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1. 44440snsnnnnnnnnnnnnnennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnennnnannnnnnenn 68 Frequent Errors Troublesome or Conflictive Words 42404s400nnnnonnnnnnnnnennnnnnnnn nn 69 GIOSSITIES Ar a rn ee Selen ions decian e lot alo do e ed Oo 71 Recurring Palena 72 Standardized Translations ccccccccccccssssseceseeccecseseaeceeeesceeseeeseceeeesceeseeaeseseeeesseeeeaeeeeeeeeeenes 72 Unloealizediltiemsu 2 er LI len 73 Usingthe Word Micr s ft 72 242 di 74 Software Considerations ccoconccccocnncnononononnnnnononnnnnnoonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnenonnnnnnnnananos 74 User Mtelface mirra a rain 75 Mess ii A Ide A crias Ne 77 KO YS eects a cee ted Ge Ne 87 Document Translation ConsideratiONS ccccconccccconnnnnnnnonononnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnannninnnnnnnnoos 93 MES o e E Me PELSEEESTIES ON EHERN TS 93 Typographic Conventions in Help and Documentation ooconcccnncccinoccnonoccnancncnana nan ncnnnnccnnncnnno 97 Translation of ReadMe Files cccccccccccnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnononononononononononononononononononononononenenenenenenes 101 How to Reference UI Items Left in EngliSh ooooonniccnnnnnicnnonccconnnaccconnn arco arco 101 CopyrlO Mision aaa oiads 101 What s New Last Updated July 2014 The entire Style Guide has been reworked and modifications have been made to all sections in 2011 Because of the new structure of this document some sections of the previous Style Gui
2. Unbekannter Fehler Kein Fehler Diese Meldung sollte nur bei einem alteren Computer erscheinen Problem beim Konvertieren der Gleichung V ing beim nominalized V If this does not work use beim bei der N to V zum nominalized V If this does not work use f r die den das N Rephrase if the German verb requires an object similar to Not enough memory to complete this operation Locate find finden Standard term fortsetzen Do not use Do not use mit De The verb fortsetzen requires a direct object Ifthere is none add den Vorgang Nicht gen gend Speicher zum Konvertieren der Gleichung Nicht gen gend Speicher zum Abschlie en des Vorgangs Die Grafikdatei s kann nicht gefunden werden Warten Sie einige Minuten und En Sie auf OK um den Vorgang fortzusetzen Wenn Sie diese Datei berspringen ist Windows m glicherweise nicht mehr voll funktionsf hig Rephrase Do not use arbeiten funktionieren Failed to perform server operation Fehler beim Ausf hren des Perform ausf hren Do not use Senanonang durchf hren Memory control blocks were destroyed Contact technical support Please re install the program Try running Setup again Arbeitsspeicher Kontrollbl cke u besch digt Destroyed besch digt Wenden Sie sich an den Avoid the verb kontaktieren ee Support Use erneut when there is verb
3. Cubemeasure Onlinedokumentation Websiteinformationen Remoteverwaltung Hardwareadresse Clientregistrierungsoptionen With prepositions snap in Snap In add on Add On denial of service attack Denial of Service Angriff Compounds with nicht should be written in two words and without hyphen except for nouns Nouns should be written in one word and without hyphen In cases where a different style has become the standard through repeated use exceptions can be made Examples for Compounds with nicht non member Nichtmitglied unauthenticated nicht authentifiziert unmanaged code nicht verwalteter Code invisible nicht sichtbar 41 Gender For information on Gender please follow general German language grammatical rules and references For terminology where Gender information in the Microsoft terminology database deviates from these rules Microsoft term information overrides the general language rules Example Microsoft Virus der Correct Microsoft usage terminology For complete information database on this term please refer to the Microsoft terminology database Virus das au erhalb der Fachspr auch der kleinster Krankheitserreger zerst rendes unbemerkt eingeschleustes Computerprogramm Microsoft Blog der Correct Microsoft usage terminology For complete information database on this term please refer to the Microsoft terminology dat
4. M chten Sie s wirklich entfernen Repeat the verb here ist in order to retain the intended meaning Fehler bei N nominalized V or Fehler beim Rephrase Do not use fehlgeschlagen AA standard form is M chten Sie V Are you sure you want to V M chten Sie wirklich AR Setup encountered an error while creating your startup disk Setup cannot access the server you chose Setup cannot find the remote computer Setup was unable to display the agreement Setup cannot get disk information Windows 98 cannot start your system Remove any existing settings to free space To skip creating your startup disk click Cancel Fehler beim Erstellen der Startdiskette Kein Zugriff auf den gew hlten Server Der Remotecomputer wurde nicht gefunden Der Lizenzvertrag konnte nicht angezeigt werden Die Datentr gerinformationen k nnen nicht abgerufen werden Das System kann nicht gestartet werden Entfernen Sie alle vorhandenen Einstellungen um Speicherplatz freizugeben Klicken Sie auf Avoid personified subjects if the context allows for omission e g Setup encountered was unable to in Setup error messages Rephrase and change the word order In many cases passive is possible If the context does not allow for omission of the agent use vom von der von N Generally describe the action before the purpose um zu instead of the
