[isf-wifidog] Some stuff regarding translations

Mer 19 Oct 10:50:11 EDT 2005

Max Horváth wrote:
> Hey,
>
> I'm glad for the responces.
>
>> I'd like to throw in my $0.02 on things like this. Certain words have 
>> a "proper" spelling, and especially for public facing pages, we need 
>> to use words that the general public will understand.
>
> Yes, this IS important for the final 1.0 release. AS I said, I'm 
> compiling a list of words that came across while translating WiFiDog.
>
>> 1) Hotspot is the accepted spelling, and it should only be 
>> capitalized when used in a title or used to start a sentence.
>
>> 2) People don't understand "node". I'm not talking about you and me, 
>> or even our friends. I'm talking about Joe and Jane Schmoe on the 
>> street. If they come across something having to do with Wi-Fi, they 
>> will really only understand the word "hotspot" or "hotzone" since 
>> they are what the press uses and what companies use. If you say 
>> "node" to them, they'll look at you funny.
>
> Well, here in Germany I see hotspot spelled HotSpot all the time (so 
> to speak of commercials).
>
> How is it like over in North America?
>

Generally, "Hotspot". T-mobile actually has a trademark on "HotSpot". 
This seems like a great thing to localize!

>
>> 3) Wi-Fi should be spelled "Wi-Fi". It's a proper noun and an 
>> industry trade name. "wi-fi", "wifi" WiFi" and "Wifi" (though used 
>> like this in Wifidog) are improper spellings of the term. Wifidog is 
>> ok because its a product name and can be trademarked, but when we 
>> refer to the technology of Wi-Fi, we should do so with the right 
>> spelling and capitalization.
>
> That's right ... it's Wi-Fi. We should also take care that we spell 
> WiFiDog with 3 capital letters (but I didn't saw it written different 
> in the source).
>
>
> The best thing is that I'll be given an own branch in CVS for 
> translating WiFiDog and to clean up the spelling of some words used in 
> the english version. This is because I'll have to change some code to 
> use sprintf() due to rearranging sentences in german.
>
> Therefor I'd be very happy if someone from Ile Sans Fil or even you, 
> Dana, would assist me as soon as would have any questions or for 
> corrections.
>
> I compiled a fresh version of strings to be translated which could 
> also be analyzed regarding the english version.
>

This is great. I'm happy to help in this effort.

Also, there's a plan to clean up the HTML so that it is in a set of 
(few) HTML templates. This is something that came out of WSFII a few 
weeks ago.

I believe that the best way to localize in this instance is to:

1) have all html be localized html pages (there is an apache standard 
for this)
2) have all strings emitted by WiFiDog be localized in a localized 
sprintf way with a localization file (I'm less sure how this works, but 
should be standard too).

>> Max, thanks for going through this. This is the kind of thing that 
>> will make Wifidog into a polished software!
>
> I think so, too. ;)
>
> Regards, Max!
>
>>
>> Dana Spiegel
>> Executive Director
>> NYCwireless
>> dana at NYCwireless.net <mailto:dana at NYCwireless.net>
>> www.NYCwireless.net
>> +1 917 402 0422
>>
>> Read the Wireless Community blog: http://www.wirelesscommunity.info
>>
>>
>> On Oct 19, 2005, at 2:02 AM, Max Horváth wrote:
>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> this is about some issues I came across while translating WiFiDog 
>>> into german.
>>>
>>> First I talked to Francois and Benoit about changing some code in 
>>> WiFiDog, because some sentences need to be rearranged for a 
>>> reasonable order of words.
>>>
>>> The next thing I came across is the spelling of some words. For 
>>> example we spell the word HotSpot in this three ways: HotSpot, 
>>> Hotspot and hotspot. We need to adjust such use of words. Therefor I 
>>> will compile a list of words and post it on the list.
>>>
>>> The next thing I'd like to discuss about is the use of the words 
>>> HotSpot and node. I know that a HotSpot could(!) consist of more 
>>> than one node. But I think we should decide to only use either the 
>>> word HotSpot or node. Especially in german the translation of the 
>>> word node sounds just terrible.
>>>
>>> I think there are going to be two types of wireless networks. Single 
>>> nodes and a mesh network. In case it is a single node network I'd 
>>> like to stick to the word HotSpot, because the common visitor of a 
>>> HotSpot knows the meaning of it. Only in case of a mesh network the 
>>> word node should be used.
>>>
>>> So, I hope this is going to be decided soon.
>>>
>>> Regards, Max!
>>>
>>> -- 
>>> Max Horváth
>>> Chief Technology Officer
>>>
>>> maxspot GmbH
>>> Seestr. 73a
>>> 15711 Zeesen
>>> Germany
>>>
>>> Tel: +49 3375 / 922 79 24
>>> Fax: +49 3375 / 922 79 27
>>>
>>> E-Mail: max.horvath at maxspot.de <mailto:max.horvath at maxspot.de>
>>> Homepage: http://www.maxspot.de/
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> WiFiDog mailing list
>>> WiFiDog at listes.ilesansfil.org <mailto:WiFiDog at listes.ilesansfil.org>
>>> http://listes.ilesansfil.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/wifidog
>>
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>
>
> -- 
> Max Horváth
> Chief Technology Officer
>
> maxspot GmbH
> Seestr. 73a
> 15711 Zeesen
> Germany
>
> Tel: +49 3375 / 922 79 24
> Fax: +49 3375 / 922 79 27
>
> E-Mail: max.horvath at maxspot.de <mailto:max.horvath at maxspot.de>
> Homepage: http://www.maxspot.de/
>
>
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