Placeholders, code strings, variables and plural tokens

Placeholders, code strings, variables and plural tokens

The segments that you will translate will include generic words as well as code elements and tags that inject formatting and variable data into the text. It is important that you ALWAYS have full tags displayed.


How to display full tags in Phrase

In all Tableau tasks, it's important to understand what the tags/placeholders represent. To be able to do that, always make sure that the tags are fully visible.

To view the full tags in Phrase (for UI tasks), please go to Three line menu in the upper left corner in Editor → Edit → Tags → and Expand Tags must be toggled on. Alternatively, use shortcut Ctrl+Shift+E.

How to display full tags in Trados Studio

To see full tags in Trados Studio (for UA tasks), go to View menu in the main toolbar in Editor and select Full tag text option.

Placeholders

Placeholders are typically used to:

•       Introduce formatting (such as bold or italics).

•       Represent hyperlinks and clickable/active elements.

Placeholders come in pairs and they enclose certain part of text. The placeholders within the pair are not interchangeable.

Examples:

❗Important notes

Code strings

Strings in this category are usually left in English:


Variables

The variables are used to propagate variable (usually real-time) data into the strings. Different types of information can be represented by variables: full date, day, month, year, number, unit of measurement, first name, last name, company name, design/picture/file name, product name, pieces of code, etc.

When localizing strings containing variables, try to find out what will replace the variables. This is necessary for the sentence to be grammatically correct when the variable is replaced with a word or phrase. Note that the letters used in variables convey a specific meaning, see examples below: 


%d, %ld, %u, and %lu means <number> 

%c means <letter> 

%s means <string>

Plural tokens

!Note! This section has a localized version in the Style Guides.

Plural tokens allow for more natural phrasing than constructions like "1 hour(s)". Plural tokens are used in strings that contain a number followed by a noun and allow authors to write one translatable string, and display different outputs at runtime: it can be “zero”, one (singular), two (dual), few (paucal), many, other. 

English, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, and Greek distinguish one singular form and one plural form:

·        I walked 1 kilometer

·        I walked 1.5 kilometers

·        I walked 0 kilometers

·        I walked 10 kilometers

 

Also French and Portuguese have one singular and one plural form, but with differences from English:

French:

 

Portuguese:

 

Many Asian languages (for example, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese), Turkish and Hungarian use only one form of the noun, regardless of the preceding number.

Hungarian:

 

Other languages use one singular form and multiple plural forms - three, four or more different forms of the noun, depending on the number: Arabic, Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Slovenian, Russian, Ukrainian, Arabic, Latvian, Lithuanian, …)

Slovak:

How to translate plural tokens (cardinals)

❗Note: All the translatable parts will be in green for easier understanding.

Here is how strings with plural tokens look like in the translation kit. (The below examples follow the javascript pattern. Other programming language may differ.)

en-US: Due in {count, plural, one{# day} other {# days}}

or

en-US: “Update {XXXX_COUNT, number} {XXXX_COUNT, plural, one {key} other {keys}}”

XXXX represents item names, for example: PUBLISHED_ITEM_COUNT, ERROR_COUNT, ITEM_COUNT, KEY_COUNT, and others.

At runtime, 2 different strings will be generated:

•                 Update 1 key (if the variable KEY_COUNT equals to 1 – singular form)

•                 Update 3 keys (if the variable KEY_COUNT does not equal to singular form, the other option in this case)

 

In French: “Mettre à jour {KEY_COUNT, number} {KEY_COUNT, plural, one {clé} other {clés}}”

Runtime: Mettre à jour 1 clé

Runtime: Mettre à jour 3 clés

 

XXXX_COUNT is the token name: do not translate it

plural is the token type: do not translate it

one and other are selectors: do not translate them

number is the type for KeyCount: do not translate it

key and keys are the nouns that get combined with the number at runtime: do translate

Additional examples:

In this example, the token value is represented by #

en-US: You have {count, plural, one {# message} other {# messages}} in your inbox

At runtime, this message will display as:

You have 1 message in your inbox
 You have 17 messages in your inbox


In the following example, numeric selectors are used in addition to textual selectors like ‘one’ and ‘another’.

en-US: This application uses {count, plural, =0 {no authentication methods at all} one {one authentication method} =2 {a couple of authentication methods} =12 {a dozen authentication methods} other {# authentication methods}} 

At runtime, this message will display as:


 

❗Important!

