Norwegian (Nynorsk) Style Guide for Community

Transcription

1 Norwegian (Nynorsk) Style Guide for Community

2 Table of Contents Introduction... 4 Approach... 4 Content Principles...4 The Facebook Voice...4 Basics... 5 Be Brief...5 Consider Your Audience...5 Make it Readable...6 Use Active Voice...6 Style... 6 Abbreviations...6 Acronyms...7 Capitalization...8 Consistency...8 Contractions...8 Gender...8 Numbers (includes currency, dates and times)...8 Pronouns Punctuation Spacing Titles and Subtitles Tone Localization Guidelines...13 General Information Product Names User Interface Buttons Mobile Third Party UI Tokens

3 References...15 Facebook References Public References

4 Introduction Created: May 2014 The purpose of this document is to provide the stylistic guidelines for community translators who contribute to Facebook Norwegian (Nynorsk) localization. The scope of this style guide includes general Facebook content standards, Norwegian (Nynorsk) language conventions and localization specific guidelines. Approach Content Principles All Facebook content should follow these 3 simple rules. This keeps people's experience consistent, builds trust and strengthens our brand. 1. Keep It Simple Use short words and sentences, and keep the number of words to a minimum. 2. Get to the Point Clearly explain how things work and give people enough information to make good decisions. 3. Talk Like a Person Keep things friendly, conversational and respectful, like you re talking to a neighbor. The Facebook Voice The Facebook voice is our personality. Our tone may change in different contexts, but we always sound like Facebook: simple, straightforward and human. Simple: Stick to common words that people use in everyday speech. Be concise. Write short sentences that are easy to understand. 4

5 Straightforward: Keep terms and messaging consistent across all channels, on and off Facebook. Don't bury information or gloss over it. Don't use language that s vague or possibly misleading. Human: Translate like you re talking to someone one-on-one. (Read your content out loud if you re not sure it sounds natural.) Stay neutral. Avoid language that s opinionated, cutesy, irreverent or otherwise over the top. Don't sound like a robot. Even the smallest bits of interface content should be approachable. Basics Be Brief Use as few words as possible while still being clear. Make sure every word has a job to do Replace jargon with everyday terms Consider Your Audience Facebook reaches people of all ages and backgrounds in nearly every country around the world. While most websites have a target demographic, we want to help people around the world connect each other on Facebook. This means our audience is truly everyone. Exceptions When translating for specific audiences (ex: advertisers, developers, people in security checkpoints, and so on), you may need to incorporate special terminology or adjust your tone. However, the basic standards above still apply. 5

6 Make it Readable Readability is a measure of how easy it is to both read words and understand them. With an audience of diverse ages, cultures and literacy levels, readability helps make Facebook usable and accessible. Use Active Voice In an active sentence, the subject of the sentence is doing something. In a passive sentence, something is being done to the subject (making the subject passive). Text can be edited on the screen or in a dialog box Tekst kan bli redigert på skjermen eller i ein dialogboks. Rediger teksten på skjermen eller i ein dialogboks. Your response will be used by Facebook to improve your experience. Svaret ditt vil bli brukt av Facebook til å betre opplevinga di. Facebook vil bruke svaret til å betre opplevinga di Style Abbreviations An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word. Abbreviate text if space is an issue or to make the text easier to read at a glance. Units of time: Century det 21. hundreåret Decades 80-talet or 80-åra Months jan., feb., mars, april, mai, juni, juli, aug., sep., okt., nov., des. (no capital letters except at the beginning of sentences; period after the first 3 letters except for mars, april, mai, juni and juli, which are alle written in full) Dates 9. jan. or 1. april 6

7 Days su., må., ty., on., to., fr., la. (with periods; no capital letters except at the beginning of sentences) Hours t, min, s (time with 24 hour clock and full stop: kl and kl ) Other common usages: Examples Use t.d. or f.eks. instead of latin abbreviations like e.g. or i.e. osv. and osb. Always include a period after osv. or osb, and do not add a comma before it ( Vener, kollegaer, medelevar osv. ). Do not use etc. or other abbreviation. Where possible, spell out og så vidare and og så bortetter or use an alternate word. Facebook Don't abbreviate Facebook. USA Never U.S.A., US or U.S. Acronyms Acronyms are abbreviations formed using the first letters of a compound term. URL, SMS and PC are common acronyms. Since acronyms aren't universally recognized, replace them with common words. Bad SMS URL Good tekstmelding nettadresse PC datamaskin Exceptions Use an acronym only if it helps clarify meaning and there s no common word to replace it. Then: Define the acronym in parentheses the first time you use it. Ex: API (Application Program Interface) Don t use periods. Ex: API, not A.P.I. Use acronyms in Norwegian (Nynorsk) that are commonly used even if the English original does not use them ( television = TV) 7

