A (very) brief guide to translating the NetBSD Website into German
Jan Schaumann <jschauma@netmeister.org>
We maintain the translated documents in the same directory structure as the
actual website. This makes it easy to modify the sources and stay in synch
with the rest of the site. In order to create a translation of a page, you
will either need a CVS account on our designated machine, or you can submit
CVS patches via email. If you would like to get a CVS account to commit
changes directly, please contact Jan Schaumann <jschauma@netmeister.org>.
The general procedure to translate a page is basically the same. First of
all, you will need to check out the ``htdocs'' module. To do so, please set
your CVSROOT to :pserver:anoncvs@netbsd.netmeister.org:/home/cvs
and issue the command:
$ cvs login
When prompted for a password, simply hit <return>. After this, you can check
out the module using
$ cvs checkout htdocs
This will create a directory ``htdocs'' in the current directory and store all
the files in this directory. Now change into the directory ``htdocs/de'',
which is where the German documents live.
If you have encountered spelling errors or want to change anything else (for
example, adjust a link), simply edit the file with your favorite editor.
To translate a new file, please first make sure that nobody else is working on
this file. We usually try to post who's working on which files to
http://www.netmeister.org/misc/netbsd/. If nobody appears to have
claimed the section you intend to translate, please send an email to
netbsd-docs-de@cs.stevens-tech.edu to inform the other
translators.
Copy the file(s) you wish to translate into place from the english directory
tree - you may need to create directories accordingly. For example:
$ pwd
/home/you/htdocs/de/
$ mkdir foo
$ cp ../foo/* foo
$ cd foo
When you edit the files, please pay attention if the file has a comment
stating that you should be editing not bar.html but rather
bar.list and run make afterwards!
If you want, you can use the shell-script translate.sh, which resides
in htdocs/de, to initiate the translation-process. This script copies
the file, which is given as the first and only argument, into the current
directory and performs some of the actions described below. In particular, it
adjusts the img src tags, the html tag and copies the original
CVS tag. However, be careful to check these changes when you start the
translation.
As you translate the file, please consult your dictionary of choice
frequently. It may be helpful to have http://babelfish.altavista.com
walk over the site1. Occasionally, Babelfish comes up with good phrases -
however, more often than that, it creates horrible translations, so
please be careful!
Run a spell-checker over the document. Re-read it again. View it on a
browser and read it carefully again.
Almost every German text contains a few characters that are not part of the
plain ASCII set, such as the Umlauts (ä, ö, ü). You can choose to represent
these using HTML entities, or to enter them directly.
When using HTML entities such as ä be careful: I usually tend to
forget the next letter, so that I type fü instead of
für.
When entering special characters directly, please remember to add the
following tag to the <HEAD>:
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
Note that you should not use ISO-8859-15 as the charset. Even
though this would be the best charset to represent all special characters
commonly encountered in German documents (such as the Euro-symbol), not all
browsers are able to handle this charset. Therefore, please use ISO-8859-1
and use numeric entity references when you need to include a character from a
different charset.
Finally, adjust the HTML tag to read <HTML lang="de">. Contrary
to what I had written in here originally, the DOCTYPE tag should remain
untouched, that is it should end in //EN> rather than
//DE>. The reason for this is that the ``EN'' in the DOCTYPE
tag does not specify the language used in the document, but the language used
in the DTD definition. The language used in the document is then specified in
the <HTML> tag as described above.
You need to adjust the links to other pages! Some of the pages linked to from
this page may have been translated, in which case, the relative URL should be
just fine. However, if the link has not been translated yet, we need to
direct the user to the english original. Be careful when adjusting the links,
particularly to pages in the same directory that have not been
translated yet. For example, if you are in the directory
/home/you/htdocs/de/foo and the page contains a link to
../bar/baz.html, you will need to change it to
../../bar/baz.html. If the page contains a link to baz.html
(that is, to a file in the current directory), you need to change it to
../../foo/baz.html.
Images can easily be adjusted by simply prepending a ../ to the
src="../images/foo.gif".
After you have translated a page it may be necessary to adjust the links to this page - as the page had not been translated before, other pages may
still link to the english original. Change into the root directory of the
German translation (/home/you/htdocs/de/) and search through all files
in this directory tree for links to your page and make the necessary
adjustments.
Please always include a comment which explains which exact english version the
document is based on. For example:
$NetBSD: index.html,v 1.13 2001/12/01 18:39:10 jschauma Exp $<br>
<!-- Based on english version: -->
<!-- NetBSD: index.html,v 1.611 2001/11/30 19:30:43 dent Exp $ -->
If you are familiar with CVS or RSC, you will recognize the format. NetBSD's
CVS server has been configured to use the "$Netbsd: ... $" tag rather than
the "$Id: ... $" tag, so that the proper revision number etc. are
substituted when you commit the file - the second tag will remain untouched,
as it is not prepended with the "$" sign. Obviously, it's important to
remove the "$" from the original tag so that this will not be updated and it
remains obvious upon which original version the document is based.
There are a few instances where we choose not to translate a certain phrase
either because it sounds awkward in German or simply because there is no
adequate translation. In other instances, we translate a certain phrase in
always the same way, to guarantee consistency among the different pages.
Please go through the following lists carefully as you translate - if you
have questions regarding a certain phrase or know of a better way to deal with
one, please send an email to the mailing list.
