Translation mistake

Just a little translation mistake:
In the German version it say (e.g. when right clicking a file) “Offen”.
Scrivener.png
(3rd from below.)
It should say: “Öffnen” instead.
May be you would like to correct this in a next version.
Cheers
Hanami

There are many other problems with the German version. Like in Scrivener -> Preferences where you find a lot of text with NO translation at all. I guess those are new features and nobody had time to translate?

Another translation problem is in the compile panel (screenshot attached) which is confusing to users, because it says the same thing twice.

Yes, I agree. I mentioned the one because it is in a very central place and very confusing in the version right now. In my opinion it can be corrected very easily.
Hanami

I always wonder why developers with software as popular as Scrivener don’t seem to hire a native speaker for the translations. This really shouldn’t be expensive at all on a per-hour paid basis, but these little things really make a difference. As a German, I would love the correct translations in movie script modus (“character” e.g. was wrongly translated to „Zeichen", but should be „Charakter" or „Person"), too. Small detail, but Scrivener is my favorite writing software by far and I’d like it to be perfect … :slight_smile:

We did hire native speakers. However, hiring native speakers who are professional translators and know your software inside out is almost impossible, sadly.

French translation has also many problems, for example the whole Compile module is still in english.

Keith, I’m not a professional translator but I’m a french native speaker, and I use Scrivener since 2011. I created the facebook group “ScrivenerFR” and I think I could help if you need.
In France, I’m the co-founder of a non-profit organization with a commercial identifier (that means I can emit official invoices), I can spend some hours on the Compile Module AND/OR I can ask the members of the group the bugs they spotted, and spend hours in order to update the french version. You tell me, I have some extra free time during Christmas Holidays.

This is no offense to you, but the translator definitely shouldn’t need any “technical” knowledge about the software to know that “Open” should be “Öffnen” (the verb) in this case, not “Offen” (the adjective). When e.g. “Character” in screenplay mode was translated as “Zeichen” instead of “Person/Charakter”, I was without a doubt assuming that this is a typical mistake by a non-native speaker who looked up the translation in the dictionary and, without a clue, chose the wrong of both possible meanings. The only explaination I would have is that the translator got the words without any context within the program – just listed in a text document, but I don’t assume that this was the case.

Again: no offense, I love Scrivener, but that’s also why I want it to be 100% perfect … :slight_smile:

I work as a professional translator. And that’s exactly what you often get when translating software: a simple list of words and phrases with no reference to where that piece will go. When you’re lucky, the words and phrases are listed chronologically menu by menu, so you can guess that “Open” means “Open project” or “Open file”.
Usually, you get to see the software once your translations have been added - so you can correct what went wrong.
Looks like that wasn’t the case with the German translation of Scrivener 3.