5. Teilnahmebedingungen und Auswahlkriterien Wichtigste Teilnahmebedingung ist dass das eSkills Projekt von einer wohlt tigen Organisation in Deutschland realisiert und angeboten wird Als zentrale Auswahlkriterien werden von einer internen Kommission vor allem der Grad der Innovation und die m gliche Reichweite des Projektes gepr ft Wir wollen ein Projekt f rdern das m glichst viele Jugendliche in Deutschland erreicht Das Angebot sollte deshalb Potenzial zur Skalierbarkeit und Multiplizierbarkeit durch Dritte haben d h zum Beispiel bertragbar auf andere Organisationen sein und damit einen Vorbildcharakter aufweisen so Tesch Das ausgew hlte Projekt wird am 1 M rz auf der CeBIT in Hannover vorgestellt und ausgezeichnet Weitere Informationen Einzelheiten zur Ausschreibung sowie die Bewerbungsmodalit ten stehen unter www microsoft de politik zur Verf gung Microsoft Informationstag f r gemeinn tzige Organisationen Zus tzlich veranstaltet Microsoft am 4 M rz einen Informationstag f r gemeinn tzige Organisationen auf der CeBIT Stand A26 Halle 4 Hier k nnen Interessenten sich ber F rder und Kooperationsm glichkeiten sowie ber Technologieangebote speziell f r gemeinn tzige Organisationen informieren Eine unverbindliche Registrierung ist ab sofort unter www microsoft de politik m glich Mit der Registrierung erh lt jede Organisation bis zu zwei kostenlose Eintrittskarten f r die Messe Microsoft Deutschland Gm
6. e g that until which are capitalized Please do not apply the same principle to German titles Instead follow the general German capitalization rules The same rule applies to software strings Example e Switching Between Windows gt Wechseln zwischen Fenstern Compounds The Microsoft standard is that compounds of three components or less are written in one word unless there are definite problems with the readability of a term i e not subjective readability but the coming together of several letters to form an unintended character combination e g US back end would be backend the German present participle of backen gt for better readability Back End or the software design requires hyphenation Regarding hyphenation we do not make a difference between English and German compounds any more Examples Compounds with more than three Components Dropdown Combo Dropdown Kombinationsfeld Home page file name Homepage Dateiname Real time conversion rate Echtzeit Konvertierungsfrequenz Generally compounds should be understandable and clear to the user Overly long or complex compounds should be avoided Keep in mind that unintuitive compounds are ultimately an intelligibility and usability issue Product names are usually trademarked and therefore remain unchanged additions to a product name are added with a hyphen 39 Examples for Product Feature and Component Names Compounds with Product Nam
7. the repetition of the wizard name is redundant Grammar Syntax amp Orthographic Conventions Adjectives For general information on German adjectives please refer to general German language grammar references Possessive Adjectives This section does not apply to German Articles This section treats articles for product and feature names For general information on Gender please refer to German language grammar references as well as to the section Gender Articles For Unlocalized Feature Names Microsoft product names and non translated feature names are used without definite or indefinite articles in the English language as well as in the German language They are treated as proper names Using von and a dative construction is an effective way of avoiding a genitive form and the associated inflection Attaching a genitive s to trademarked product names is not feasible as it could be interpreted as a modification of such names Example e Die Vorteile von Active Desktop Localized Feature Names Translated feature names are used with a definite or indefinite article as they are not treated as proper names Example e ffnen Sie den Task Manager See also Articles for English Borrowed Terms 38 Capitalization Follow the general German capitalization rules Special Case Capitalization in English Titles In English titles for example all nouns pronouns adjectives verbs adverbs and subordinate conjunctions
