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Translation Guide

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Alexander Gorishnyak edited this page Jan 31, 2023 · 6 revisions

APK Editor Studio project is translated on Transifex.

Context

Some strings are ambiguous without a context (nouns or verbs, singulars or plurals, etc.). The Developer Notes section will guide you in this situation. These notes are located between the source string and the translation entry field (screenshot) and will help you to understand the context properly.

Important:

Don't forget to pay attention at the Developer Notes section to get a better understanding of a context.

Placeholders

Sometimes you will meet the %1 (%2, %3…) constructions in the source strings. They do not stand for a percentage; these are placeholders for dynamic values which will be substituted during the run-time.

Example:

  • Hello %1, how are you? will be automatically replaced with:

    • Hello John, how are you?
    • Hello Jane, how are you?

  • Background color is %1. will be automatically replaced with:

    • Background color is red.
    • Background color is blue.
    • Background color is purple.

  • Could not open %1. will be automatically replaced with:

    • Could not open file.
    • Could not open browser.
    • Could not open APK Editor Studio.

Important:

  • Do not type placeholders backwards (1% is wrong).
  • Do not add spaces to placeholders (% 1 is wrong).
  • The valid format for placeholders is %1, %2, %3 and so on.

The only exception in character order is the right-to-left languages, such as Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, etc.

Shortcuts

Sometimes you will meet the & character in unexpected places. This character does not stand for a conjunction word "and"; it binds the following letter as a shortcut key. Shortcut keys are used for a quicker access to some actions.

Example:

  • &File — binds the F key to open the File menu.
  • E&xit — binds the X key to exit the application.
  • O&pen Contents — binds the P key to open the APK contents.
  • Install &External APK — binds the E key to install an external APK.

Important:

Defining a shortcut key is up to you (you can even simply omit it), though there are some software standards for all languages.

Punctuation at the end

You will notice different punctuation marks at the end of the translatable strings:

  • Some strings end with a period (.)
  • Some strings end with an ellipsis (...)
  • Some string have no ending punctuation mark at all, etc.

This is not an overlooked typo and is done intentionally. For example, many UI guidelines describe that the actions labeled with an ellipsis at the end indicate that the further user input is needed.

Important:

Generally you should try to keep these punctuation marks as is, unless your language implies a totally different meaning for these characters.

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