8 Capitalization Follow the Norwegian (Nynorsk) standard for capitalization. The first letter in all proper nouns must be capitalized. In English keywords in headings and other important terms often have a capital first letter, and weekdays and months are also capitalized in English. In Norwegian (Nynorsk) these are never capitalized unless the word appears first in a sentence. Why is my User Interface not working? Kvifor fungerer ikkje Brukargrensesnittet? Kvifor fungerer ikkje brukargrensesnittet? The office is closed on Fridays Kontoret er stengt på Fredagar Kontoret er stengt på fredagar Consistency Keeping consistency is important. The general rule is to keep consistency in translating the same terminology with the same concept. Click on Create Ad Klikk på Lag reklame Klikk på Lag annonse Contractions Not applicable for Norwegian (Nynorsk). Gender Please use the standard gender rules for Norwegian (Nynorsk). Numbers (includes currency, dates and times) We use numbers in text, when referring to currency, and in time stamps and dates. Numerals in headlines and text Use the numerical form of numbers (ex: 2, 3, 4) whenever the English original does. 8

9 Title Case Headline: 5 Reasons to Try Offers (5 grunnar til å prøve tilbod) News feed story: Tiffani Brown and 2 other friends like this (Tiffani Brown og 2 andre vener liker dette) Subhead: Buy one, get one free (Kjøp éin og få ein gratis) Use a space to set off groups of 3 digits from and higher Currency Use the numerical form and stick to the English source for currency symbols and designations. If you need to mention currency or time alongside another type of number, spell out the other number to make the currency or time more prominent (ex: Buy two deals and save $20 Kjøp to og spar 20 $). Note: Don't localize amounts from US Dollars to Euros (or other currencies) yourself unless it is clearly an example that has been made up. Examples: Buy two deals and save $20 Kjøp to og spar 20 dollar Kjøp to og spar 20 $ Receive a credit of 5 US Dollars. Motta ein kreditt på 30 kroner Motta ein kreditt på 5 amerikanske dollar 5 and $ 5 5 og 5 $ 5 Euro and 5 US Dollars 5 euro og 5 amerikanske dollar 5 EUR and 5 USD 5 EUR og 5 USD Time stamps and dates Use the numerical form and write the numbers as compactly as possible. Use 24 hour clock. 5 minutt sidan 9. januar kl

10 Pronouns Try to avoid possessive pronouns wherever possible. Use definite articles instead. Only use a possessive pronoun if it is necessary to distinguish owners. You need to restart your computer before the changes will take effect. Du må starte datamaskina di på nytt for at endringane skal tre i kraft. Du må starte datamaskina på nytt for at endringane skal tre i kraft. Punctuation The general rule is to follow the standard Norwegian (Nynorsk) punctuation rules. Colon In general, use colons as in the English source. Uppercase should be used after colon if the text constitutes a complete sentence. If not, use lowercase after colon. Please see the examples below. Note: When chat is off, messages from friends go to your inbox for you to read later. Merk: når praten er av, vert meldingar frå vener sendt til postkassa di, så du kan lese dei seinare. dei seinare. Example 1: Buildings, rivers, and vegetation. Døme: Bygningar, elver og vegetasjon Merk: Når praten er av, vert meldingar frå vener sendt til postkassa di, så du kan lese Døme: bygningar, elver og vegetasjon Apostrophes Use straight apostrophes ('). Double spaces No double spaces should remain in the Norwegian (Nynorsk) text. Ellipsis Use the ellipsis character instead of three dots. Ellipses may be used within a sentence or at the end of a sentence to omit a single word or a series of words. Ellipses for complete words: Use the same spacing as you would if you used the word(s) they replace, ie. insert a space before the ellipsis character unless it comes at the beginning of a sentence. Ex.: Gå til... 10