8. 200 000 Bis zum 18 Februar k nnen gemeinn tzige Vereine und Organisationen ihre Jugendprojekte zur F rderung von eSkills einreichen Unterschlei heim 13 Januar 2011 Im Rahmen einer Ausschreibung vergibt Microsoft Deutschland bis zu 200 000 Euro an ein gemeinn tziges Projekt das Jugendlichen mit innovativen Angeboten beim Aufbau wichtiger eSkills hilft Ziel dieses Microsoft Engagements ist es Vereine und Organisationen dabei zu unterst tzen jungen Menschen wichtige IT Kenntnisse zu vermitteln und damit deren Chancen am Arbeitsmarkt zu erh hen Die Projekte k nnen bis zum 18 Februar 2011 unter www microsoft de politik eingereicht werden PC und Internet Kenntnisse sind in unserer heutigen Gesellschaft und Arbeitswelt von zentraler Bedeutung Aktuelle Zahlen belegen dass eSkills f r etwa 70 Prozent der Jobs in Deutschland eine notwendige Voraussetzung darstellen erkl rt Henrik Tesch Director Public Affairs und Citizenship von Microsoft Deutschland Mit der Ausschreibung f r innovative eSkills Projekte unterst tzt Microsoft gemeinn tzige Organisationen die Wettbewerbsf higkeit vor allem von Jugendlichen zu erh hen Hierf r erh lt das Gewinnerprojekt einen finanziellen Zuschuss und kann weitere Vorteile wie die Bereitstellung von technologischer Infrastruktur und Beratungsleistungen nutzen Microsoft setzt damit sein umfangreiches Bildungsengagement fort und investiert weiter in die Zukunft des Standorts Deutschland
9. a period atthe end of an error message even if there is none in the US string Exception No period at the end of one word error messages Replace exclamation marks by a period When localizing error messages containing placeholders try to find out what will replace the placeholder This is necessary for the sentence to be grammatically correct when the placeholder is replaced with a word or phrase Note that the letters used in placeholders convey a specific meaning Examples e d ld u and lu means lt number gt 86 e c means lt letter gt e s means lt string gt Examples of error messages containing placeholders Checking Web 1 d of 2 d means Checking Web lt number gt of lt number gt INI file 1 200s section means INI file lt string gt section Are you sure you want to remove s M chten Sie s wirklich entfernen Unable to locate an object with ID 1 d because of the Ein Objekt mit der ID 1 d wurde aufgrund des error code 0x 2 8 8X Fehlercodes 0x 2 8 8X nicht gefunden Keys The keyboard is the primary input device used for text input in Microsoft Windows For accessibility and efficiency most actions can be performed using the keyboard as well While working with Microsoft software you use keys key combinations and key sequences In English References to key names like arrow keys function keys and numeric keys appear in normal text not in
10. al al Character Name of character Character Dame of character Character Name of character ANSI code if available ANSI code if available Sey O _ a f r eingetragene Marke 74 stands for Registered Trademark q AA roots 0167 nao r gstrich Tide die 0126 Trademark E q A Date Country region Germany Luxembourg Gregorian Calendar Era First Week of the Year first week in January with 4 or more days Default Short Date d M yyyy Format Default Long Date Format dddd dd MMMM yyyy exemple Mittwoch 17 Marz 2011 Additional Short Date dd MM yy Format 1 Additional Short Date aM Country region Germany Luxembourg 17 3 11 Additional Long Date d MMMM yyyy Format 1 17 M rz 2011 Additional Long Date d MMM yyyy Format 2 17 Mrz 2011 Leading Zero in Day Field for Short Date Format Leading Zero in Month Field for Short Date no Format No of digits for year for Short Day Format Leading Zero in Day Field yes for Long Date Format Leading Zero in Month n a The long date format does not use digits but months are spelled out or Field for Long Date abbreviated Format Number of digits for year 4 for Long Day Format Date Format for cityname dd MMMM yyyy Correspondence Munchen 17 Marz 2011 d is for day number of d s indicates the format d digits without leading zero dd digits with leading zero ddd the abbreviated day name dddd full day name Abbr
11. can consult the IDS at any time The most important guidelines are outlined below Nouns Inflection English loan words are inflected when used in German Examples e der Standort des Servers e auf diesen Servern Plural Formation English loan words are generally pluralized with the plural s Examples e Clients e Websites e Downloads Special cases English loan words ending in the letter y simply receive a plural s according to the new German spelling Example e Proxys Loan words with the suffix er follow German plural formation rules Examples e Server e Manager e Viewer 34 Terms ending in or receive a plural s or en depending upon whether they are already existing German nouns Examples e Locators e Administratoren Agent is regarded as an English term and is pluralized with s Example e Agents Verbs In a few cases English verbs are used as loan words They follow German conjugation rules for weak verbs Examples e chat gt chatten sie chattet wir haben gechattet zu chatten e debug gt debuggen sie debuggt wir haben debuggt zu debuggen e crawl gt crawlen sie crawlen wir haben gecrawlt zu crawlen Articles for English Borrowed Terms When faced with an English loan word previously used in Microsoft products consider the following options e Motivation Does the English word have any formally motivated fea
