This is supposed to become a thread to discuss and decide some rough guidelines for the german translation in order to get it more uniform. The idea came up in #10889.
General advice:
If you are unsure about a word, check for correct spelling and grammar usage using the Duden or the DWDS, for example
If there are several translation options (especially for technical terms): Take a look at common operating systems and applications! (by @cedecode)
Do:
Use the informal "Du". While being currently used, this may be changed to "Sie" in an overhaul in the future as stated here.
Use the commenting function to describe your way of thought to others if a translation is debatable.
Don't:
Avoid using translations like "car wash" -> "Auto Wäsche" and use "Autowäsche" instead.
please don’t think to continue / switch to using the formal “Sie” in the German translation as long as you are trying to connect to the user as a partner in a project. More and more people in Germany feel “Sie” as a more and more oldschool formal expression between strangers only. I’m working in a quite conservative part of German industry and even there 80 % of all people prefer the inormal “du” - from chairman of the board down to an apprentice and vice versa.
Joplin is a partner to the user, not a stranger. Language is not about meeting formal standards, it’s more about what you want to express and what kind of connection you want to establish between Joplin and the user.
just my 2 cents.
thx for the time and effort you invest into Joplin!
General advise:
2. If there are several translation options (especially for technical terms): Take a look at common operating systems and applications!
Du/Sie: If I had to choose, I would be more in favour of Du. Subjectively, it seems that more and more applications are using Du. Switching to Sie would probably be a conscious decision to buck the trend. From what I know about French, Vous is used more strictly than Sie in German – so Vous/Sie is a comparison, but not a decisive one.
I think it's paramount that usage of pronouns is uniform within apps, documents or websites. Due to automatic translation I've seen weird transitions from informal "du" to formal "Sie" from one paragraph to another (or even subsequent sentences).