Hebrew translation

Report translation and localization issues
Posts: 3
Joined: 31 Dec 2006

zshtadler

Hi,
The Hebrew translation needed significant corrections. Having a Right-to-Left
screen required changing the words left and right, text based arrows ("->"),
and a few other corrections.
How can I contribute these changes? I see no way to attache a file to message
in the forum...
Zeev
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Posts: 7040
Joined: 9 Dec 2007

Zenju

There shouldn't be any changes with regards to left and right. I cannot say
what the current hebrew translation does at all places, but I would hope that
"left" and "right" are consistently translated without switching their
meaning!
If there is indeed some mismatch, this should probably be handled at the GUI
level.
Are there any specific items that seem not correct?
Posts: 3
Joined: 31 Dec 2006

zshtadler

I wish I could upload a screen shot, but I can't.

When choosing the Hebrew language, the entire window flips left and right. The
items on the menu show on the right, the "Compare" button and the left pane
shows on the right, the "Synchronize" and right pane show on the left.

As a result, when the English text says "left" the Hebrew text must say
"right" to correspond to the actual window layout.
The same applies to the translation of "Update ->" and "Mirror ->>" that
should look like "<- update" and "<<- Mirror".

In short, I have a new version of the "hebrew.lng" file with several
corrections that will clarify the use of FreeFileSync to Hebrew readers. If
there is a way to do contribute it to the project, please let me know how. If
there is no interest in it, just say so.

Thanks,
Zeev
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Posts: 7040
Joined: 9 Dec 2007

Zenju

> I wish I could upload a screen shot, but I can't.
You can upload the file to some image hoster and post the link here.

> When choosing the Hebrew language, the entire window flips left and right.
Hebrew is a Right-to-left language, right? So this is the actual design.

> As a result, when the English text says "left" the Hebrew text must say
"right" to correspond to the actual window layout.
This is not easy to get right, in particular if you consider that a large
number of internal status variables and configuration data would need to be
switched. Having the source code littered with additional conditional
statements would not only degrade code quality but also introduce the risk of
bugs.

Therefore FFS does not switch the meaning of left and right at any place. When
it comes to user interface the relevant controls are simply not switched to
keep everything consistent. Everything else is switched by default.

> I have a new version of the "hebrew.lng" file with several corrections that
will clarify the use of FreeFileSync to Hebrew readers.
As mentioned above this problem cannot be addressed on the translation level,
but the underlying data structures would also need to be swapped.
So currently I consider the only possible errors if the direction shown on GUI
is not in sync with the hebrew text.
Posts: 3
Joined: 31 Dec 2006

zshtadler

Hi,

Here is a sample screenshot in English
[404, Invalid URL: http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/4577/freefilesyncenglish.png]

and the equivalent window in Hebrew
[404, Invalid URL: http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/1189/freefilesynchebrew.png]

As expected in a right-to-left language, the GUI was transposed for right-to-
left. For example, the "source" directory moved from left to right.

Now the contents of the texts must be adapt accordingly. Every English text
that uses "left" to refer to the "source" must say "right" in Hebrew. In my
understanding this is a solution fully contained within the translation file.

Similarly for textual arrows. For example, the "->>" arrow in "(Mirror ->>)"
must be reversed for Hebrew: "<<- מראה", like this:

[404, Invalid URL: http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/3687/freefilesynchebrewfixed.png]

I hope a picture is indeed worth a thousand words :-)

Zeev
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Site Admin
Posts: 7040
Joined: 9 Dec 2007

Zenju

2011-08-09 11:23:41 GMT

> Every English text that uses "left" to refer to the "source" must say
"right" in Hebrew. In my understanding this is a solution
> fully contained within the translation file.
Basically there are two fundamental solutions for implementing a RTL language:

1. FFS's current way: Swap everything except what is dependent on "notions of left and right", i.e. left and right grid, direction buttons etc. This solution is consistent in itself. The only drawback I see right now is that the default direction for "mirror" is not "convenient", because one may want to have the source on right.

2. Have everything (!) swapped automatically and replace "left and right" in the translation. There are a few practical problems with this approach:
- Not everything which needs to, can be adapted at a translation level, for example the values in the configuration XML file will specify a sync direction of "left" while the GUI will show the opposite.
- Some controls don't play nice and look twisted:
[404, Invalid URL: http://image-upload.de/thumb/Tr2jUr/3e68a814b8.jpg]

The problems with 2 are not unsolvable, of course. The first issue with the
configuration files may be tolerable since they are managed by the app only
most of the time. But I cannot say how much effort it is to fix the twisted
constrols. On the pro side, there is only a nicer default sync direction for
mirror.