Hi all,I had to take time out to share this one with you.
In the French language client (R7 at any rate and earlier), the advanced database option “Optimize document table map” is translated “Optimiser les images .bmp dans les tableaux” (i.e. “Optimize bmp images in tables”)…
This one is particularly hilarious but illustrates the conditions some people have to deal with. Sometimes it’s laugh or cry. Personally I always have at least two clients running, one in French (to which I can refer when communicating with colleagues) and one in English (so that I’m sure of understanding what I’m reading.)
When will translation of these texts be entrusted to people who know both languages AND what they’re talking about ?
the help file for thius topic actually references bitmap optimization
To enable optimization using the table-form association, select “Optimize document table map.” When you change this setting, compact the database to enable it. Make sure your system has sufficient disk space as this compact makes a temporary copy of the database. You can also use the load compact command with the -F or -f switch to enable or disable bitmap optimization.
When will translation of these texts be entrusted to people who know both languages AND what they’re talking about?
Alas, such people are rare, and we need them more doing other things. The translation people do ask us questions when they don’t understand something. Problems arise when they’re pretty sure they do understand something and so don’t bother to ask. In this case, the original authors of the help seem to have had a pretty muddled idea about it to, so the confusion is understandable. There’s a lot of text in the product and help files, and once translated, it’s not often revisited unless the English version also changes.
If you see such problems in the help files, there’s a feedback link.
The real problem here is that the English name for the property is too obscure. If my understanding of the feature is correct, it should be called something like “Use form name to optimize view updates”
Thanks André. I rather imagined such was the case and I appreciate the difficulties and the generally good quality of the translations (it’s quite something to have so much language support in the first place.)
The (fr) translated help on this particular feature seems OK, it’s just the label of the feature itself in the properties box that’s so weird!
I’ll use the feedback another time, I was just having a howl!