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.
English Words/Phrases in German
Note that, if a given phrase can not be tranlsated, 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
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/yyyy; 3ter Januar; 12.
Dezember etc)
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)
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