12. choose The German equivalents are klicken auf and zeigen auf always used with the preposition auf Enter and type should be translated as eingeben when the user uses the keyboard for input Examples for Select In the drop down list W hlen Sie in der select ausw hlen Option aus entry e g in a list Check Boxes Select the check box Aktivieren Sie das select aktivieren Kontrollk stchen Correspondingly to clear a check box deaktivieren Highlighting Text Select the text and then Markieren Sie den 70 Graphics Cells etc drag itto the new Text und ziehen Sie The user highlights text or location ihn an die neue Stelle numbers cells or graphics Examples for Click Menus On the menu On the File menu click Klicken Sie im Men Datei auf click Open ffnen Cascading Menus Onthe___ menu click On the View menu Klicken Sie im Men Ansicht _ andithenclick__ click Fonts and then auf Schriftarten und dann auf click Small Klein Shortcut Menus On the shortcut menu On the shortcut menu Klicken Sie im Kontextmen auf click click Set Home Page Homepage festlegen Buttons Click Click Forms Click OK Klicken Sie auf Formulare Klicken Sie auf OK Tab Dialog Boxes Click the tab Click the View tab Klicken Sie auf die Registerkarte Ansicht List Boxes Inthe box click In the Color box click Klicken Sie im Feld Farbe a
13. cot c te c t u t Czech hi a irdisch l vi lie lire llama l ug L wen l za lu amp luck L beck lye M nner ma gta mir m chten myndig pi a pint pylon s mtlich Saran savoir Serb ra Sietla Slub subtle symbol vaga verkehrt vox waffle wood yen yuan yucca Zal Zena Zen va 32 zoo Z rich Zviedrija zysk zzlj zziz zznj ZZNZ Geopolitical Concerns Part of the cultural adaptation of the US product to a specific market is the resolving of geopolitical issues While the US product should have been designed and developed with neutrality and a global audience in mind the localized product should respond to the particular situation that applies within the target country region Sensitive issues or issues that might potentially be offensive to the users in the target country region may occur in any of the following e Maps e Flags e Country region city and language names e Art and graphics e Cultural content such as encyclopedia content and other text where historical or political references may occur Some of these issues are relatively easy to verify and resolve the objective should be for the localizer to always have the most current information available Maps and other graphic representations of countries regions and regions should be checked for accuracy and existing political restrictions Country region city and language names change on a regular basis and n
14. country abbreviation in front of the postal code 9 but only write the full name of the country in the last line of the address block in CAPITAL letters 10 of course only for letters sent outside Germany For further details on postal addressing systems please refer to the Universal Postal Union s web site Currency Country region Germany Austria Luxembourg Currency Symbol The currency symbol is placed after the number preceded by a space Currency symbol Position and not followed by a period Positive Currency Format 123 45 Negative Sign Symbol ee a ANSI 0150 is placed in front of the Negative Currency Format 123 45 Decimal Symbol comma Number of Digits after Decimal 2 Digit Grouping Symbol period Number of Digits in Digit 3 Grouping Positive Currency Example Negative Currency Example 1 234 567 890 00 1 234 567 890 00 ISO Currency Code EUR Currency Subunit Name cent Currency Subunit Symbol c Currency Subunit Example 15c 26 Country region Currency Name Switzerland Liechtenstein Schweitzer Franken Swiss Francs Currency Symbol Currency Symbol Position Positive Currency Format Negative Sign Symbol Negative Currency Format Decimal Symbol Number of Digits after Decimal Digit Grouping Symbol Number of Digits in Digit Grouping Positive Currency Example Negative Currency Example ISO Currency Code Currency Subunit Name Currency Subunit Symbol Currency Subu
15. ffnet werden Die Standardeinstellungen k nnen nicht berschrieben werden Cannot can t V N kann k nnen nicht Do not use Kann nicht at the beginning of the sentence Cannot open conversion file The Defaults settings cannot be overwritten Die Strukturdatei konnte nicht Could not couldn t V N konnte ge ffnet werden Die Ausgabedatei nicht Do not use Konnte nicht konnte nicht ge ffnet werden at the beginning of the sentence The texture file could not be opened Couldn t open output file Unable to convert badly formed Die ung ltige Gleichung kann Unable to kann k nnen nicht equation nicht konvertiert werden If possible use passive and move 84 ran CTN CN the object to subject position Do not use Kann nicht at the beginning of the sentence FCB unavailable FCB ist nicht verf gbar Unavailable nicht verf gbar Drive 1 is not a floppy disk drive or is mapped to a network drive Attempt to load required component ODBC32 DLL failed Operation failed Questions Save changes to 1 Do you want to save changes to 1 Are you sure you want to remove s Syntactic Ordering Das Laufwerk 1 ist kein Diskettenlaufwerk oder ist einem Netzlaufwerk zugeordnet Eehler beim Laden der erforderlichen Komponente ODBC32 DLL Fehler bei diesem Vorgang M chten Sie die nderungen in 1 speichern
