Mastodawn

i have a question for speakers of different languages regarding how the software you are using expresses the concept of "an action is currently happening" (examples in english: "Downloading updates..." / "Saving report.doc, please wait...")

so far i see the following options, please correct me or provide with additional ones, or info on languages i have not mentioned

#german / #deutsch: passive voice with phrases such as "wird heruntergeladen" (is being downloaded)

#french / #français: nouns corresponding to verbs, such as "lecture" (reading), "téléchargement" (down-/uploading) and "enregistrement" (saving)

#russian / #русский: likewise verbal nouns, such as "чтение" (reading), "загрузка" (loading/uploading), "сохранение" (saving)

#italian / #italiano: verbal nouns ending in -aggio

#japanese / #日本語: verbs ending in 中

#l10n #i18n #translation

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Amir E. Aharoni 1d ago

@rnd In #Hebrew, the one I usually use as a translator is something like "the action is being performed", for example "מתבצעת הורדת קבצים", literally "files downloading performs itself". It's a bit wordy, but the most precise. "Downloading" here is a noun, not a present continuous verb. מתבצעת is a reflexive verb.

Sometimes translators write "הורדת קבצים", which is just that noun, and doesn't express the current continuous action. Sometimes it's enough, but I usually don't do it.

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Yaron Shahrabani 1d ago

@aharoni @rnd there are cases where I'm using terms like „ הקבצים נכתבים” which translates to "the files are being written" which is the action without the actor.

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Amir E. Aharoni 1d ago

@yaron @rnd I often think about this philosophically: *who* is the actor? The human user? The program? The computer? The file? The company that developed the program? I don't have an answer...

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Yaron Shahrabani

@aharoni
So unless I specifically specified it in the string or around it I prefer not to mention what it is, mostly from gender bias perspective.
@rnd