Forum .LRN Q&A: Re: Spanish Translation Info

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8: Re: Spanish Translation Info (response to 6)
Posted by Malte Sussdorff on 06/17/03 11:26 AM
I'd say that making a unisex approach complicate matters considerably. Same is true for formal/informal style of translation. For the stock OpenACS I'd vote to have a male/formal translation, but as you can change this you could have a female/informal translation whenever you need it (e.g. for a shopping site for Young Miss). Which brings me to the dialect and metaphors used. We should stay with the language officially taught at ".... for foreigner" classes. This way we circumwent problems with e.g. Spanish Spanish and Argentinian Spanish. Furthermore we do not get into local dialects (e.g. German, Swiss and Austrian German). And last but not least it is a matter of style. You most likely want to have a translation that suits your target group (a site for kids will definitly use a different language than one designated to elderly people). Though this primarily affects content, it might also affect the translation of embeded phrases.
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9: Re: Spanish Translation Info (response to 8)
Posted by Tilmann Singer on 06/17/03 02:19 PM
Malte, I'm not sure if spanish and german can be compared in this matter. What I know for sure though is that in german the gender neutral form is standard, even required, in a lot of contexts like NGOs and universities (unless it's only about professors of which the majority are still male unfortunately, at least where I studied).

I know that you don't mean it that way, but in your post it sounds like you are implying there is only choice between male/formal and a female/informal style. Let me emphasize that there is also a _gender neutral_ style in german, which won't sound annoying or informal if the translator applies a little thought and stays coherent.

I'm working on a site for a free radio, on which it would be unthinkable to use the old fashioned male form, and I think that is not the only project with this requirement. I think the conclusion of the related discussion on dotlrn translation was to avoid gender specific phrases whenever possible, but I can't remember what has been decided for those cases where it's not possible to avoid - I sincerely hope that we use a neutral form for those.