16. messages usually use a verb in the ing form plus three dots in the end In German the passive voice Vorgangspassiv see example below is used Difficulties can arise if this convention is not kept in the US text and the status or progress message is not immediately recognizable as such although sometimes the Resource ID will tell Examples e Scanning files e Dateien werden gescannt e Setup is now gathering migration data e Migrationsdaten werden gesammelt German Name Category US English Status Bar German Status Bar message message Edit Bearbeiten menu Contains editing commands Enth lt Bearbeitungsbefehle Copy to In Ordner kopieren menu Copies the selected items to Kopiert die Folder a new location ausgew hlten Elemente an einen neuen Speicherort New Neu command Creates a new document Erstellt ein neues Dokument Make object visible Soll das Objekt sichtbar sein 78 German Name Category US English Status Bar German Status Bar message message Word is converting the Dr cken Sie ESC um document Press Esc to Vorgang zu i abzubrechen The importance of standardization In the US product you can often find messages that are phrased differently even though they have the same meaning Try to avoid this in the localized German version Use one standard translation as in the examples below US English term Correct German translation Press F1 to get
17. other way around Do Attempt to remove current directory Abbrechen um das Erstellen einer Startdiskette zu berspringen Es wurde versucht das aktuelle Verzeichnis zu entfernen Comment not use Um Speicherplatz freizugeben entfernen Sie Use passive for Attempt to Es wurde versucht However see Attempt to failed Fehler beim Agreement ana Tan So O The image or selection to be filtered is too small Please choose a larger image or selection Das Bild oder die Auswahl ist zu klein zum Filtern Replace invalid s Click OK and then clear one or more of the selected components Punctuation Wahlen Sie ein gr eres Bild oder eine gr ere Auswahl M chten Sie s ung ltig ersetzen Klicken Sie auf OK und deaktivieren Sie dann mindestens eine der ausgew hlten Komponenten To avoid agreement errors rephrase or repeat the inflected elements here articles and adjectives As nouns replacing placeholders may have different genders avoid agreement problems by rephrasing or changing their position Simplify the translation of one or more by using mindestens eine ein etc EMT CO CS Not available on this platform Printer error Device I O error Too many files Nicht auf dieser Plattform verf gbar Druckerfehler Ger te E A Fehler Zu viele Dateien Error Messages Containing Placeholders Put
18. over the bold tags may cause the link to break Therefore for hyperlink titles that include a mouse over don t use bold ALL UPPERCASE DDE OLE DDE OLE File Extensions Like Acronyms ni file INI file ini file INI Datei Command line commands Bold copy command der Befehl copy and switches la switch der Schalter a New terms and emphasis Italic look on the World Wide finden Sie im World Web The World Wide Wide Web Das World Web is the graphical Wide Web ist der grafische portion Teil Code samples Monospace font usually Sub Main End Sub Sub Main End Sub Courier 10 pt or Lucida Sans Typewriter 8 pt 100 Device names ALL UPPERCASE LPT1 COM1 LPT1 COM1 Programming and product Treatment varies in regard specific elements data to spelling rules Names of types arguments objects and the descriptor functions operators that follows are listed as macro names etc xxx Objekt Translation of ReadMe Files Please use the following translation for the actual file name e English Readme txt gt German Info txt How to Reference Ul Items Left in English UI references to non localized MS products or third party products should be followed by a translation between brackets when dealing with an end user audience Information Workers PC Home Users or Business Decision Makers If you are unsure about your audience spectrum please add translation betwe
19. zero MMM the abbreviated name MMMM full name y is for year number of y s gives number of digits yy two digits yyyy four digits Time Country region Germany Austria Switzerland Luxembourg Liechtenstein 24 hour format yes Standard time format 23 43 12 example Time separator colon Hours leading zero yes n a 18 Days Country region Germany Austria Switzerland Luxembourg Liechtenstein First Day of Week Monday Is first letter capitalized Yes Notes All German speaking countries use the Gregorian calendar Monday is the first day of the week as per MS standards However some people also consider Sunday to be the first day of the week There is no 3 letter abbreviation for days With abbreviations no period is added in Microsoft calendar list format In general text a period is needed though to follow proper German grammar rules Months Country region Germany Switzerland Liechtenstein Luxembourg COMIC ce T TN aa Apri A da 19 September September Sep n a October Oktober Okt n a Country region Austria monn raro abbrensiearem Long Daeron February Feb n a March Mrz n a April Apr n a June Jun n a July Jul n a August Aug n a September Sep n a October Okt n a November Nov n a December Dez n a Is first letter capitalized Yes Notes With abbreviations no period is added The abbreviations listed in the table are the MS standard abbr
