GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 681813
i18n enhancement - SI Units
Last modified: 2012-08-15 07:56:14 UTC
Not all localizers have a scientific background, making SI Units and SI-derived Units not always obvious. Adding a translator's comment linking to lang-en wiki page for the units is a quick and easy way to improve the quality of the L10n you will get. For instance the SI-derived unit of absorbed radiation dose (Gray) is easily confused with the color and the SI unit of time (second) can be confused with a description of order (i.e. first, second, third) As an example, I have used this trick extensively with musical instrument names in the TamTam music suite from Sugar Labs. Important Note: It is desirable to append a white-space character after the URL to prevent URL parsers of various translation tools from performing a "greedy" parsing which can result in a broken link by grabbing too many characters. I have included suggested links in-line below as they would appear in the final PO file. #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampere #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:306 msgid "A (ampere)" #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becquerel #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:307 msgid "Bq (becquerel)" #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candela #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:308 msgid "cd (candela)" #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coulomb #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:309 msgid "C (coulomb)" #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degree_Celsius #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:310 msgid "°C (degree Celsius)" #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farad #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:311 msgid "F (farad)" #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_%28unit%29 #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:312 #| msgid "gray" msgid "Gy (gray)" #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_%28unit%29 #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:313 msgid "H (henry)" #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hertz #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:314 msgid "Hz (hertz)" #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joule #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:315 msgid "J (joule)" #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelvin #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:316 msgid "K (kelvin)" #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilogram #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:317 msgid "kg (kilogram)" #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumen_%28unit%29 #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:318 msgid "lm (lumen)" #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lux #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:319 msgid "lx (lux)" #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:320 msgid "m (meter)" #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mole_%28unit%29 #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:321 msgid "mol (mole)" #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton_%28unit%29 #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:322 msgid "N (newton)" #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohm_%28unit%29 #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:323 msgid "Ω (ohm)" #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal_%28unit%29 #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:324 msgid "Pa (pascal)" #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radian #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:325 msgid "rad (radian)" #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:326 #| msgid "second" msgid "s (second)" #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siemens_%28unit%29 #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:327 msgid "S (siemens)" #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steradian #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:328 msgid "sr (steradian)" #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sievert #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:329 msgid "Sv (sievert)" #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_%28unit%29 #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:330 msgid "T (tesla)" #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katal #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:331 msgid "kat (katal)" #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volt #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:332 msgid "V (volt)" #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watt #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:333 msgid "W (watt)" #. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weber_%28Wb%29 #: ../goffice/gtk/go-format-sel.c:334 msgid "Wb (weber)"
I'd like to add some clarification on the value of this enhancement request. A non-scientist localizer can click on the wiki link, going to the English language article. Because SI Unit articles are well represented across many Wikipedias, the localizer can look up their language name on the interwiki links in the left hand navigation bar from English WP and go directly to the orthologous article in their own language where they will easily be able to copy/paste the localized name of the unit with a high level of confidence that it is correct (these articles, by their nature, being prominent and generally well maintained). Even a non-speaker can fill in these units in this way, but it is obviously preferable that this simple and hopefully obvious process be performed by a native speaker, but it significantly reduces the scientific background required to obtain a good translation.
Chris, you might also provide the patch, btw.
I not really a coder (anymore), more of a string wrangler. If I have any more extensive suggestions (and I might), I'll try to provide as a patch.
Created attachment 221230 [details] [review] add SI-Unit i18n hints
Jean, I can't promise I got the patch right, but I have given it my best shot.
You just need to put a comment just before the string to translate in the .c filre. For the first, just insert this line: /*See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampere*/ Things should work.
(In reply to comment #6) > You just need to put a comment just before the string to translate in the .c > filre. For the first, just insert this line: > > /*See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampere*/ > > Things should work. Did you look at the patch I attached earlier? https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=681813#c4
This problem has been fixed in the development version. The fix will be available in the next major software release. Thank you for your bug report.