| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Statistics about language length Thread poster: Madeleine MacRae Klintebo
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Samuel Murray 
Netherlands
Local time: 07:18
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| If you want to illustrate | Mar 8, 2008 |
Madeleine MacRae Klintebo wrote:
I'm trying to put together a case which I intend to put to my company's website designers. I'm somewhat fed up with being told: your translation is TOO long.
If you only want to illustrate your point, try putting the shoe on the other foot. Tell then to take the menu of any program, and imagine that the developer wants all texts to be 30% (+1 character for fractions) shorter.
In my browser, I have this:
File
New tab
New window
Open
Save as...
Sessions
Import and export
Print
Print options...
Print preview
Work offline
Exit
Create a little input box form in HTML with JavaScript that warns if the text is too long, and see if they can do it.
Can they reduce "Import and export" (17 chars) to 12 characters? Well, you can trim it down to 14 characters by changing "and" to "&", or you can trim it down further by using a slash, as in "Import/export", but that's still 13 characters (one too many). Then I guess the only solution is "Imprt/Exprt".
"New tab" (7 chars) could become "N tab" (5 chars, which is exactly right). "New window" (10 chars) can't just become "N window" (one character too many), so it would have to be "N windw" or similar.
Don't use too many ridiculously short examples, so that they can see it is often possible to come up with creative solutions, but sometimes it is just nearly impossible.
| | | | | Great idea, Samuel | Mar 9, 2008 |
Samuel Murray wrote:
If you only want to illustrate your point, try putting the shoe on the other foot. Tell then to take the menu of any program, and imagine that the developer wants all texts to be 30% (+1 character for fractions) shorter.
Great idea, I'll definitely try it out. Getting the designers to compress "New window" to "N windw" and then asking them to justify how this, from in marketing perspective, would be good for our site...
| | | | juvera
Local time: 06:18
English to Hungarian
+ ...
| Not only websites | Mar 10, 2008 |
The problem exists in other areas with restricted text spaces, for example: instructions displayed on printers.
It amazes me that with dozens of years of experience and hundreds of new variations of printers behind them, the manufacturers fail to recognise that "stop" isn't going to be four letters in all the desired languages they want their printer's instructions displayed, "poll" can be as many as 12 letters, and if you shorten it, it could mean three different things, and a thre... See more The problem exists in other areas with restricted text spaces, for example: instructions displayed on printers.
It amazes me that with dozens of years of experience and hundreds of new variations of printers behind them, the manufacturers fail to recognise that "stop" isn't going to be four letters in all the desired languages they want their printer's instructions displayed, "poll" can be as many as 12 letters, and if you shorten it, it could mean three different things, and a three line English instruction may run into four and a half lines if properly displayed.
The ridiculous part of it is that often there would be plenty of space to create the proper display, but the restrictions posed by the boxes they provide unthinkingly for the display causes the problem and forces translators to provide truncated words and expressions barely recognisable.
Of course, the reverse can happen as well, the translation of "protective earth circuit" may happily fit into 10 characters, but that tends to be the exception to the rule. Needless to say, they always have enough space to display all 24 characters in English.
[Edited at 2008-03-10 14:48] ▲ Collapse
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