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(gettext.info.gz) Modifying Translations

Info Catalog (gettext.info.gz) Obsolete Entries (gettext.info.gz) PO Mode (gettext.info.gz) Modifying Comments
 
 8.3.9 Modifying Translations
 ----------------------------
 
 PO mode prevents direct modification of the PO file, by the usual means
 Emacs gives for altering a buffer's contents.  By doing so, it pretends
 helping the translator to avoid little clerical errors about the
 overall file format, or the proper quoting of strings, as those errors
 would be easily made.  Other kinds of errors are still possible, but
 some may be caught and diagnosed by the batch validation process, which
 the translator may always trigger by the `V' command.  For all other
 errors, the translator has to rely on her own judgment, and also on the
 linguistic reports submitted to her by the users of the translated
 package, having the same mother tongue.
 
    When the time comes to create a translation, correct an error
 diagnosed mechanically or reported by a user, the translators have to
 resort to using the following commands for modifying the translations.
 
 `<RET>'
      Interactively edit the translation (`po-edit-msgstr').
 
 `<LFD>'
 `C-j'
      Reinitialize the translation with the original, untranslated string
      (`po-msgid-to-msgstr').
 
 `k'
      Save the translation on the kill ring, and delete it
      (`po-kill-msgstr').
 
 `w'
      Save the translation on the kill ring, without deleting it
      (`po-kill-ring-save-msgstr').
 
 `y'
      Replace the translation, taking the new from the kill ring
      (`po-yank-msgstr').
 
 
    The command `<RET>' (`po-edit-msgstr') opens a new Emacs window
 meant to edit in a new translation, or to modify an already existing
 translation.  The new window contains a copy of the translation taken
 from the current PO file entry, all ready for edition, expunged of all
 quoting marks, fully modifiable and with the complete extent of Emacs
 modifying commands.  When the translator is done with her
 modifications, she may use `C-c C-c' to close the subedit window with
 the automatically requoted results, or `C-c C-k' to abort her
 modifications.   Subedit, for more information.
 
    The command `<LFD>' (`po-msgid-to-msgstr') initializes, or
 reinitializes the translation with the original string.  This command is
 normally used when the translator wants to redo a fresh translation of
 the original string, disregarding any previous work.
 
    It is possible to arrange so, whenever editing an untranslated
 entry, the `<LFD>' command be automatically executed.  If you set
 `po-auto-edit-with-msgid' to `t', the translation gets initialised with
 the original string, in case none exists already.  The default value
 for `po-auto-edit-with-msgid' is `nil'.
 
    In fact, whether it is best to start a translation with an empty
 string, or rather with a copy of the original string, is a matter of
 taste or habit.  Sometimes, the source language and the target language
 are so different that is simply best to start writing on an empty page.
 At other times, the source and target languages are so close that it
 would be a waste to retype a number of words already being written in
 the original string.  A translator may also like having the original
 string right under her eyes, as she will progressively overwrite the
 original text with the translation, even if this requires some extra
 editing work to get rid of the original.
 
    The command `k' (`po-kill-msgstr') merely empties the translation
 string, so turning the entry into an untranslated one.  But while doing
 so, its previous contents is put apart in a special place, known as the
 kill ring.  The command `w' (`po-kill-ring-save-msgstr') has also the
 effect of taking a copy of the translation onto the kill ring, but it
 otherwise leaves the entry alone, and does _not_ remove the translation
 from the entry.  Both commands use exactly the Emacs kill ring, which
 is shared between buffers, and which is well known already to Emacs
 lovers.
 
    The translator may use `k' or `w' many times in the course of her
 work, as the kill ring may hold several saved translations.  From the
 kill ring, strings may later be reinserted in various Emacs buffers.
 In particular, the kill ring may be used for moving translation strings
 between different entries of a single PO file buffer, or if the
 translator is handling many such buffers at once, even between PO files.
 
    To facilitate exchanges with buffers which are not in PO mode, the
 translation string put on the kill ring by the `k' command is fully
 unquoted before being saved: external quotes are removed, multi-line
 strings are concatenated, and backslash escaped sequences are turned
 into their corresponding characters.  In the special case of obsolete
 entries, the translation is also uncommented prior to saving.
 
    The command `y' (`po-yank-msgstr') completely replaces the
 translation of the current entry by a string taken from the kill ring.
 Following Emacs terminology, we then say that the replacement string is
 "yanked" into the PO file buffer.   Yanking (emacs)Yanking.  The
 first time `y' is used, the translation receives the value of the most
 recent addition to the kill ring.  If `y' is typed once again,
 immediately, without intervening keystrokes, the translation just
 inserted is taken away and replaced by the second most recent addition
 to the kill ring.  By repeating `y' many times in a row, the translator
 may travel along the kill ring for saved strings, until she finds the
 string she really wanted.
 
    When a string is yanked into a PO file entry, it is fully and
 automatically requoted for complying with the format PO files should
 have.  Further, if the entry is obsolete, PO mode then appropriately
 push the inserted string inside comments.  Once again, translators
 should not burden themselves with quoting considerations besides, of
 course, the necessity of the translated string itself respective to the
 program using it.
 
    Note that `k' or `w' are not the only commands pushing strings on
 the kill ring, as almost any PO mode command replacing translation
 strings (or the translator comments) automatically saves the old string
 on the kill ring.  The main exceptions to this general rule are the
 yanking commands themselves.
 
    To better illustrate the operation of killing and yanking, let's use
 an actual example, taken from a common situation.  When the programmer
 slightly modifies some string right in the program, his change is later
 reflected in the PO file by the appearance of a new untranslated entry
 for the modified string, and the fact that the entry translating the
 original or unmodified string becomes obsolete.  In many cases, the
 translator might spare herself some work by retrieving the unmodified
 translation from the obsolete entry, then initializing the untranslated
 entry `msgstr' field with this retrieved translation.  Once this done,
 the obsolete entry is not wanted anymore, and may be safely deleted.
 
    When the translator finds an untranslated entry and suspects that a
 slight variant of the translation exists, she immediately uses `m' to
 mark the current entry location, then starts chasing obsolete entries
 with `o', hoping to find some translation corresponding to the
 unmodified string.  Once found, she uses the `<DEL>' command for
 deleting the obsolete entry, knowing that `<DEL>' also _kills_ the
 translation, that is, pushes the translation on the kill ring.  Then,
 `r' returns to the initial untranslated entry, and `y' then _yanks_ the
 saved translation right into the `msgstr' field.  The translator is
 then free to use `<RET>' for fine tuning the translation contents, and
 maybe to later use `u', then `m' again, for going on with the next
 untranslated string.
 
    When some sequence of keys has to be typed over and over again, the
 translator may find it useful to become better acquainted with the Emacs
 capability of learning these sequences and playing them back under
 request.   Keyboard Macros (emacs)Keyboard Macros.
 
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