- In German, we are polite and formal; therefore, we address the
reader using Sie instead of Du. ``Du'' may sound
friendlier or more colloquial, yet the ``Sie'' is more professional, more
mature and seems to go well with the spirit of NetBSD
- When translating, we follow the Neue Deutsche Rechtschreibung
- you may not like it personally, but it's the rule and the website
should not ignore what is valid for other means of publication. If you
are reviewing the pages and find that some words do not conform to the
Neue Deutsche Rechtschreibung, please either make the appropriate changes
or inform the person responsible for the page, as (s)he may not be up to
date with the Neue Deutsche Rechtschreibung (some of us don't live in
Germany...)
- Please use Benutzer/in, ie both the male and female form where
appropriate. We may eventually agree to put a disclaimer on a separate
page indicating that we mean no discrimination by using the male form, but
until (if) we do so, we should be polite.
- We play by the Scrabble Rules, that is, we regard the Duden as the ultimate authority with respect to spelling etc.
- The main goal of the translation is not to translate the page word
by word, but rather to convey the information. Try to maintain the same
paragraph-structure of the original site, but feel free to re-arrange and
re-structure the sentences - there's nothing worse than an
english-sounding German sentence. Feel free to make grammatical changes
as long as the meaning remains the same.
Some words or phrases can not or should not always be translated. In general,
if there is a name or a phrase that could not be translated and it is not a
common english phrase used in German, it should be left untranslated, but
placed within a <cite> tag. Note that we should capitalize english
nouns nonetheless - it just looks better in German. For example, the
sentence ``Security issues in NetBSD are handled by the NetBSD security
officer.'' might be translated as ``Fragen zur Sicherheit werden bei NetBSD
vom <cite>NetBSD Security Officer</cite> gehandelt.''.
- NetBSD - that's the name. The first ``N'' and the ``BSD'' is
capitalized.
- Of course it runs NetBSD. - almost as much as the name, this
trademark slogan remains untranslated
- NetBSD Packages System and NetBSD Packages Collection -
both are proper names and have a precise meaning. The former includes the
various build-files (bsd.pkg.mk etc) and represents the package engine, the
latter includes the package build instructions pkgsrc.
- embedded - there is no appropriate German translation; in
addition, this phrase has been adopted in German use
- The copyright disclaimer on the bottom of every page remains
untranslated as well. Copyright itself is a tricky word and should
probably remain untranslated anyway, The NetBSD Foundation, Inc is a
proper name, and All Rights Reserved (in this case) is a common
phrase.
- NetBSD-current - a proper name
- library (as in `` the C library'') - Library; Bibliothek sounds awkward
- memory - Memory
- email - translate as E-Mail (as the Duden suggests)
- Contact us - this phrase appears at the bottom of each page
and links to the feedback-page. Please always translate as Ihre Meinung
- more information - please use weitere Informationen
rather than mehr Information. In this context, weitere
Informationen bezüglich sounds more elegant than weitere Informationen über
- platform - Plattform (two 't's!)
- directory - Verzeichnis (do not use Ordner, which
confuses the meaning!)
- developer - Entwickler, depending on the context, Programmierer might be appropriate as well
- Source Code - Quellcode or Quelltext
- software - stays Software
- application - use Anwendung or Programm
- Dates - use the German date format (dd/mm/yyy; 3ter Januar; 12.
Dezember etc)
- chipset - Chipset or Chipsatz
- release - most likely best left untranslated, but <cite>d;
possibly Freigabe
- formal release - the question is as to translate this at all.
If translated, it would probably be best to use offizielle Version
- interface - depending on the context, leave it in english
(but capitalize: Interface), or use Schnittstelle (e.g. SCSI-Schnittstelle). If not translated, do not <cite>, though.
- source tree or directory tree - Verzeichnisstruktur is acceptable, but may be cumbersome. Depending on
the context, this may as well be left untranslated, but <cite>d
- free - depending on the context, this may be translated as
frei, frei verfügbar, frei erhältlich etc. Basically it
boils down to the old ``free beer vs free speech'' issue. Use your best
judgement.
- binary - yuck, that's an evil one. binary package may
be translated as Binärpaket, binary executable should
probably drop the ''binary'' and become Anwendung
- debug - as a verb, try to describe the process (auf
Fehler überprüfen), the debugger (just as the compiler)
remains untranslated (und un-<cite>d, but capitalized)
After you have carefully evaluated your work and find it ready for the world
to review, you need to commit the changes. There are two ways:
If you have a CVS account, change into the root directory of the German
translation and do a cvs update -dP. It is important that you update your
copy of the module before you commit. Then determine which files are not yet
in the CVS repository (ie which ones you created), add them and finally commit
your changes:
$ pwd
/home/you/htdocs/de/
$ cvs update -dP
$ cvs add foo
$ cvs add foo/bar.list
$ cvs add foo/bar.html
$ cvs add foo/Makefile
$ cvs -f commit
Please add an explanatory comment when CVS asks you.
The steps here are similar:
$ cd /home/you/htdocs/de/
$ cvs update -dP
$ cvs diff -u -R -N > ../../mychanges.diff
Please see cvs(1) and http://www.cvshome.org for details of CVS. The
generated patch can now be sent via email to either Jan Schaumann
<jschauma@netmeister.org> or our Mailing-List
<netbsd-docs-de@cs.stevens-tech.edu>.
Congratulations, we're done. The commited changes will show up on
http://netbsd.netmeister.org/de/ the following day, and, if approved,
will be commited to the original document-tree soon after, so that they show
up under http://www.netbsd.org/de/.
Footnotes
- ... site1
- remember, the files you're translating are all available at
http://www.netbsd.org
Jan Schaumann
2002-01-19