Who decides what are good translations war: Update German translation.

[Julian Rüger]

Hi all,

looks like I'm late to the first translations "flamewar" in my time. :)

> "Anwendungsentferner" reminds me at Germans "Trolls" that refuse to use
> well known english terms which are solely used in the area of computer
> and software. So they are a  technical/special terms in German.

This is actually the first time someone told me I was translating too
much. I've only had the opposite ("too Denglish") before.

> The term  "Anwendungsentferner" you will find  in wine only ...

The Gnome or Mate Projects (German translation teams) for example are
way more radical with their "no English phrases/terms if at all
possible". There are many German phrases you'll only find in Gnome/Mate.

I always try to find a good balance, keep a formal yet natural tone that
"feels right", use common English terms and try to avoid translations
that would make it harder to understand. (see the release announcements
for examples of the last bit, no use inventing words for DirectWrite
features and friends)

To comment on the uninstaller example, I kept "uninstaller" in the error
messages (familiar to technical people and the command itself is not
translated either) but for the title, "Anwendungsentferner" tells you
exactly what it does, even newbies and tech-illiterates.
(Btw, I didn't even introduce that term, it was there before I became
the main German translator)


> People familiar with computers may consider the English "Uninstaller"
> more natural. A proper German translation may be better for those not so
> familiar. I don't think all this matters very much though. IMO it should
> just be left as it is. The ubuntuusers.de wiki already started using the
> translated name to refer to the uninstaller.

Good point.


> More generally, I suppose Wine sticks with the first translation offered
> unless there are issues.

Wine has been a do-ocracy (regarding translations at least ;) up to this
point. I've had many difficult cases where I don't feel really satisfied
with a translation even though it was the best thing I could come up
with. I very much welcome suggestions.

In case we can't agree on something, I like a friendly discussion and
consider myself very open to rational arguments. 


Sorry for the long post, btw.. ;)

Have a nice weekend everyone!
Julian