Translating Equations

These are not equations in the mathematical sense but here we refer to items in the translation that have an equals sign.

English Form contains enctype=%S, but does not contain method=post. Submitting normally with method=GET and no enctype instead.
Afrikaans Vorm bevat enctype=%S, maar bevat nie method=post nie. Dien soos gewoonlik in met method=GET en sonder enctype in plaas daarvan.

Usually these equations refer to real values that appear in a programs configuration file or they refer to items that would appear in the header of some protocol or email message. Therefore in the example above neither method=, enctype=. POST nor GET would be translated.

Lets say that again. The computer will understand method=POST but will know nothing about your translation “metode=POS”. Also a user trying to get to the bottom of an email problem or to find a value in a configuration file will find method=POST they will not find “metode=POS”.

However, it may be acceptable to offer a translation of the values to a user in brackets if you believe this will add clarity.

When should I translate the right hand side of an equation?

This will be on a case by case basis. In the example above you would not translate the right hand side (RHS) as it is a variable value. However if the following was presented.

Description=A program for highlighting widgets

then you would translate the RHS as is is clearly language specific text. You would not translate the LHS no matter how tempting.

KDE .desktop files

Another special case of translating the RHS are the translation of KDE .desktop files. These contain only equation like entries. They all start with “Word=” where word is usually one of “Name, Description,Keyword, etc”. As above do not translate the LHS but do translate the RHS.