Display Name Editor (hereafter DNE) is a key part of Gramps interface and its proper localization is critically important for successful adoption of localized version of Gramps. This post illustrates the problems with the Russian localization of DNE. Similar situation may be in the other localized versions of Gramps but I couldn’t check it.
DNE recognizes 18 keywords ( Given, Surname etc.) which are replaced by the appropriate name parts. These keywords need to be localized properly, i.e. (i) DNE has to show correct translation of keywords on its main screen, with explanations, (ii) it should be easy to associate each of the translated keywords with the part of the name the keyword refers to. Ideally, they should be the same as names of their respective entry fields.
Unfortunately, in Russian localization both (i) and (ii) are mostly not enforced. Below are the results of my analysis (per keyword) as well as proposed changes in Russian localization to fix the issues. Similar exercise may be performed for the other languages too.
User’s manual should be aligned with the software too, but I don’t touch this topic here.
1. Given - PROBLEMS
Given is used consistently in English as lines 1 and 5 show. The same word Имя is used in Person and in the descriptive part of DNE screen (lines 2 and 3) but in the format part of DNE we see the different word - C учетом which means "in view of, considering".
2. Surname - PROBLEMS
Surname is used consistently in English as lines 2 and 7 show. But from its description follows that Surname should be better named MultipleSurnames as line 1 points because the keyword is replaced by the content of Multiple Surnames field. Surname is consistently translated in Russian as Фамилия (i.e. family) (lines 3, 4 and 6) and as in some other languages it's a problem. For example, in Russian Отчество ( i.e. Patronymic) is definitely not a Фамилия!The word Surnames (line 8) translated as Фамилии (i.e. plural of Фамилия). In Russia a person at any point in time may have only one Фамилия, not many. Plural implies that these are the last names of the person over time! It is desirable to replace Фамилия with some more general term.
3. Title - OK
4. Suffix - OK
5. Call - PROBLEMS
Call is used consistently in English version as lines 1 and 5 shows. In DNE Call is translated as Обиходное (lines 3 and 4) but in the Person screen the respective entry field has another name В быту (line 2)
6. Nickname - PROBLEMS
Nickname is not used consistently in English version of Gramps as lines 1. and 5. show. It is also translated differently in the descriptive (Прозвище) and format (Никнейм) parts of DNE as lines 2,3 and 4 show.
7. Initials - OK
8. Common - OK
9. Prefix - OK
10. Rest - PROBLEMS
Rest has not been translated into Russian in the format part of DNE (line 2). Line 1 shows that Rest was translated in the descriptive part of DNE as Главный (i.e. Primary) which is definitely a wrong translation. The keyword's description is not translated.
11. Nonpatronymic - PROBLEMS
Notpatronymic has two English variants in the format part of DNE - line 1 (NotPatronymic) and 2 (Notpatronymic). This is probably a bug and need to be considered on its own. Notpatroynmic is not translated into Russian in the descriptive part of DNE - line 5. There are two different translations in the format part of DNE and both are wrong. Безотчества (line 4) should be Кромеотчества and, if NotPatroynimic stays, it should be translated as КромеОтчества, not NotОтчество as it is now (line 3)
12. Familynick - PROBLEMS
Familynick can be entered using Name editor screen - lines 1 and 2. The keyword is not translated into Russian in the descriptive part of DNE - line 3, and is consistently translated as Семпрозвище in the format part of DNE - line 4.
13. Rawsurnames - PROBLEMS
Rawsurnames can be entered only as RawSurnames in English - line 3. Probably it is a bug similar to Notpatronymic/NotPatronymic - see 11 above. The keyword is not translated into Russian in the descriptive part of DNE - line 1 and is translated as a meaningless Cписокфо in the format part of DNE.
14. Primary - PROBLEMS
Primary is consistently used in English version of Gramps - line 1. The keyword is not translated into Russian in the descriptive part of DNE - line 3, but it is correctly translated as Главный in the format part of DNE and in Person screen - lines 2,4. Interestingly, the descriptive part of DNE currently says that Главный means non-primary(!) names - blue line.
15. Patronymic - PROBLEMS
The descriptive part of DNE is not translated into Russian - line 3. Everything else is fine - lines 1,2,4,5
16-18. [pre], [con] and [sur] - PROBLEMS
The descriptive part of DNE does not have translation into Russian. In the format part [sur] is translated as [фам] when used with Primary - line 1, but as [им] when used with Patronymic - line 2.[con] is translated as [св] (probably, from связка) and [pre] is translated as [пр] (probably, from префикс), which is understandable.
