Replace complicated keys with longer, simpler keys. When writing in one language, it is possible to create clever code to make correct text. In English, for example, you can put an if command at the end of a word which adds "s" if a count is anything but 1. This pluralizes nouns correctly based on the data. However, it is confusing to read and, when internationalized, may result in message keys that are both confusing and impossible to set correctly in some languages. While internationalizing, watch out that the automate converter does not create such keys. Also, refactor compound text as you encounter it.

The automated system can easily get confused by tags within message texts, so that it tries to create two or three message keys for one long string with a tag in the middle. In these cases, uncheck those keys during the conversion and then edit the files directly. For example, this code:

  <p class="form-help-text"><b>Invitations</b> are sent,
          when this wizard is completed and casting begins.</p>

has a bold tag which confuses the converter into thinking there are two message keys for the text beginning "Invitations ..." where there should be one:

Instead, we cancel those keys, edit the file manually, and put in a single temporary message tag:

  <p class="form-help-text"> <#Invitations_are_sent <b>Invitations</b> are sent, 
when this wizard is completed and casting begins.#>
  </p>

Complex if statements may produce convoluted message keys that are very hard to localize. Rewrite these if statements. For example:

Select which case <if @simulation.casting_type@ eq "open">and
role</if> to join, or create a new case for yourself.  If you do not
select a case <if @simulation.casting_type@ eq "open">and role</if>
to join, you will be automatically assigned to a case <if
@simulation.casting_type@ eq "open">and role</if> when the
simulation begins.

... can be rewritten:

<if @simulation.casting_type@ eq "open">

Select which case and role to join, or create a new case for
yourself.  If you do not select a case and role to join, you will
be automatically assigned to a case and role when the simulation
begins.

</if>
<else>

Select which case to join, or create a new case for
yourself.  If you do not select a case to join, you will
be automatically assigned to a case when the simulation
begins.

</else>

Another example, where bugs are concatenated with a number:

<if @components.view_bugs_url@ not nil>
  <a href="@components.view_bugs_url@" title="View the @pretty_names.bugs@ for this component">
  </if>
  @components.num_bugs@ 
  <if @components.num_bugs@ eq 1>
    @pretty_names.bug@
  </if>
  <else>
    @pretty_names.bugs@
  </else>
  <if @components.view_bugs_url@ not nil>
  </a>
  </if>

<if @components.view_bugs_url@ not nil>
<a href="@components.view_bugs_url@" title="#bug-tracker.View_the_bug_fo_component#">
</if>
@components.num_bugs@ 
<if @components.num_bugs@ eq 1>
@pretty_names.bug@
</if>
<else>
@pretty_names.bugs@
</else>
<if @components.view_bugs_url@ not nil>
</a>
</if>

It would probably be better to do this as something like:

<if @components.view_bugs_url@ not nil>
  <if @components.num_bugs@ eq 1>
    <a href="@components.view_bugs_url@" title="#bug-tracker.View_the_bug_fo_component#">#bug-tracker.one_bug#</a>
  </if><else>
    <a href="@components.view_bugs_url@" title="#bug-tracker.View_the_bug_fo_component#"># bug-tracker.N_bugs#</a>
  </else>
</if>

Don't combine keys in display text. Converting a phrase from one language to another is usually more complicated than simply replacing each word with an equivalent. When several keys are concatenated, the resulting word order will not be correct for every language. Different languages may use expressions or idioms that don't match the phrase key-for-key. Create complete, distinct keys instead of building text from several keys. For example:

Original code:

multirow append links "New [bug_tracker::conn Bug]" 

Problematic conversion:

multirow append links "[_ bug-tracker.New] [bug_tracker::conn Bug]"

Better conversion:

set bug_label [bug_tracker::conn Bug]
multirow append links "[_ bug-tracker.New_Bug]" "${url_prefix}bug-add"

... and include the variable in the key: "New %bug_label%". This gives translators more control over the phrase.

