RFC: Three dots or Unicode ellipsis character

[Francois Gouget]

On Wed, 3 Jul 2013, Francois Gouget wrote:
> 
> Wine uses three dots (...) rather than the Unicode ellipsis character 
> (…) except in the Czech and Taiwanese translations that use the Unicode 
> ellipsis character.
> 
> I think we should be consistent but the question is which to use.

Ah found it. Akihiro Sagawa had sent me a link to Microsoft's Language 
Portal with language-specific Style Guides:

https://www.microsoft.com/Language/en-us/StyleGuides.aspx

The Japanese one says:
   In Japanese, use three half-width periods as used in the source text.

So that settles it. While I was at it I also checked for some other 
languages:

Simplified Chinese:
   English (...) is used in both software and document localization.

Traditional Chinese:
   English (...) is used in both software and document localization.
   Keep in mind the following when using ellipses/suspension points:
   If a UI containing ellipses appears in a descriptive string or 
   procedural steps, you could omit ellipses.
     Click "About..." for more information. 
     如需詳細資訊,請按一下 [關於]。 
     "About..." is a UI. When it is enclosed in [ ], ellipses should be 
     omitted.

Czech:
   Ellipsis is commonly used both in English and Czech UI to denote a 
   control (such as a push button or a menu item) that invokes a dialog 
   window where the user enters additional input (such as Browse... = 
   (+) Procházet...). Please that due to compatibility concerns, the 
   ellipsis character (ALT+0133) should not be used in these cases. Use 
   three dots instead.

   When quoting such UI items in text (software controls as well as 
   documentation), the three dots are omitted entirely.

   Example: (-) Klikněte na tlačítko Procházet...
            (+) Klikněte na tlačítko Procházet.
   Note that any standard punctuation (except period) that is required 
   by the syntax of the sentence, should still be added after the 
   ellipsis. In Czech localized texts, it is recommended to avoid using 
   the ellipsis entirely.

   Note: The (-) denotes what not to do and the (+) what should be done.


I think these style guides are going to be a great resource for 
translators...


-- 
Francois Gouget <fgouget at free.fr>              http://fgouget.free.fr/
       Be careful of reading health books, you might die of a misprint.
                                 -- Mark Twain