[wp-polyglots] To separate a noun from a verb.

[Isak Bergdahl]

I have searched the polyglots' mailing list archives for an
explanation or bug submission in Mosquito of this rather linguistic
bug. It seems not been discussed earlier.

It is obvious in the Swedish translation of the ambiguous word "Login"
which can be used both as a verb and as a noun. The translators have
been doing their best, but of course, gettext is too dumb to
distinguish when "Login" refers to the verb or the noun.

So the Swedish translation of login is consequently flawed – and
cannot be fixed in WP 1.5. We use different phrasing for the verb
login – logga in (literally: log in) compared to the noun login –
användarnamn (literally: username).

This might scare the developers, as indeed, "Login" has this ambiguous
meaning and demand an overhaul of the terminology used. The remedy is,
however, not that complicated. Also English-speakers need to know in
what context "Login" is used to distinguish between the two forms.
When "Login" is "foo" it refers to a noun, and when stands by itself
it refers to the action of logging in – being a verb.

A colon (:) could replace the verb "is". "Login: foo" means Login is
foo. This method is used on the login-page (wp-login.php), "Login:"
prompts you to enter your username. Simply "Login" suggests what
should be happening when you press the button with that label.

So, applied on the example of Swedish phrasing: "Login:" translates to
the noun "Användarnamn"; "Login" means "Logga in", a verb phrase. This
has been noticed by the Swedish translators, but not consistently by
the developers.

In the wp-admin/profile.php, the Swedish translation is correct, as
the string to be translated is "Login:". However, in wp-login.php the
string is "Login", the latter also goes for the function loginout().
So instead of being a label to the textbox, it acts as an imperative,
which looks rather strange. This should be fixed, as at least the
other Scandinavian languages separate verbs from nouns and probably a
couple of other languages do as well (German?).

Well, as I am new to this mailing list I might as well introduce
myself. I am Isak, my native language is Swedish but English should
not be the hassle it has proven to be. I co-edit miniatyr.se, with
poetry, short stories and essays.