GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 348539
EOG "Counter-Clockwise" should be "Anti-Clockwise" in en_GB
Last modified: 2006-08-06 01:10:21 UTC
Incorrect translation Application: EOG Incorrect text: In the Image menu, and in the icon toolbar, the translation says "Rotate Counter Clockwise" Should be: Rotate Anti-Clockwise
Oh dear, not again. The original text should be changed to something else so that localisation is not required. I'm also not sure why Counter clock wise is an unsuitable English, can you provide a reference?
http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=anticlockwise Main Entry: an·ti·clock·wise Function: adjective or adverb chiefly British : COUNTERCLOCKWISE In my experience, "anticlockwise" is in much heavier use than "counterclockwise" in the UK. (Googling for "site:uk counterclockwise" gives 27000 hits, "site:uk anticlockwise" gives 135000.) On the other hand, the OED doesn't mention a US/UK distinction between the terms.
There is no benefit to having two different translations British English and American English and since it can be avoided in this case and both terms are acceptable I'd strongly advise this suggestion be rejected. Little avoidable changes like this just cause confusion and inconsistencies later on (like in documentation) so it is better to avoid them. The reference you provided is confusing, and seems to suggest the opposite of what you ask. The reference says Counter Clockwise is more British and less used in American. Are you actually asking to change the American one to use Anti-clockwise?
It seems to me that rather than wanting to reject this change, you're actually saying that you don't believe the en_GB translation should exist at all. Is that right? You misunderstand the reference. "an·ti·clock·wise: chiefly British : COUNTERCLOCKWISE" means that this entry, "anticlockwise", is a chiefly British variant of "counterclockwise".
AFAIK, there is a en_GB translation for EOG, and if there isn't there should be. Every other program has one. Wikipedia - "The opposite sense of rotation is anti-clockwise (UK & Aus) or counterclockwise (U.S. and Canada)." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterclockwise Also, the Ubuntu Australian Translation Team wiki says that Anti-Clockwise is used in Australia too - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/AustralianTranslationTeam I would know what we use in Britain, as I live there.
> believe the en_GB translation should exist at all It has to exist for words like colour/color, that is unavoidable however differences should be kept to an absolute minimun no sense in creating extra work. Also and somewhat of a tangent the infrastructure sucks and instead of being able to split up all the English locales into two categories (American and British) we would need to create a seperate en_* for each place English is spoken. We should try to pick one phrase and stick with it. The final decision is up to the EoG maintainer but I strongly discourage creating unnecessary differences like the one suggested here.
I suppose you could change the string to rotate left, and clockwise could be rotate right. I don't see how this is such a big issue really.
(In reply to comment #7) > I suppose you could change the string to rotate left, and clockwise could be > rotate right. I happen to like that idea a lot and have suggested it before but I had no way to prove it was any better or worse than any other label. > I don't see how this is such a big issue really. It really isn't, but it is one of many. (Other examples we have is Trash/Wastebasket when we could probably have just Recycle bin. some applications use Favorites/Favourites but using another term like Bookmarks avoids the problem entirely. there are more examples, but these are just a few I can remember.)
Alan, your crusade doesn't make much sense at all. Most the the translation to en_GB are scripted, not done line-by-line by humans. So it makes absolutely no sense to try and wedge a sentence into something that doesn't have to be translated when we can use a sentence that will be perfectly fitting for both American English and British English (for the subjects at hand). I've added "counterclockwise" -> "anti-clockwise" translation to en_GB.pl 2006-07-31 Bastien Nocera <hadess@hadess.net> * en_GB/en_GB.pl: add "counterclockwise" -> "anti-clockwise" translation However, EOG mispells "counterclockwise" in 2 words.
(In reply to comment #9) > Alan, your crusade doesn't make much sense at all. I may have put too much emphasis on this specific case but I hope you are not saying you believe it doesn't makes sense to fix the upstream American text wherever possible? > Most the the translation to en_GB are scripted, en_GB is not the only en locale that uses British spelling, and maintaining additional localisations for all is impractical. From Ireland to Jamaica there are English speaking users who cannot simply choose their locale and get the expected British spellings. For applications strings the translation may be mostly automated but is it yet automated for manuals and other documentation? Fixing upstream gives us one less thing that can go wrong. (Perhaps of more interest to you would be to cut down on redundant work since the Canadian English translators are very active and they seem to share almost all the British spellings.) > will be perfectly fitting for both American English and British English (for > the subjects at hand). Again I do admit focussing too much on this example but characterising this as a crusade seems like criticism of more than just this instance. I will thank you to continue to try and fix upstream where possible, and not discourage me for taking an interest. > I've added "counterclockwise" -> "anti-clockwise" translation to en_GB.pl In any case I much prefer "Turn Left" and "Turn Right" but until such time as there are stock gtk items for rotation there will be no clean way for me to maintain such a change on my own, so I will explore that route instead. Confirming report. I'll leave it to whoever commits the change to EoG to close it.
2006-08-06 Bastien Nocera <hadess@hadess.net> * en_GB.po: Update British English translation. Make sure that Counterclockwise is Anti-clockwise in proper English (Closes: #348539)