Re: Ticket 4: better i18n

Hi,

Le 29/06/2010 22:16, Dave Page a écrit :
> On Tue, Jun 29, 2010 at 9:14 PM, Guillaume Lelarge
> <guillaume(at)lelarge(dot)info> wrote:
>> [...]
>> This patch allows for a better internationalization. The big issue we
>> had was with the use of the GetTranslatedTypeName() method. I add a
>> GetTranslatedMessage for each object and each collection, so that the
>> translation will be better. I tried with the french one, and it really
>> is a lot better. Issues of this patch: adds quite some code lines, and
>> adds many messages to translate (around 400). But the result is the good
>> one. At least, I think so :)
>
> I'm not sure I understand the issue. Can you give an example?
>

Sure, you're right. An example would be better.

See this line of code:

text = wxString::Format(_("Are you sure you wish to drop %s \"%s\"?"),
data->GetTranslatedTypeName().c_str(),
((pgServer*)data)->GetFullIdentifier().c_str());

On a table named "t1", text will have this value:
Are you sure you wish to drop table "t1"?

Which is good english. But, once translated in french, it gives:
Êtes-vous sûr de vouloir supprimer table "t1"?

Which is bad french. Because GetTranslatedTypeName returns "table" in
french, which is the right translation of the single word table in
english, but not in a complete sentence. It should be:
Êtes-vous sûr de vouloir supprimer la table "t1"?

On a trigger named "tr1", text will have this value:
Are you sure you wish to drop trigger "tr1"?

Which is good english. But, once translated in french, it gives:
Êtes-vous sûr de vouloir supprimer trigger "tr1"?

Instead of the right sentence:
Êtes-vous sûr de vouloir supprimer le trigger "tr1"?

So, in some languages, we would have a great deal of problems if we put
simple translated words in an otherwise complete sentence. We have to
give really complete sentences to translate, so that specific language
syntax is respected. For example, word order could be different in other
languages (though I don't have any example in the messages I found in
pgAdmin with the french language).

Hope it is better explained. But I'm not sure it really is :-/

Hmmm.. better idea, a copy/paste from PostgreSQL manuel :)

#

Do not construct sentences at run-time, like:

printf("Files were %s.\n", flag ? "copied" : "removed");

The word order within the sentence might be different in other
languages. Also, even if you remember to call gettext() on each
fragment, the fragments might not translate well separately. It's better
to duplicate a little code so that each message to be translated is a
coherent whole. Only numbers, file names, and such-like run-time
variables should be inserted at run time into a message text.

(see
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.0/static/nls-programmer.html#NLS-GUIDELINES)

--
Guillaume
http://www.postgresql.fr
http://dalibo.com