German translation: formal vs. informal jargon

Lopus shared this question ago

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Hi folks,

Regarding my problem/question further down a quick explanation at first.

In German, there are two ways how to address somebody - either formally or informally.

The formal version is called "Siezen" and is compareable to calling somebody "Sir" or "Ma'am" in English.

The informal version is called "Duzen" where you call someone by their first name.

In English there is in most cases not much of a difference, e.g. "Do you like Locus?"

In German, this would be either "Gefällt Ihnen Locus?" (formal) or "Gefällt dir Locus?" (informal).

Now my question/problem:

Recently I registered at Crowdin to contribute some German translations.

There are both formal and informal translations for many phrases and in the app it seems like it is wildly mixed.

The Locus Manual says: "Therefore, it wants to express casually, whimsically, even warmly - just like good friends do."

So my suggestion is to use solely informal translations in German (and other languages, if applicable).

Was this already discussed at some point? If not, what is the Locus Team's thought on this?

Best,

Vincent

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Replies (1)

Michal Stupka ●

Hi Vincent,

thanks for this notice. You are right, we want the app to communicate with its users in a friendly, informal way. We're also aware of the two-mode style of addressing in German (it is the same in our native Czech). These two modes are mixed in the app translation because many different people are translating it. The app was translated on Crowdin even before we summed up the translation requirements you've been citing from.

So, if you propose using only informal German in the app, we totally agree.

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