20. ARROW NACH OBEN TASTE NACH OBEN TASTE Notes e Using other names than those in the list is a terminology issue e If available symbols may be used instead of the key name e Use die and TASTE except in combinations or sequences Access Keys Hot keys a Unbenannt Editor Bearbeiten Format Ansicht 2 Tastenkombination Neu Strg N ffnen Strg 0 Speichern Strg S Speichern unter Seite einrichten Drucken Strg P Beenden Sometimes there are underlined or highlighted letters in menu options commands or dialog boxes These letters refer to access keys also known as hot keys that allow you to run commands perform tasks etc more quickly Please note that in order to display access keys you might need to activate this functionality in the accessibility center Bedienung der Tastenkombinationen erleichtern Y Tastenkombinationen und Zugrifftasten unterstreichen 89 Hot Key Special Options Usage Is It Allowed Slim characters such as l t r f eo s can be used as hot key Characters with downstrokes such as g j y p and q can be used as hotkeys Extended characters can be used as yes Use only if all other possible hotkeys letters are used already An additional letter appearing Do not use for German between brackets after item name can be used as hotkeys A number appearing between brackets after item name can be used as hotkey Sometimes used
21. As long as consistency is not at risk and other Style Guide rules don t prevent it the alternatives recommended by the Duden should be used highlighted there in yellow The following cases are mentioned here for clarification only see also Error Hyperlink reference not valid 69 One Word vs Two Words The new German spelling rules allow two different spellings for some words To avoid inconsistencies in Microsoft products please use the following forms Examples so dass sodass gt sodass BUT aber er arbeitete so dass er krank wurde mit Hilfe mithilfe gt mithilfe auf Grund aufgrund gt aufgrund in Frage infrage gt infrage weit greifend weitgreifend gt weitgreifend schwer wiegend schwerwiegend gt schwerwiegend fertig stellen fertigstellen gt fertig stellen until further notice Terminological Ambiguities Some terms have different translations depending on the concept or context Below are answers to some frequently asked questions a select click point ausw hlen markieren aktivieren klicken auf zeigen auf The default translation for the US term select is ausw hlen It is rather general in its meaning and should be used whenever the context does not require another specific translation such as aktivieren for check boxes or markieren when the emphasis is on highlighting The US text mostly uses the verbs click and point instead of
22. German Style Guide Contents Whats NeW a ad 4 New TODICS coi ee E a ee ee eee ene 4 Updated TOIS ahotara ae ees antes en eee es hes eee Si 4 Introducti ne 2 es een He Santee Siete eed Sih 5 About This Style G ldeniz ainsasse anna een Tine 5 Scope of This Documenti tes menerai aaa ae a iaa na 5 Style Guide Conventions s40u44400nnnnnnnnnannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnannnnnnannnnnnnnnn 5 Sample Text al alas een 6 Reterence Matelall 2 nah rang hen runder Dre nee ehr angehen 8 References Orthography Style and Usage ur 24srsnsunnnennnnnnennnnnnnnnnnnnnnannnnnnnnnn nenn 8 Informative References uunnnnsannnnnnnannnnnnnnnnnnnnnannnnnnnnnnennnnannnnnnnannnnnnnannennnnannennnnannennnnnnn 8 Language Specific Conventions 22044400nsnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnennnnnnnnnnnn 9 Country Region Standards 240 42400nnn0nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn nn 9 Character S tica li tia 9 Dai FETTERNELERFLERTERTEREISCHGFLERTEN E ET STEEL ETERELHETTPELEETEFERFEERTSTERERER 13 A 18 NUM Sci a A A A A PA a A rd CO 21 A A 29 Geopolitical Concerns it ld dlls 33 English Terminology and the German Language System 200nnnennnnennnnnnnnnnnnnnennnnnnnnnn 33 Guidelines for the Localization of Wizard Names oooococinncccinnccnocccnnonnnnonnnanncnnnncc narran 36 Grammar Syntax 8 Orthogra
23. Help If you want Help press F1 Dr cken Sie F1 um die Hilfe anzuzeigen To get Help press F1 Not enough memory Insufficient memory Nicht gen gend Speicher There is not enough memory Save changes to 1 M chten Sie die nderungen an 1 speichern Do you want to save changes to 1 Error Messages What Is An Error Message Here is an example E Microsoft Outlook gt Zurzeit wird eine andere Version von Outlook ausgef hrt Schlie en Sie e diese und versuchen Sie es erneut 79 Error messages are messages sent by the system or a program informing the user that there is an error that must be corrected in order for the program to keep running For example the messages can prompt the user to take an action or inform the user of an error that requires rebooting the computer The following guidelines were created in an effort to standardize error messages which are often inconsistent and where the meaning is not always clear in English New localizers frequently ask for help with error messages Main principles for translation are clarity comprehensibility and consistency German Style in Error Messages It is important to use consistent terminology and language style in the localized error messages and not just translate as they appear in the US product Therefore please apply the following guidelines when localizing error messages underlined formatting in the examples below is only used for empha
