Future fix Pluralization Issue

[ibnesayeed]

Phrases like "you_have_x_new_alerts" and "you_have_x_new_unread_conversations" have no singular versions. And not every language has the ease of adding (s) at the end of a singular noun to allow it to be read singular and plural both as according to the context.

The above two phrases appear very frequently and look odd that I have translated them as plural. If we are very active on the board usually we get notifications for singular number.

There are not just singular and plural but in two languages (namely Arabic and Sanskrit) that I am aware of, there is a separate degree for two. I am sure, there might be languages with more degrees.

How about having:

you_have_1_new_alert
you_have_2_new_alerts
you_have_x_new_alerts

 

[Ahmed]

Totally agreed. I was very annoyed by that but very lazy to ask for/about and report it.
Thanks.

 

[Kier]

To fully address this requires far more than just a singular and plural version. Some languages have special cases for two, three and many other specific quantities. It simply isn't practical to attempt to cater fully for every language at this point, we must rely on the ingenuity of the persons translating the phrases to make the best of what is available.

 

[Ahmed]

Yes, you are write. In Arabic What you use for one is not what you use for two, and is not what you use for more than that, and all of that is different if you use it for feminine, so in some cases we need six phrases to cover all single, dual, and more than two in both cases feminine and masculine. That probably won't be implemented in xF, but you might be able to make more flexible it more easy for us to translate as close as we need as possible, because sometimes we just can't get even close to what we need.

I'm glad that it's in the to-do list and going to have a future fix.

 

[captainslater]

It may depends on the most used languages too. The problem described by the OP is valid for german too. I guess you might know this Kier

 

[ibnesayeed]

Yes, you are write. In Arabic What you use for one is not what you use for two, and is not what you use for more than that, and all of that is different if you use it for feminine, so in some cases we need six phrases to cover all single, dual, and more than two in both cases feminine and masculine. That probably won't be implemented in xF, but you might be able to make more flexible it more easy for us to translate as close as we need as possible, because sometimes we just can't get even close to what we need.

I'm glad that it's in the to-do list and going to have a future fix.

We are running two translations in parallel on our forum. One of those two translations is making sure that by using active/passive narration, rephrase to wordings to avoid gender issues. Doing this is hard and sometimes impossible.

 

[Jeremy]

The possibility for "advanced" phrasing? Take some logic in say, <xen:if is="{$var} == 2">yada</xen:if> and then change the calling syntax to include the amount?

 

[Luxus]

Just want to note that there is a plural phrase for votes in XenForo: x_votes_plural = {count} votes
Unfortunately, this is only used by the Resource Manager. Polls still must stick to one phrase for singular and plural :/

 

[Aivaras]

To fully address this requires far more than just a singular and plural version. Some languages have special cases for two, three and many other specific quantities. It simply isn't practical to attempt to cater fully for every language at this point, we must rely on the ingenuity of the persons translating the phrases to make the best of what is available.

In terms of language interfaces, software development has moved too much in the direction of language economization: producing smaller vocabularies by way of disregarding the complexity and fluidity of natural language.

One way to remedy some parts of this predicament is to expand the vocabulary and generalize less: what is three identical instances of the same word in English may actually be three different words in another language. Keeping those three expressions as individual phrases will mean more phrases and more work for translators but the price is worthwhile: a more cultivated sense of function accommodating expression.