Hi, I’ve been working on the Czech translation of Delta Chat for the past few weeks and wanted to discuss a minor language change.
When you click/tap the reactions badge on a message, a modal pops up with a list of users who put a reaction on the message. At the bottom of this modal there is a button that currently says “OK” (locale key “ok”), which sounds okay-ish in English, but looks very out of place for the current translation in Czech (“Potvrdit”), which implies more strongly an action of confirmation. The translation would be correct for most places where “OK” appears, but not this one in particular.
Since there is really nothing to confirm in this modal - it is more an informative element than anything - I wanted to discuss whether the button’s label should be changed to “Close” (locale key “close”). Or maybe I should change the translation to something less like confirmation and more like “I’m fine with this”? I’m mostly looking for input on what this looks like in other non-English translations.
first of all, thanks a lot for taking care about Czech translations and again, sorry for things being a bit rough here and there. we do not have many resources left to care for translations infrastructure and things.
on topic: as we have dialogs with an “X” in the upper right corner only, i think, that is the way to go here as well.
otherwise, we could do the change, for single buttons dialogs “OK” and “Close”, and their translations should both be okay. traditionally, pairs are “OK/Cancel” “Yes/No”, “Continue/Back” - and for single buttons “OK” or “Close”
however, “OK” should also not being translated as “Accept”, “Save” or “Confirmed”. looking at Signal’s Czech translations, they just use “OK” (as in many other languages :), Signal-Android/app/src/main/res/values-cs/strings.xml at main · signalapp/Signal-Android · GitHub - i checked some other larger apps, that seems not to be unusal. but at the end, this is up to the translator, i do not want to suggest that change, esp as there are already two other solutions above
first of all, thanks a lot for taking care about Czech translations and again, sorry for things being a bit rough here and there. we do not have many resources left to care for translations infrastructure and things.
No need to be sorry, it’s understandable and I’m happy to take part!
I just think it’s important to flesh out the details in first impressions so that Delta Chat can grow beyond the tech-savvy circles, so these comments are just my way of trying to help with that. I hope I’m not nagging too much
as we have dialogs with an “X” in the upper right corner only, i think, that is the way to go here as well.
I think this is a good idea. I’ve looked around what other messengers have and saw this trend as well, so I’m all for this.
however, “OK” should also not being translated as “Accept”, “Save” or “Confirmed”. looking at Signal’s Czech translations, they just use “OK” (as in many other languages :), Signal-Android/app/src/main/res/values-cs/strings.xml at main · signalapp/Signal-Android · GitHub - i checked some other larger apps, that seems not to be unusal. but at the end, this is up to the translator, i do not want to suggest that change, esp as there are already two other solutions above
Good point, I’ll probably just revert to “OK” as well. It’s in any case better than the pretty informal “Souhlas” that was in there originally (and would also not be a good fit in the case of the reactions modal).
I know this is both tangentially related and creates more work for translators, but I’d like to throw my hat in the ring for following the recommendation on button labels from the old OS X Human Interface Guidelines:
The label on a push button should be a verb or verb phrase that describes the action it performs—Save, Close, Print, Delete, Change Password, and so on.
— OS X Human Interface Guidelines (2008-06-09), p. 260
This is as opposed to yes/no, ok/cancel, and things like that. Choosing to use a verb or verb phrase to label a button is important because it makes it clear to people using the software what action happens when they click the button. If they have to read and re-read the dialog text to figure out whether “no” means “delete the thing” or “don’t delete the thing,” it increases the odds that they’ll make a mistake and be upset with the software.
yip, we know about that and this is what we try to do for newer dialogs, esp. when they’re used frequently (see eg “Delete Message”, “Delete Chat”, “Leave Group” confirmations)
(on iOS this pattern is used more than on android/desktop, as the wide buttons in the action sheets cry for that
You know… I really like the word Ok (it’s not even a word that’s more), but I like it only because it doesn’t take up much space within small screen of mobile devices (there’s a chance if you start using the word Potvrdit it will easily crawl out of the interface).
In general, try to use 99% Czech words, taking into account the context, it will be more fair and honest towards Czech users.
Translation is a creative matter and it is not always necessary to follow the main translation word for word (although personally, for probably more than 6 years, I have been translating DeltaChat applications, the site, and every time I want to follow the translation 100%, but it is not always necessary or possible!
So if necessary, feel free to use (as me) rus:Подтвердить - cz: Potvrdit, Согласен - Souhlas and others for the interface of the language you want to represent.
and again, sorry for things being a bit rough here and there. we do not have many resources left to care for translations infrastructure and things.