Kanten-Eintellungen"
msgid "Enable shadow calculation"
msgstr "Rendern mit Schatten"
msgid "Start rendering a sequence"
msgstr "Rendering einer Sequenz starten"


###########################################################
###
###  ToolBox (Popup Menu)
###
###########################################################
msgid "ADD"
msgstr "NEU"
msgid "FILE"
msgstr "DATEI"
msgid "EDIT"
msgstr "BEARBEITEN"
msgid "OBJECT"
msgstr "OBJEKT"
msgid "MESH"
msgstr "MESH"
msgid "CURVE"
msgstr "KURVE"
msgid "KEY"
msgstr "SCHL??SSEL"
msgid "VIEW"
msgstr "ANSICHT"
msgid "RENDER"
msgstr "RENDERN"
msgid "SEQUENCE"
msgstr "SEQUENZ"

###########################################################
###
###  General Messages
###
###########################################################
msgid "QUIT BLENDER"
msgstr "BLENDER BEENDEN"
msgid "Not allowed"
msgstr "Nicht erlaubt"
msgid "ERASE ALL"
msgstr "ALLES L??SCHEN"

###########################################################
###
###  General Terms
###
###########################################################

###########################################################
###
###  FileSelect Commands
###
###########################################################
msgid "LOAD FILE"
msgstr "Datei ??ffnen"
msgid "SAVE FILE"
msgstr "Datei speichern"


###########################################################
###
###  ToolBox >> ADD
###
###########################################################
msgid "Mesh"
msgstr "Mesh"
msgid "Curve"
msgstr "Kurve"
msgid "Surface"
msgstr "Oberfl??che"
msgid "Text"
msgstr "Text"
msgid "Camera"
msgstr "Kamera"
msgid "Lamp"
msgstr "Lampe"
msgid "Armature"
msgstr "Armature"

###########################################################
###
###  ToolBox >> ADD >> Mesh
###
###########################################################
msgid ">Plane"
msgstr ">Ebene"
msgid ">Cube"
msgstr ">W??rfel"
msgid ">UVsphere"
msgstr ">UVKugel"
msgid ">Icosphere"
msgstr ">IcoKugel"
msgid ">Cylinder"
msgstr ">Zylinder"
msgid ">Tube"
msgstr ">Rohr"
msgid ">Cone"
msgstr ">Kegel"
msgid ">Grid"
msgstr ">Netz"
msgid ">Monkey"
msgstr ">Affe"


###########################################################
###
###  ToolBox >> ADD >> Curve
###
###########################################################
msgid ">Bezier Curve"
msgstr ">Bezier Kurve"
msgid ">Bezier Circle"
msgstr ">Bezier Kreis"
msgid ">Nurbs Curve"
msgstr ">Nurbs Kurve"
msgid ">Nurbs Circle"
msgstr ">Nurbs Kreis"
msgid ">Path"
msgstr ">Pfad"


###########################################################
###
###  ToolBox >> ADD >> Surface
###
###########################################################
msgid ">Curve"
msgstr ">Kurve"
msgid ">Circle"
msgstr ">Kreis"
msgid ">Suface"
msgstr ">Oberfl??che"
msgid ">Surface"
msgstr ">Oberfl??che"
msgid ">Sphere"
msgstr ">Kugel"
msgid ">Donut"
msgstr ">Donut"


###########################################################
###
###  ToolBox >> FILE
###
###########################################################
msgid "New"
msgstr "Neu"
msgid "Open"
msgstr "??ffnen"
msgid "Reopen Last"
msgstr "Letztes Projekt ??ffnen"
msgid "Append"
msgstr "Anh??ngen"
msgid "Save As"
msgstr "Speichern unter"
msgid "Save"
msgstr "Speichern"
msgid "Save Image"
msgstr "Bild speichern"
msgid "Save VRML"
msgstr "Speichern als VRML"
msgid "Save DXF"
msgstr "Speichern als DXF"
msgid "Save VideoScape"
msgstr "Speichern als VideoScape"
msgid "Save UserPrefs"
msgstr "Einstellungen speichern"
msgid "Quit"
msgstr "Beenden"