Translators of languages that do not use the plural form for nouns combined with numbers can use the same noun form for both selectors – please raise a query in case of uncertainty.

Languages with multiple plurals need more selectors and more than 2 forms for plural – selectors to be provided by the client. Please contact your PM/LA if more selectors are needed for your language.

 

Gender and number concordance

English verb forms do not vary with the gender of the subject noun and some verb forms are identical for singular and plural.

English adjectives too do not vary with the gender of the noun and are identical for singular and plural.

Translating plural tokens can be challenging. However, to solve gender and number concordance issues, parts of the sentence can be moved inside the token.

Example – Adjective:

en-US: “Update {KEY_COUNT, number} public {KEY_COUNT, plural, one {key} other {keys}}”

fr-FR: “Mettre à jour {KEY_COUNT, number} {KEY_COUNT, plural, one {clé publique} other {clés publiques}}”

 

In this example, not moving the adjective inside the token would generate a grammatically wrong sentence at runtime.

WRONG: “Mettre à jour {KEY_COUNT, number} {KEY_COUNT, plural, one {clé} other {clés}} publiques”

 

Example – Verb + Adjective:

en-US: “{KEY_COUNT, number} public {KEY_COUNT, plural, one {key} other {keys}} will be updated”

 

fr-FR: “{KEY_COUNT, number} {KEY_COUNT, plural, one {clé publique sera mise à jour} other {clés publiques seront mises à jour}}”

Runtime: 1 clé publique sera mise à jour

Runtime: 3 clés publiques seront mises à jour

Token value represented by #:

en-US: You don't have any expense reports in the past {NUM_MONTHS, plural, one {# month} other {# months}}.

Runtime:

 

it-IT: Non sono presenti note spese {NUM_MONTHS, plural, one {nell'ultimo mese} other {negli ultimi # mesi}}.

Negations

English can express negations by simply adding the word "no", without altering the sentence order. Other languages may need to change the sentence order or add more words. In those cases, you can move parts of the sentence inside the token.

How to translate plural tokens (ordinals)

English uses four different suffixes for ordinal numbers

·        This is your 1st message.

·        This is your 2nd message.

·        This is your 3rd message.

·        This is your 4th message.

 

Other languages may use fewer or more suffixes

Strings with ordinal tokens may look something like this:

en-US: This is your {position, selectordinal, one {#st} two {#nd} few {#rd} other {#th}} message.

If you find a token similar to selectordinal, please ask your PM/LA.

Here is a short video to show you how to display what will the string with plural token look like at runtime. Written instructions are below the video.

ICU Editor_how to.mp4

💡TIP - Display how a string will look at runtime

You can use an online ICU Message Editor to display how the English and translated sentences will look like at runtime.

Go to 🔗https://format-message.github.io/icu-message-format-for-translators/editor.html

To preview the source segment

 

To preview the translated segment

In the Message box, copy and paste the translated segment or translate the text in black in the English segment. Only translate the text in black. Review the previewed translated segment.


How to copy strings with tags from Phrase

Since it is not possible to copy strings from Phrase Online (or Desktop) editor with tags directly and paste them to online ICU Message Editor, you need to download the translated *.json file from Phrase first. To do it, go to “Document → Download Target File”:

Then open the downloaded *.json file in any text editor. We recommend using Notepad++ (🔗https://notepad-plus-plus.org/downloads/) or similar.

Find a string you want to copy to online ICU Message Editor and copy the whole string from the “message” line (or “sourceMessage” line if you want to copy the source English string):

 Dos and Don’ts

•               Do not translate the token name, token type, and selectors.

•               Do not add or delete any selectors.

•               Do move words inside the token if necessary.

•               Do ask your PM/LA for clarifications if you don’t understand how the string will be rendered at runtime.

•        Do ask your PM/LA if you don’t know how to handle strings with plural tokens. Strings can be much more complex than those in the  examples.

•               Do inform your PM/LA if your language needs more selectors.

References

🔗https://cldr.unicode.org/index/cldr-spec/plural-rules