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Bug 141389 - "Poste de travail" is a bad translation for "Computer"
"Poste de travail" is a bad translation for "Computer"
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Product: l10n
Classification: Infrastructure
Component: French [fr]
GNOME 2.6
Other Linux
: Normal normal
: ---
Assigned To: Christophe Merlet
French Translator Team
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
 
Reported: 2004-04-29 14:03 UTC by Antoine Pitrou
Modified: 2006-10-23 20:29 UTC
See Also:
GNOME target: ---
GNOME version: 2.5/2.6



Description Antoine Pitrou 2004-04-29 14:03:15 UTC
The "computer" icon on the desktop is called "Poste de travail" in French.
However it's a bad translation, as it implies you are using Linux at work (not
at home or anywhere else). A less socially tainted translation would simply be
"Ordinateur".
Comment 1 Kjartan Maraas 2004-04-30 12:15:38 UTC
Moving to right product.
Comment 2 Pascal Terjan 2004-05-01 08:24:19 UTC
I agree, "Poste de travail" litteraly means "Workstation" while "Ordinateur"
means "Computer". However I think that "Poste de travail" lost some of its
relation to work (but less than workstation did).
Comment 3 Antoine Pitrou 2004-05-01 11:44:46 UTC
There is also a problem with "Places" in Nautilus. It has been left as "Places"
in French, which is, I believe, a "faux-ami" (how do you say that in English ?
;-)). However I think here the problem is in the original naming. The "Places"
menu itself is some kind of place where unrelated stuff has been thrown for lack
of a better location (what is the relationship between burning a CD, browsing
erased files, and going to the filesystem root ?). The geographic metaphor is
very bad too. When I want to burn a CD, I really think "burn a CD" not "go to
the CD burning place".

So there are three solutions for this one :
- leave the bad "Places" translation since the original is bad as well
- do a slightly better translation ("Emplacements" for example) but which will
still feel akward wrt the actual menu contents
- choose a different name instead of translating, for example "Actions" or
"Avancé" or "Outils"
Comment 4 Antoine Pitrou 2004-05-01 11:49:04 UTC
I was suggesting:

« ... do a slightly better translation ("Emplacements" for example) but which will
still feel akward wrt the actual menu contents »

In fact I'm just thinking "Raccourcis" would be a decent translation, with
respect to both the original naming and the actual menu contents.
Comment 5 Christophe Merlet 2004-05-02 20:25:37 UTC
I'm not convinced to replace "Poste de travail" by "Ordinateur". I need more
time to think about this term or more feedback from others users.

But I'm OK to replace "Places" with "Raccourcis".
Comment 6 Christophe Combelles 2004-06-05 19:55:27 UTC
I don't like "Poste de travail" at all.
It is exactly the Windows translation. And it seems to say "ok we've tried
everything but finally we revert to the Windows UI...". No!

Associate it with the default "spatial" behaviour of nautilus and the ugly
default icon for "computer" which looks like an old 486 with a 14inch CRT
display, and newcomers will have the feeling to return back to win95!

Moreover it is not explicit about its purpose.

Here are some alternatives to "Poste de travail".
single-word:
- Ordinateur
- Volumes (just like the 2.4 desktop right-clic menu)
- Media
- Stockage
- Disques (bad for network)
- Conteneurs
- Récipients (just a joke)
composed:
- Volumes de stockage

My opinion is : keep the naming compatibility with nautilus 2.4 and translate to
"Volumes", or "Volumes de stockage". Or find something else ot something better.

regards
Christophe
Comment 7 Antoine Pitrou 2004-06-06 18:46:55 UTC
Well "Volumes" (and "Volumes de stockage") is bad since it is pure jargon (your
mother won't know what a "volume" is ;-)).

I think "Ordinateur" is the most neutral, and also the nearest to the original
term "Computer".
Comment 8 André Klapper 2006-10-09 22:31:27 UTC
any news here, guys? what's the current state here? can this be closed as obsolete?
Comment 9 Christophe Merlet 2006-10-22 11:55:35 UTC
Closed
We keep "Poste de travail"
Comment 10 Antoine Pitrou 2006-10-22 12:25:38 UTC
What is the rationale for this decision?
How is "poste de travail" a better translation of "computer" than "ordinateur"?
Is it just your personal preference or did you actually ask other people?
The other French people in this thread all expressed the same feeling vis-a-vis the term "poste de travail".

By the way, "resolution: fixed" is misleading: the bug hasn't been fixed, it's been merely ignored or proclaimed "not a bug".
Comment 11 André Klapper 2006-10-22 12:49:13 UTC
reopening. redfox, that's not an argumentation at all, and you know that.
Comment 12 Christophe Merlet 2006-10-22 13:06:32 UTC
This bug was intentionnaly open for more than 2 years.

All the gnome french translators have see this bug, and no one see a reason to change the translation.

Then I close this bug.

If you want discuss about this translation, go to the French mailing-list (gnomefr@traduc.org)

You must be registered before posting in this list
http://www.traduc.org/mailman/listinfo/gnomefr
Comment 13 Christophe Fergeau 2006-10-22 18:10:26 UTC
People are used to the "Poste de travail" terminology because of/thanks to Windows, I don't feel it will change the world if we name it differently. And it will probably make the whole thing easier to use if it's named "Poste de travail". 
Does anybody know if macosx has a similar icon and what is its french name?
Comment 14 Antoine Pitrou 2006-10-23 20:29:53 UTC
(In reply to comment #13)
> People are used to the "Poste de travail" terminology because of/thanks to
> Windows, I don't feel it will change the world if we name it differently. And
> it will probably make the whole thing easier to use if it's named "Poste de
> travail". 

I'm not sure how much relevant that argument is given that Gnome doesn't seem to try to mimick the Windows interface.

Also, let me add that "poste de travail" does not designate a "workstation" (which is, of course, a "station de travail" ;-)), but the hardware and furniture that one uses to work: the computer, but also desk and chair. It's a shame Microsoft chose such a bad wording.

Thanks for the explanation anyway.

> Does anybody know if macosx has a similar icon and what is its french name?

I've occasionnally used a Mac and, AFAIR, there was no similar icon. But I may be wrong.