24. Idiomaticity please also refer to the section Style Abbreviations Common Abbreviations You might need to abbreviate some words in the Ul mainly buttons or options names due to lack of space Please take into account the following guidelines on how words should be abbreviated in German Common Abbreviations Use the common abbreviations listed below Note however that we do not recommend extensive use of abbreviations List of common abbreviations Expression Tremmpabeabbrnien gegebenenfalls ggf und so weiter vergleiche vgl beziehungsweise zum Beispiel zum Teil zurzeit Further Guidelines 1 If a sentence ends with an abbreviation that has its own period there is no additional end of sentence period 2 Use a non breaking space CTRL SHIFT SPACEBAR in abbreviations such as z B or d h 3 If non breaking spaces cannot be used e g in Help files it is also acceptable to write these abbreviations without a space to avoid having one letter move to the beginning of the next line Examples Use caution with the following abbreviations 3 For legal reasons Microsoft may not be abbreviated Exception MS DOS a m p m If it is necessary to keep the US time format in a product use periods For space reasons it may be necessary to omit them in the software 2D 3D This is the Microsoft specific abbreviation of two dimensional 2 D and three dimensional 3 D respectively As this abbreviation is u
25. Schaltfl che und dann auf Neu Click File point to New and then click Folder Klicken Sie auf Datei zeigen Sie auf Neu und klicken Sie dann auf Ordner 58 Active and Passive Voice In general use the active voice which emphasizes the person or thing doing the action It is more direct and personal than the passive voice which can be confusing or sound formal The passive voice should be used for sentences where the US string uses personified subjects Examples Poor Die Symbole k nnen alphabetisch nach Namen sortiert werden Wenn ein pers nlicher digitaler Assistent PDA oder ein Laptop angeschlossen wird Note The agent is missing which sounds impersonal The user may not recognize that he or she can take action to modify application to his or her needs Better Sie k nnen die Symbole alphabetisch nach dem Symbolnamen sortieren Wenn Sie einen pers nlichen digitalen Assistenten PDA oder einen Laptop anschlie en Use the passive voice only in the following cases e When a US string uses personified subjects the German word order should change from active to passive voice to avoid inanimate subjects in agentive semantic roles e When the context allows for omission of the subject rephrase and change the word order e When the context does not allow for omission of the agent use passive voice and vom von der von subject Examples Setup encountered an error while creating
26. Sie Systemsymbole 53 Terminology and Word Choice The choice of words and terminology has a great impact on how a product is perceived Even simple things can appear complicated if they are described in complicated words Words and terminology should be chosen along the following Guidelines and examples e Use one term for one concept and use terms consistently Although the use of synonyms might be more interesting to read worldwide users might assume that your choice of a different term indicates a subtle distinction in meaning For example choose between eine Anwendung starten ausf hren or ffnen and be consistent Consistent terminology promotes learning and a better understanding of technical concepts Inconsistency forces users to figure out whether different words and actions mean the same Example for terminology consistency in the software CO A Alle Systernsteuerungseleme gt Heimnetzgruppe v 44 Systemsteuerung durchsuchen Datei Bearbeiten Ansicht Extras Auf Heimnetzgruppen auf einem Computer zugreifen der einer Dom ne angeh rt ad Derzeit ist keine Heimnetzgruppe im Netzwerk vorhanden Die Netzwerkadresse Ihres Computers muss auf Privat festgelegt werden wenn Sie einer Heimnetzgruppe beitreten m chten Was ist eine Netzwerkadresse Da der Computer auch zu einer Dom ne geh rt k nnen Sie keine eigene Heimnetzgruppe erstellen Sie k nnen jedoch einer Heimnetzgruppe beitreten die
27. Wenn Sie jemals auf der Suche nach einem falsch abgelegten Bild Musikst ck oder Tabellenblatt eine Menge Zeit geopfert haben k nnen Sie nun aufatmen Mit Windows 7 k nnen Sie Dateien einfacher finden und organisieren Avoid surprising or humorous word choices slang and sarcasm Puns and coined phrases can be difficult to interpret and non native German speakers might not recognize humor or sarcasm If the context allows consider to reflect humorous word choices Avoid acronyms and abbreviations except if the meaning is obvious as in St Petersburg or use them sparingly and define them in context For example BA is the abbreviation for Bamberg a city in Germany and for Basel a Swiss city and canton However if an acronym or an abbreviation is widely used and introduced in the market please use them as appropriate Note it is more common to use USB instead of universeller serieller Bus For additional examples on Terminology and Word Choice also refer to the sections on Standardized Translations Software Considerations and Document Translation Considerations Tone The way you say something can strongly affect the person you are talking to In fact it s not always what you say but how you say it that determines the response you get from your audience This is why using the appropriate tone and voice is critical to the success of any Microsoft product 57 Please always keep in mind the target user audienc