11 Ellipses for parts of words: Do not insert a space. Ex.: Gå til k... Parentheses When the content of the parenthesis is linked to the sentence, it should start with a lower case, and no point should appear at the end. When the content of the parenthesis relates to the whole paragraph, it should start with an upper case and end with a point, inside the parenthesis. Quotation marks Use straight double upper quotation marks ("). Punctuation marks that do not belong to the quoted text, including the comma following a quotation, are always placed outside the quotation marks in Norwegian documentation. Do not add double quotation marks (" ") when quotation marks are not used in the English original. Dash signs Always use en-dash instead of em-dash in Norwegian (Nynorsk) texts. Hyphenation In general, do not use hyphenation, except to separate compound words consisting of an English term (with no accepted Norwegian translation) and a Norwegian word. Note: Dealing with punctuation rules is a little different in UI translations. Make sure to follow the English source strings to avoid any potential issues. For example, a source string may not include a period after a full sentence though the general rule is that we should add a period after a full sentence in Norwegian (Nynorsk). Some strings are structured this way on purpose, so please follow the punctuation used in source strings. Spacing Use common Norwegian (Nynorsk) spacing rules. Non-breaking spaces Use non-breaking spaces to prevent improper division of elements such as product names, part numbers, page number references, numbers, dates, etc. Add a non-breaking space between numbers and % sign: 47 %. When using currency symbols or units of measurement, include a non-breaking space between number and sign: 2 m, 50, etc. 11

12 Titles and Subtitles Titles and subtitles help you organize information, introduce ideas and highlight key concepts. Interface content Dialogs and pop-ups usually have just one title and subtitle. Titles and subtitles Apply normal Norwegian (Nynorsk) capitalization rules and capitalize the first word. Don't put periods at the end of titles. Exception: Question marks are okay, where appropriate. Tone The tone of all Facebook translations will be informal du. Overall style should be clear and concise to help readability. Literal translations should be avoided, as they impair comprehension and make the target text sound unnatural. Ideally, the translated text should be easy to read, convey the same information as the English and be able to pass as a text originally written in the target language. 12

13 Localization Guidelines General Information Product Names Product and feature names should be consistently translated. Some product and feature names are translated and others are used in English based on strategic decisions. For example, Messenger was translated in many languages, but now changed back to English in all languages. English Messenger Ad Manager Power Editor Business Manager Correct Example Messenger Annonseadministrasjon Power Editor Bedriftsadministrasjon Never translate Facebook. Registered trademarks and the trademark terms should remain the same as well. User Interface Buttons Buttons are one of the main ways people take action on Facebook, so they should be clear, active and specific. Create Ad Opprett en reklame Lag annonse Original phrases Originale fraser Opphavleg frase 13

14 Mobile Mobile UI localization has more space constraint than regular UI localization. Mobile strings sometimes come with specific description about the allowed number of characters. It is important to keep translation within this limit in order to avoid any truncation issues, e.g. in SMS-related translations. If possible, try to put the most important information at the front of the sentence so that it won t be buried with other information. However, translations should not deviate from the English source unless instructed otherwise, since this may cause accuracy issues. Third Party UI If you encounter third party UI terms, please check if they were localized. For example, please check the existing translations on iphone if they refer to iphone UIs. Tokens UIs often include tokens which are a portion of full sentences and represent the bricks of what will be seen by the users. Note that text in { } are placeholders and replaced by either a variable or another string. For example, {name} is replaced by a user name and {count} is replaced by a number. If the placeholder contains the = sign right after the opening bracket, it means that it will be replaced by exactly the same text that it contains. {user} edited his {=changed relationship status} that you followed. The {user} token will be replaced by the name of the user, while the {=changed relationship status} token will be replaced exactly by the words changed relationship status, and this will look like Jane edited her changed relationship status that you followed. 14

15 {user} updated his {=status} {user} oppdaterte sin {=status} {user} oppdaterte {=status} sin status (in the phrase {user} updated his {=status} status statusen References Facebook References Glossary in Admin Panel Public References These are a few of the generally recommended public references. Nynorskordboka, Det Norske Samlaget Skrivereglar (Finn-Erik Vinje), Aschehoug