Subject: Re: [PATCH] po/hi.po: Add Hindi Translation

From: Ramkumar Ramachandra <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2010 13:25:15 +0530

Hi Antriksh,

Antriksh Pany writes:
> Nice to see some Hindi around here ;P
> 
> A few comments inline.

Thanks for the wonderful feedback! :)

> >  #, c-format
> >  msgid "insanely long template name %s"
> > -msgstr "टेम्पलेट का नाम बहुत लंबा है: %s"
> > +msgstr "टेम्पलेट %s का नाम बहुत लंबा है"
> bahut -> atyant?

Yes, definitely. बहुत did feel out of place here.

> >  #, c-format
> >  msgid "insanely long symlink %s"
> > -msgstr "प्रतीकात्मक लिंक बहुत लंबा है: %s"
> > +msgstr "प्रतीकात्मक लिंक %s बहुत लंबा है"
> Same suggestion: bahut -> atyant?
> Also, dropping the 'है' might be crisper and closer to the English version.

Okay.

> >  #, c-format
> >  msgid "cannot copy '%s' to '%s'"
> > -msgstr "'%s' का नकल '%s' नहीं बना सके"
> > +msgstr "'%s' का अनुकृति '%s' में नहीं कर सके"
> ka -> ki

Ah, yes. Gender ambiguity in Hindi. I also felt it should be की. Can
you explain why though? '%s' a noun here; have you chosen it to be
feminine? But अनुकृति is a noun as well, and quite obviously
feminine. Is that why?

> >  #, c-format
> >  msgid "ignoring template %s"
> > -msgstr "टेम्पलेट को उपेक्षा कर रहे है: %s"
> > +msgstr "टेम्पलेट %s का उपेक्षा कर रहे है"
> ka -> ki

Similar confusion- I'd like an explanation if possible. उपेक्षा is a
verb, and I'm not sure how it transforms when gender is afflicted on
it. I have chosen टेम्पलेट to be masculine- do you think it should be
feminine?

> >  #, c-format
> >  msgid "insanely long template path %s"
> > -msgstr "टेम्पलेट का आकार बहुत लंबा है: %s"
> > +msgstr "टेम्पलेट %s का आकार बहुत लंबा है"
> Again: bahut -> atyant. And again, 'है' could be dropped perhaps.

Ok.

> >  #, c-format
> >  msgid "not copying templates of a wrong format version %d from '%s'"
> > -msgstr "'%s' से गलत स्वरूप संस्करण %d का टेम्पलेट नकल नहीं कर रहे है"
> > +msgstr "'%s' से गलत स्वरूप संस्करण %d के टेम्पलेट्स के नकल नहीं कर रहे है"
> Had changed नकल to अनुकृति earlier. Not doing that here?

While नकल is definitely the easier word to use, it's a verb. अनुकृति is
a noun on the other hand- I had to introduce it into the previous
sentence because "Make a नकल of X in Y" would be technically
incorrect.

> >  #, c-format
> >  msgid "insane git directory %s"
> > -msgstr "खराब गिट निर्देशिका %s"
> > +msgstr "%s खराब गिट निर्देशिका है"
> I think the first one was better.

Ok.

> Having gone through this, I find it hard to think that anyone is
> really going to use the Hindi translation. Any Indian who would be
> involved with git would almost certainly be involved with it in the
> English language, particularly given that some of the Hindi words are
> fairly hard to follow. Also, when it comes to the Sciences (and in
> particular, Computers) Indians (at least the Hindi speaking
> population) have directly adopted the English versions instead of
> seeking appropriate Hindi ones.

I understand.

> If we are going to have a hindi.po, I think it may be altogether
> better to drop the unusual Hindi words, and literally use the English
> word written in Hindi.. the way you did for words like 'templates',
> 'link' etc. Other candidates could be 'directory', 'format',
> 'version', 'copy', 'symbolic (link)', 'group', 'read', 'write'. I know
> that translation for the last few words are not complicated. However,
> the subtle meanings of these words in the context of computers gets
> lost when translated in Hindi. (For example, 'read' and 'write', while
> being similar to real-life usage, have in fact taken very specific
> meanings in the context of computer science.)

A number of my friends pointed out the same thing. I don't completely
agree though. In my opinion, the translations are really just fun, and
give the user a warm feeling- it's quite unlikely that a person
(atleast Indian) who doesn't understand English will use Git in the
first place.

Personally, I find English words written in Devanagiri script quite
annoying: there is really no elegance or point in translating "Could
not stat copy of symbolic link" to "सिम्बोलिक लिंक का कॉपी स्टाट नहीं कर
सके". A person who uses hi.po is doing it mainly for recreational
purposes, and we'd like to give that person a beautiful and elegant
experience, instead of dumbly writing all the nouns in Devanagiri
script and inserting a few trivial filler verbs.

While I probably took this too far with words like निर्देशिका, I'd like
to be able to find some kind of compromise- I'll submit another
revision shortly using a combination of real Hindi words, English
words written in Devanagiri script, and English words expressed
plainly (like "[stat]").

I wasn't joking when I said that I don't know Hindi. I've never used
applications that speak anything but English, and have never been
involved with translation before. Thanks for poking- I'll email some
Indians involved with translation projects hi.po and ask them for
feedback.

Thanks.

-- Ram