German Localization

[tapbots]

German localization - Use this to coordinate your work, probably best to work on one strings file at a time.

[cadonau]

Hi everybody,
please forgive me if I’m not doing this correctly; I’m fairly new to collaborating on GitHub.
I only glanced at most files but noticed a couple things.

Second Person Forms

I noticed that some used the more formal, so called polite forms for the second person singular and plural. I think that Apple nowadays uses the more direct, less formal «du/ihr». But it should at least be consistent throughout the app.

Flavors of German

Some strings could even be further adjusted to e.g. de-CH, de-AT.

de-CH (Switzerland)

• «ss» instead of «ß»
• «Are» instead of «Ar»
• «Hektare» instead of «Hektar»

Edit: I split the concrete suggestions into a separate pull request: #16

[schmuecker]

In some cases, 'tape' is translated as 'Beleg', which means something like a receipt as far as I know. "Beleg per Email versenden" doesn't make much sense if you want to refer to the history of calculations.
Wouldn't be 'Verlauf' a better translation?

[tapbots]

Obviously I'm not a german speaker, if you think it's more consistent, please go ahead and make the changes. Thanks

[cadonau]

I’m intending to update the following remarks as I work through additional files:

English (U.S.) Terms

• Meter vs. Metre: It seems that the spelling “…metre” is used. Personally, I’d wish for “…meter”, at least in an en-US variant.

German Translations

App

Localizable

Basic and Main

I’m not sure in what context “Basic” and “Main” would appear. I’m assuming as themes. In that case, they could be translated as prefixes “Grund-” and “Haupt-” to “Schema”, as in “Grundschema” and “Hauptschema”. By themselves, it’s difficult to translate them as distinct terms, i. e. not using “Standard” over and over.

Model

Angle

Mil

I think Mil could be translated to “Artilleristischer Strich” (“Artilleriepromille” in Switzerland). However, this would make it more ambiguous, as 6400 units equal 360 degrees due to rounding.

Area

acre

Acre could be translated to the old fashioned “Acker”. But as “Acker” hasn’t been standardized, it would make it ambiguous.

Mass

Pound vs. “Pfund”

Pound could but should not be translated to “Pfund”. “Pfund” is understood as 0.5 kg. I suggest introducing Pfund separately.

German Layout

App

Localizable

Failed to Restore Purchases

(Still too wide? Couldn't reproduce.)

Show All Conversion Results

(Too wide in portrait mode)

[tapbots]

Meter vs. Metre: In the US it shows up as Meter, everywhere else that's in English it'll show up as metre.

Basic/Main are both strings used in the Mac version. Main shows up in the "Window" menu and is just the name of the Calculator window. "Basic" shows up in the "View" menu and is basically an option to toggle between that and Scientific mode.

Acre/Mil, less ambiguity is best, so maybe leave them as Acre/Mil?

Thanks for pointing out the strings that are too wide, I'll take a look at them.

[cadonau]

That is weird. My normal setting should be US English, yet I’m seeing Metre. I’m guessing the region format messes with it. (Looks fine on Mac though, with same preferences.)

Duh. I will then purchase the Mac version to check whether I have messed up the strings I couldn’t find in the iOS version. Is there a Mac Beta channel as well?

Yes, I think it’s probably best to leave those units as is.

By the way, I’m testing the iOS version on an iPhone 5s (portrait mode). There might be enough space on other devices for the mentioned strings.

[cadonau]

Basic/Main: Looking at the Mac app now, I translated Basic to “Standard” (#36). As for Main, wouldn’t it make sense to rename it to Calculator (“Rechner”)? I tried to find other apps using Main. I’m sure they exist, but I couldn’t find one right away. However, I noticed that almost all just name the windows somewhat less generic (after the app or after what’s displayed in them). Else, I would translate it to “Hauptfenster”[as was done in #43]/“Haupt-Fenster”, as in Main Window, which—I’m suspecting—would then have to be adjusted as well (in order not to state “Haupt-Fenster Fenster”).

[cadonau]

I’ve managed to reintroduce myself to the context again. Before I jump ahead and look through everything I haven’t been able to, I need some clarifications about some changes I noticed. It seems that “Imperial” is handled differently.
I think that wherever there is more than one unit with the same name (such as gallon), the default unit—which, I’m assuming, is always the US version—needs a specifier in German as well (such as “(US)”) if the German dictionary [I’m using Duden Online] is ambiguous about it.
With the new handling, however, I’m unsure where I would have to introduce that.

I also noticed that on an iPhone 5s (Build 36081) any indication about differences is absent.
Further, gallon is abbreviated as “g” in the Fuel section (not as “gal.” as elsewhere); “g” can be confused with gram.

[tapbots]

US version will never have a "modifier" as part of it. So a "Gallon" is always considered a US Gallon, unless it's a UK Gallon in which case it'd have that "Imperial" modifier. Not really any ways around that without I'm guessing a good deal of changes.

The symbol abbreviations for US are fine, I don't think folks will confuse gallon for gram in context, and those need to be short. That being said they aren't getting localized which is a problem and I'll have to get it addressed in a future update. Ugh.

[rocketnoise]

Hi

Would it make sense to work with superscript and footnotes or things like macrons and/or carons to indicate imperial units?

I'm not sure if any of the signage out of the Unicode Set might come in handy.

Just as food for thought...
Cheers

On 27 May 2015, at 17:25, Tapbots notifications@github.com wrote:

US version will never have a "modifier" as part of it. So a "Gallon" is always considered a US Gallon, unless it's a UK Gallon in which case it'd have that "Imperial" modifier. Not really any ways around that without I'm guessing a good deal of changes.

The symbol abbreviations for US are fine, I don't think folks will confuse gallon for gram in context, and those need to be short. That being said they aren't getting localized which is a problem and I'll have to get it addressed in a future update. Ugh.

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

[cadonau]

US version will never have a "modifier" as part of it. So a "Gallon" is always considered a US Gallon, unless it's a UK Gallon in which case it'd have that "Imperial" modifier. Not really any ways around that without I'm guessing a good deal of changes.

If I understood you correctly, I have removed all “(US)” specifiers in the German translations [89c76d8], so that it doesn’t all of a sudden say “Gallone (US) [Imperial]”. As long as both versions (“Gallone” and “Gallone [Imperial]”) are side by side, it’s not too ambiguous.
However, in the version I’m currently using on iOS (Testflight 21100) I can’t see the “Imperial” modifier. Thus, it’s impossible to distinguish one from the other.

[cadonau]

I have now looked through all files regarding the German translation at least once.
It would be great to have somebody else review all changes I’ve made (and everything else) as well. [Though some pull requests are still open: #44, #45, #46, #47.]
Also, the layout still needs to be checked.

[tapbots]

Sorry for the late reply, there's a new build working its way through TestFlight review. Should be available sometime tomorrow.

[cadonau]

Thank you. It looks pretty good, in my opinion. Of course, some of the units’ full names are quite small.

Since the Apple Watch is now also available in Switzerland and I was lucky to get one on launch day (6/26), I'm able to test it there as well. (I love Tip Calc!)
Unfortunately, I couldn't get the app to display in German on the Watch.

Also, I'm having an issue in the iOS app (21007) unrelated to localization. The title for Tape/History doesn't switch correctly. Same thing for the corresponding Clear/Email Tape/History menu entries.