###########################################################
###
###  ToolBox >> Edit
###
###########################################################
msgid "(De)Select All"
msgstr "(De)Selektiere alles"
msgid "Select Linked"
msgstr "Verkn??pfte selektieren"
msgid "Hide Selected"
msgstr "Selektierte verbergen"
msgid "Border Select"
msgstr "Rahmenselektion"
msgid "Duplicate"
msgstr "Duplizieren"
msgid "Delete"
msgstr "L??schen"
msgid "Edit Mode"
msgstr "Bearbeitungsmodus"
msgid "Grabber"
msgstr "Greifer"
msgid "Rotate"
msgstr "Drehen"
msgid "Scale"
msgstr "Skalieren"
msgid "Shrink/Fatten"
msgstr "Verduennen/Verdicken"
msgid "Shear"
msgstr "Verzerren"
msgid "Warp/Bend"
msgstr "Verdrehen/Biegen"
msgid "Snap Menu"
msgstr "Rastungsmen??"


###########################################################
###
###  ToolBox >> OBJECT (1)
###
###########################################################
msgid "Clear Size"
msgstr "Gr????e zur??cksetzen"
msgid "Clear Rotation"
msgstr "Drehung zur??cksetzen"
msgid "Clear Location"
msgstr "Position zur??cksetzen"
msgid "Clear Origin"
msgstr "Ursprung zur??cksetzen"
msgid "Make Parent"
msgstr "Mache zu Eltern"
msgid "Clear Parent"
msgstr "Eltern zur??cksetzen"
msgid "Make Track"
msgstr "Objekt verfolgen"
msgid "Clear Track"
msgstr "Verfolgen zur??cksetzen"
msgid "Image Displist"
msgstr "Bild Displiste"
msgid "Image Aspect"
msgstr "Bild-Seitenverh??ltnis"
msgid "Vect Paint"
msgstr "Vektorzeichner"


###########################################################
###
###  ToolBox >> OBJECT (2)
###
###########################################################
msgid "Move To Layer"
msgstr "Auf Ebene verschieben"
msgid "Delete All"
msgstr "Alles l??schen"
msgid "Apply Size/Rot"
msgstr "Skalierung/Rotation applizieren"
msgid "Apply Deform"
msgstr "Deformation applizieren"
msgid "Join"
msgstr "Vereinen"
#msgid "Make Local"
#msgstr "Mache lokal"
#msgid "Select Linked"
#msgstr "Verkn??pfte selektieren"
#msgid "Make Links"
#msgstr "Verkn??pfungen erstellen"
#msgid "Copy Menu"
#msgstr "Kopier-Men??"
#msgid "Convert Menu"
#msgstr "Konvertierungs-Men??"
msgid "Boolean Op"
msgstr "Boolsche Operation"


###########################################################
###
###  ToolBox >> Mesh
###
###########################################################
msgid "Make edge/face"
msgstr "Zu Kante/Fl??che konvertieren"
msgid "Fill"
msgstr "F??llen"
msgid "Split"
msgstr "Spalten"
msgid "Undo/reload"
msgstr "R??ckg??ngig"
msgid "Calc Normals"
msgstr "Berechne Normalen"
msgid "Separete"
msgstr "Abtrennen"
msgid "Write Videosc"
msgstr "Speichern als Videosc"


###########################################################
###
###  ToolBox >> Curve
###
###########################################################
msgid "Deselect Linked"
msgstr "Verkn??pfte deselektieren"
msgid "Extrude"
msgstr "Extrudieren"
msgid "Delete Menu"
msgstr "L??sch-Men??"
msgid "Make Segment"
msgstr "Zu Segment"
msgid "Cyclic"
msgstr "Zyklisch"
msgid "Select Row"
msgstr "Reihe selektieren"
msgid "Calc Handle"
msgstr "Handle berechnen"
msgid "Auto Handle"
msgstr "Auto Handle"
msgid "Vect Handle"
msgstr "Vektor Handle"
msgid "Specials"
msgstr "Extras"


###########################################################
###
###  ToolBox >> Key
###
###########################################################
msgid "Insert"
msgstr "Einf??gen"
msgid "Show"
msgstr "Zeigen"
msgid "Next"
msgstr "N??chster"
msgid "Prev"
msgstr "Voriger"
msgid "Show+Sel"
msgstr "Zeigen+Sel"


