Spanish Translation: Casual or Formal?

Translations Español
#1

Hello Folks,

I am new at SecureDrop translations, and I need clarification if there is anyone there directing this.
Some of the Spanish translations I found are in casual format, and I am wondering if that is what i should continue with, or if I should make it formal.

In my opinion, as a native speaker and for the critical business, I suggest that it be done with the formal format. For example, Tu vs Usted:
“Tu tienes que…” vs “Usted tiene que…”
“Por favor sube los archivos…” vs “Por favor suba los archivos…”

Knowing that right off the bat is important, so folks don’t make a mixed formats, which may make it look unprofessional. Again, this is my opinion.

Thank you, and I hope to hear a reply sometime soon!

Daniel

#2

Welcome @daniel! Great feedback - I believe the translations thus far were contributed by a translator that is not a native speaker, so based on your knowledge as a native speaker, converting them to be formal seems like a good call. Let me know @dachary @bmeson if you disagree :slight_smile:

#3

Hi Daniel,

We have the same issue in French and we decided for the formal way of adressing the viewer (i.e. Vous instead of Tu). This was agreed on by the localizationlab reviewer. I therefore think it would be better, for consistency, to not use the casual form. Could you please give me the URL of a translation using the casual form ? It is probably worth discussing with the original translator the reason for choosing this. In other words I agree with @redshiftzero on this one :wink:

Cheers

#4

Hey Daniel,

I’m the one who has written most if not at all of the Spanish translations so far. I am in full agreement that we should use the formal/usted form of imperatives - that was a mistake on my end and I should have thought that through. Feel free to change anything I’ve written, or I can do that when I have a sec! Also feel free to change my translations in general - my Spanish is not technical or at professional frequency.

I do think we should avoid using vosotros for maximum accessibility.

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#5

Thank you all. I am glad that we that out of the way.
There is also “vos” in Spanish. Formal format will keep it straight.
And, magpiewings, actually it is awesome that you got it started, thank you!

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#6

(Estoy revisando/actualizando desde el principio, reviews/comments/etc are welcome.)

#7

Hi everyone!

I notice that leading to SecureDrop v1.7.0 the Spanish translations are being updated back from formal to casual (“usted” to “tú”).

Is the decision documented anywhere? (I am curious about thought process, and believe it would be good to document it for future reference if it is not already.)