Re: Question for European Java users


"Ingo R. Homann" <ihomann_spam@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:43c4c78d$0$21027$9b4e6d93@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Hi Roedy, hi Stefan!
>
> I looked at jgloss's link for the "English ? German Shortlist", which
> references Stefans web site.
>
> I must say, I am *quite* amused!
>
> Note that in Germany, it is quite common to use the english it-terms.
>
> Nearly noone would translate "world wide web", "beamer", "flip chart",
> "overhead projektor", "cookie", "hardware", "website", "flag", "laptop",
> "notebook", "software" or "upgrade". These are nowadays indeed "normal"
> german words! Especially, the Swing-related terms ("actionlistener") and
> the "Datenstrukturen" ("hashmap") are never ever translated!
>
I've never heard a coversation between German IT professionals but I expect
it would go rather like a conversation I heard once between two
French-Canadian IT professionals: roughly every second word was recognizably
an English word! Something like: "Le blocksize de la dataset est sept-mille
kilobytes".

In general, use of English words in German seems quite widespread these
days. For example, the last time I was in Germany, in 1999, I was quite
surprised to see a sign indicating a "Recyclinghof". I would assume that
there is a German word that means "recycling", although I don't know what it
is, but the Germans seem to have adopted the English word and tacked "hof"
on the end to indicate a place where recycling takes place. I also saw a
"Second-hand Kleidung" sign (or perhaps it was a different German word at
the end; in any case, it was clearly a store for second-hand clothing).

> Of course, it is possible to translate the terms, and in *some* cases, it
> might match the correct meaning. But - for example - to translate
> "software" as "Daten" is just rubbish: "a software update" - "eine
> Daten-Erweiterung"? If I heard this, I would guess, it is an extension for
> your RAM-memory. I've never heard "Streuabbildung", and if I would hear
> it, I could never guess that a "hashmap" is meant!
>
What happens in German GUIs? In a typical program written for a
German-speaking user who might not be any kind of IT professional, will the
menu bars say "File" and "Help" or will they have something like "Datei" and
"Hilfe"?

I speak a bit of German and sometimes make my GUIs multilingual just for the
practice of working with Java internationalization and localization
techniques. It would be very helpful to know what terms are commonly used in
German GUIs. Translations of the words and phrases that I see in a typical
GUI, like "File", "Edit", "Send", "Receive", "End", etc. etc., would be very
helpful for me as a developer.

The same applies to French.

I'd also be interested in differences amongst the different varieties of
German and French used in different Java locales. For instance, I've
discovered via i18n work with dates that Austrians use different names for
the months than the Germans do and that French people in Switzerland use
"octante" and "nonante" where Parisians would say "quatre-vingts" and
"quatre-vingts-dix". I imagine the French Swiss understand the Parisian
terms and are clear what they mean when they encounter them; I'm not sure if
the Parisians would understand the French-Swiss terms: perhaps they'd
understand what was meant but sneer at anyone using them as being primitive.

If anyone knows where links to information of this kind can be found, I
think they should be included in Roedy's web pages. And, naturally, if
similar information can be added for other languages, that would be great
too.

> Roedy, although I appreciate (I hope this is the correct translation for
> "schätzen") Stefan, I must strongly encourage you *not* to link this page.
>
> And Stefan, please remove that page! It is - sorry - ridiculous!
>
Rhino


.

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