###########################################################
###
###  ToolBox >> RENDER
###
###########################################################
msgid "Render Window"
msgstr "Fenster rendern"
msgid "Render"
msgstr "Rendern"
msgid "Set Border"
msgstr "Rand setzen"
msgid "Image Zoom"
msgstr "Bild zoomen"


###########################################################
###
###  ToolBox >> VIEW
###
###########################################################
msgid "Centre"
msgstr "Zentrieren"
msgid "Home"
msgstr "Zur??cksetzen"
msgid "Z-Buffer"
msgstr "Z-Puffer"


###########################################################
###
###  ToolBox >> SEQUENCE
###
###########################################################
msgid "Add Strip"
msgstr "Neuer Strip"
msgid "Change Str"
msgstr "Str bearbeiten"
msgid "Delete Str"
msgstr "Str l??schen"
msgid "Make Meta"
msgstr "Meta erstellen"
msgid "Str Params"
msgstr "Str Parameter"


###########################################################
###
###  Menu bar
###
###########################################################
msgid "File"
msgstr "Datei"
msgid "Edit"
msgstr "Bearbeiten"
msgid "Add"
msgstr "Neu"
msgid "View"
msgstr "Ansicht"
msgid "Game"
msgstr "Spiel"
msgid "Tools"
msgstr "Extras"


###########################################################
###
###  Menu bar >> Add
###
###########################################################
msgid "MetaBall"
msgstr "Metaball"
msgid "Empty"
msgstr "Empty"
msgid "Lattice"
msgstr "Lattice"


###########################################################
###
###  Menu bar >> Add >> Mesh
###
###########################################################
msgid "Plane"
msgstr "Ebene"
msgid "Cube"
msgstr "W??rfel"
msgid "Circle"
msgstr "Kreis"
msgid "UVsphere"
msgstr "UVKugel"
msgid "IcoSphere"
msgstr "IcoKugel"
msgid "Cylinder"
msgstr "Zylinder"
msgid "Tube"
msgstr "Rohr"
msgid "Cone"
msgstr "Kegel"
msgid "Grid"
msgstr "Netz"


###########################################################
###
###  Menu bar >> Add >> Curve
###
###########################################################
msgid "Bezier Curve"
msgstr "Bezier Kurve"
msgid "Bezier Circle"
msgstr "Bezier Kreis"
msgid "NURBS Curve"
msgstr "NURBS Kurve"
msgid "NURBS Circle"
msgstr "NURBS Kreis"
msgid "Path"
msgstr "Pfad"


###########################################################
###
###  Menu bar >> Add >> Surface
###
###########################################################
msgid "NURBS Suface"
msgstr "NURBS Oberfl??che"
msgid "NURBS Tube"
msgstr "NURBS Rohr"
msgid "NURBS Sphere"
msgstr "NURBS Kugel"
msgid "NURBS Donut"
msgstr "NURBS Donut"


###########################################################
###
###  Menu bar >> View
###
###########################################################
msgid "Front"
msgstr "Vorne"
msgid "Right"
msgstr "Rechts"
msgid "Top"
msgstr "Oben"
msgid "Zoom In"
msgstr "Vergr????ern"
msgid "Zoom Out"
msgstr "Verkleinern"
msgid "Center"
msgstr "Zentrieren"
msgid "View All"
msgstr "Gesamtansicht"


###########################################################
###
###  Menu bar >> Game
###
###########################################################
msgid "Start Game"
msgstr "Starte Spiel"
msgid "Enable All Frame"
msgstr "Alle Frames berechnen"
msgid "Show framerate and profile"
msgstr "Zeige Framerate und Profil"
msgid "Autostart"
msgstr "Autostart"


###########################################################
###
###  Menu bar >> Tools
###
###########################################################
msgid "Pack Data"
msgstr "Daten einbetten"
msgid "Unpack Data to current dir"
msgstr "Daten in aktuelles Verzeichnis entpacken"
msgid "Advanced Unpack"
msgstr "Erweitertes entpacken"