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

Collapse
13: Re: Spanish Translation Info (response to 1)
Posted by Robert Locke on 06/18/03 04:19 AM
<blockquote> "Are you sure you want to delete file X" must be
translated in a gender-oriented way, whereas "Do you
confirm your desire to delete file X" can be translated
in the all-gender form.
</blockquote>

How is the first sentence gender-oriented?  Wouldn't it simply be translated to: "Estas seguro que quieres quitar el file X" or something like that?  The second one would be something like: "Confirmas tu deseo de quitar el file X?".

I guess you could use the more formal "Ud", but I'm not sure I see the gender difference between the two sentences, except that the first is clearer.  Could you clarify?

Ofcourse it could have something to do with the fact that I didn't pay enough attention in class. =)

Collapse
14: Re: Spanish Translation Info (response to 13)
Posted by Oscar Bonilla on 06/18/03 04:41 PM
Robert:
  In the first case you would write "Estas seguro" for males and "Estas segura" for females. In the second case "Confirmas tu deseo de quitar
el archivo X" there are no gender dependent words.

I think gender neutral would generally work with people, even when
rewording is necessary. What I don't know how to handle are things
like classes and departments. Sometimes the same transaltions are
reused and we end up with "Asignatura nuevo" which is wrong (should
be "Asignatura nueva") and "Departamento nuevo" which is right. This comes from the fact that the "new" part is translated as "nuevo" without considering what we're creating. A better solution would be to change
the whole phrase (at least in spanish) to "Add Department" and "Add Subject" which could both be translated as "Agregar Departamento" and "Agregar Asignatura". The latter phrases are gender neutral, so Windrell's Idea is a good one.

Collapse
17: Re: Spanish Translation Info (response to 14)
Posted by Robert Locke on 06/19/03 04:50 AM
<blockquote> In the first case you would write "Estas seguro" for
males and "Estas segura" for females.
</blockquote>

Yes, ofcourse, you are right.

Quick question: what does Spanish MS Windows say?  For instance, when you try to delete a file.  Or when it confirms any action.

From what I remember, when you are referring to a mixed crowd of males and females, you use "ellos".  So, the masculine form becomes the gender neutral default, so to speak.  I guess I assumed this was also the case when you are addressing a single person of unknown gender.  But I guess not.