In this example of bad i18n, full name is created by concatenating first and last name (admittedly this is pervasive in the toolkit):

<a href="@past_version.maintainer_url@" title="# bug-tracker.Email# @past_version.maintainer_email@">
@past_version.maintainer_first_names@ @past_version.maintainer_last_name@</a>

Avoid unnecessary duplicate keys. When phrases are exactly the same in several places, use a single key.

For common words such as Yes and No, you can use a library of keys at acs-kernel. For example, instead of using myfirstpackage.Yes, you can use acs-kernel.Yes. You can also use the Message Key Search facility to find duplicates. Be careful, however, building up sentences from keys because grammar and other elements may not be consistent across different locales.

Additional discussion: Re: Bug 961 ("Control Panel" displayed instead of "Administer"), Translation server upgraded, and Localization questions.

Don't internationalize internal code words. Many packages use code words or key words, such as "open" and "closed", which will never be shown to the user. They may match key values in the database, or be used in a switch or if statement. Don't change these.

For example, the original code is

workflow::case::add_log_data \ 	    
       -entry_id $entry_id \ 	    
       -key "resolution" \ 	    
       -value [db_string select_resolution_code {}]

This is incorrectly internationalized to

  workflow::case::add_log_data \ 	    
       -entry_id $entry_id \
       -key "[_ bug-tracker.resolution]" \
       -value [db_string select_resolution_code {}]

But resolution is a keyword in a table and in the code, so this breaks the code. It should not have been internationalized at all. Here's another example of text that should not have been internationalized:

{show_patch_status "open"}

It is broken if changed to

{show_patch_status "[_ bug-tracker.open]"}

Fix automatic truncated message keys. The automatic converter may create unique but crytic message keys. Watch out for these and replace them with more descriptive keys. For example:

<msg key="You">You can filter by this %component_name% by viisting %filter_url_string%</msg>
<msg key="You_1">You do not have permission to map this patch to a bug. Only the submitter of the patch 
and users with write permission on this Bug Tracker project (package instance) may do so.</msg>
<msg key="You_2">You do not have permission to edit this patch. Only the submitter of the patch 
and users with write permission on the Bug Tracker project (package instance) may do so.</msg>

These would be more useful if they were, "you_can_filter", "you_do_not_have_permission_to_map_this_patch", and "you_do_not_have_permission_to_edit_this_patch". Don't worry about exactly matching the english text, because that might change; instead try to capture the meaning of the phrase. Ask yourself, if I was a translator and didn't know how this application worked, would this key and text make translation easy for me?

Sometimes the automatic converter creates keys that don't semantically match their text. Fix these:

<msg key="Fix">for version</msg>
<msg key="Fix_1">for</msg>
<msg key="Fix_2">for Bugs</msg>

Another example: Bug-tracker component maintainer" was converted to "[_ bug-tracker.Bug-tracker]". Instead, it should be bug_tracker_component_maintainer.

Translations in Avoid "clever" message reuse. Translations may need to differ depending on the context in which the message appears.

Avoid plurals. Different languages create plurals differently. Try to avoid keys which will change based on the value of a number. OpenACS does not currently support internationalization of plurals. If you use two different keys, a plural and a singular form, your application will not localize properly for locales which use different rules or have more than two forms of plurals.

Quoting in the message catalog for tcl. Watch out for quoting and escaping when editing text that is also code. For example, the original string

set title "Patch \"$patch_summary\" is nice."

breaks if the message text retains all of the escaping that was in the tcl command:

<msg>Patch \"$patch_summary\" is nice.</msg>

When it becomes a key, it should be:

<msg>Patch "$patch_summary" is nice.</msg>

Also, some keys had %var;noquote%, which is not needed since those variables are not quoted (and in fact the variable won't even be recognized so you get the literal %var;noquote% in the output).

Be careful with curly brackets. Code within curly brackets isn't evaluated. Tcl uses curly brackets as an alternative way to build lists. But Tcl also uses curly brackets as an alternative to quotation marks for quoting text. So this original code

array set names { key "Pretty" ...} 

... if converted to

array set names { key "[_bug-tracker.Pretty]" ...} 

... won't work since the _ func will not be called. Instead, it should be

array set names [list key [_bug-tracker.Pretty] ...]