12.2.2. Guidelines for Translating the Open edX Platform¶

12.2.2.2.3.1. Summary Of Placeholders¶

When dealing with placeholders, you must follow these rules.

• Do not translate the placeholder (for example, changing {day} to {día}).
• Do not alter or remove the punctuation of the placeholder string (for example, changing a _ to a -).
• Do not alter the capitalization of the placeholder string (for example, changing {day} to {Day}).
• Do not alter the spacing of the placeholder string (for example, changing {day} to { day }).

Please continue reading for examples of each type of placeholder form inside a string.

1. Do not alter or translate placeholder strings in between curly braces ({ }). Strings inside curly braces are replaced with different strings while the code is executing. Changing the content of the curly braces will cause code to break.

   The placeholder string inside of the braces will give you clues as to what type of data will be presented in the final string. For example, {student_name} is replaced with the name of a student, whereas {contact_email} is replaced with an email address that users can use to contact us. This will give you some context when you are translating sentences with placeholders.

   Altering the strings includes: changing, removing, or adding punctuation, changing the capitalization, or adding or removing given spacing. So if the placeholder string looks like {placeholder_string}, you should not change it at all, eg {Placeholder_String}, {placeholder-string}, { placeholder_string }, {placeholder string}. All of these changes have the potential to break the software.

   Examples:

   String: "Welcome back {student_name}!"
   
   Good translation: "¡Bienvenido {student_name}!"
   
   Bad translation: "¡Bienvenido {nombre de estudiente}!"
     Do not translate the placeholder string. You must use
     ``{student_name}`` exactly as is.
   
   Bad translation: "¡Bienvenido {student-name}!"
     Do not alter the placeholder string punctuation. You must use
     ``{student_name}`` exactly as is.
   
   Bad translation: "¡Bienvenido {Student_Name}!"
     Do not alter the placeholder string capitalization. You must use
     ``{student_name}``  exactly as is.
   
   Bad translation: "¡Bienvenido { student_name }!"
     Do not add additional spacing inside the {}. You must use
     ``{student_name}`` exactly as is.
   

   You can rearrange the order of these strings, depending on the requirements of the target language.

   For example, in English the name of the month precedes the day (January 23), while in Spanish, the day precedes the month (23 de enero).

   Example:

   String: "Today is {month} {day}."
   
   Good translation: "Hoy es {day} de {month}."
   

2. Do not alter or translate placeholder strings that begin with a %, then have a string inside parenthesis, and then conclude with an ‘s’ or ‘d’. You must preserve the whole form.

   As in the previous example, you must not add, change, or remove punctuation, change capitalization, or add new spacing.

   Examples:

   String: "Welcome back %(student_name)s!"
   
   Good translation: "¡Bienvenido %(student_name)s!"
   
   Bad translation: "¡Bienvenido %(nombre de estudiente)s!"
     Do not translate placeholder strings. You must use ``%(student_name)s``
     exactly as is.
   
   Bad translation: "¡Bienvenido %(student-name)s!"
     Do not alter the placeholder string punctuation. You must use
     ``%(student_name)s ``exactly as is.
   
   Bad translation: "¡Bienvenido %(Student_Name)s!"
     Do not alter the placeholder string capitalization. You must use
     ``%(student_name)s ``exactly as is.
   
   Bad translation: "¡Bienvenido %( student_name )s!"
     Do not add additional spacing inside the (). You must use
     ``%(student_name)s`` exactly as is.
   
   Bad translation: "¡Bienvenido (student_name)!"
     Do not remove the '%' or 's'. You must use ``%(student_name)s`` exactly
     as is.
   

   You can rearrange the order of these strings, depending on the requirements of the target language. For example, in English the name of the month precedes the day (January 23), while in Spanish, the day precedes the month (23 de enero).

   Example:

   String: "Today is %(month)s %(day)d."
   
   Good translation: "Hoy es %(day)d de %(month)s."
   

3. Do not alter or translate placeholder strings that appear within a <%= %> block. Placeholder strings in this format look like this: <%= student_name %>.

   As in the previous examples, you must not add, change, or remove punctuation, change capitalization, or add in new spacing.

   Examples:

   String: "Welcome back <%= student_name %>!"
   
   Good translation: "¡Bienvenido <%= student_name %>!"
   
   Bad translation: "¡Bienvenido <%= nombre de estudiente %>!"
     Do not translate placeholder strings. You must use
     ``<%= student_name %>`` exactly as is.
   
   Bad translation: "¡Bienvenido <%= student-name %>!" Do not alter the
     placeholder string punctuation from an underscore to a hyphen. You must
     use ``<%= student_name %>`` exactly as is.
   
   Bad translation: "¡Bienvenido <%= Student_Name %>!"
     Do not alter the placeholder string capitalization. You must use
     ``<%= student_name %>`` exactly as is.
   
   Bad translation: "¡Bienvenido < % =  student_name % >!"
     Do not add additional spacing inside the <%= %>. You must use
     ``<%= student_name %>`` exactly as is.
   
   Bad translation: "¡Bienvenido <student_name>!"
     Do not remove or change the ``<%=`` or ``%>``. You must use
     ``<%= student_name %>`` exactly as is.