28. a a E Pound f Poma rtm o der from the US unit an fon a ooasramm fg o English Units of Inch no abbreviation except for Zoll the following symbol used to indicate Zoll Fu me Me In Galion na Measurement Notes n a Percentages In Software localization the percentage symbol is frequently used as a placeholder Do not modify or remove placeholders Follow general software localization guidelines and rules Several examples can be found in the section Software Considerations in the table for examples on error messages containing Verbs Sorting 1 Non alphabetical characters i e symbols like sort before the letters of the alphabet 2 Digits sort after the non alphabetical characters and before the letters of the alphabet 3 Characters rank as follows Aa A a ranks same as A Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh i Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn o Oranks same as O P p Qq Rr Ss B B ranks same Sorting rules cere ds as ss Tt U u U U ranks same as U Vv Ww Xx Y y Z z 4 Other accented characters are equal with non accented characters so and e and c fi and n and C 6 and o are equal 5 Double a aa Aa AA aA sorts as A Alpha DEC Character p me sorting order 65 29 0 6 P P q Q TD 30 Examples of sorted words s S t T u U v V w W x X y Y z Z 4 Aaron andere ndere chaque chemin cote
29. a more idiomatic way of structuring a given sentence use the German word order instead of translating word by word as long as the key message is conveyed Example Standard Translation Idiomatic Translation Display Name as shown in Angezeigter Name wie In der Liste der Changing the word order the list of participants ina in der Liste der Teilnehmer Sitzungsteilnehmer and shortening the string shared session an der Freigabesitzung angezeigter Name is advisable Format cells that contain Zellen formatieren die Zellen formatieren die The text or formatting is the text den Text enthalten folgenden Text enthalten specified after the colon in such cases it is more idiomatic to use folgende r in German Click here for more options Klicken Sie hier um Klicken Sie hier um Creating a subordinate such as pasting only the weitere Optionen wie das weitere Optionen clause is an elegant values or formatting Einf gen nur von Werten anzuzeigen z B wenn Sie solution if sentence Example Standard Translation Idiomatic Translation Format cells with a date My table has headers Blank Page Sizes Interrupts sec is the average rate at which the processor received and serviced hardware interrupts It does not include deferred procedure calls DPCs which are counted separately This value is an indirect indicator of the activity of devices that generate interrupts such as network
30. abase Blog das auch der lt engl gt kurz f r Weblog Po For information on Articles for English Borrowed Terms please refer to the corresponding section under Articles For information on Gender Bias please refer to the section Style and Tone Considerations Genitive First and foremost please follow the standard conventions on using es vs s in genitive formation However in cases where both solutions are possible always use the simple ending s Convention 1 Product Names Attaching a genitive s to trademarked product names is not feasible as it could be interpreted as a modification of such names Convention 2 ES Genitive Following the standard conventions words ending on s 3 z tz x need the es genitive 42 Examples e Verzeichnis gt des Verzeichnisses e Gru gt des Gru es e Absturz gt des Absturzes e Satz gt des Satzes e Suffix gt des Suffixes Convention 3 S Genitive In cases where both endings are valid always use the simple ending s This applies also to words like Debitor or Kreditor where Duden allows a genitive formation with s or en Examples e Text gt des Texts e Feld gt des Felds e Tag gt des Tags e Vertrag gt des Vertrags Convention 3 Words of Foreign Origin A genitive s is also added to words of foreign origin Examples e Server gt des Servers e Internet gt d
31. ademarks Markenzeichen information on data privacy Informationen zur Datensicherheit and imprint Impressum For Copyright and Trademark symbols their ANSI codes and their Microsoft standard names please refer to the section Special Characters Disclaimer Please note that the information provided in this section is for general information only 102
32. ading Codes zero MM digits with leading zero MMM the abbreviated name MMMM full name y is for year number of y s gives number of digits yy two digits yyyy four digits 16 Country region Switzerland Liechtenstein Separator period Default Short Date dd MM yyyy Format 17 03 2011 Default Long Date Format dadd da MMMM YY Mittwoch 17 M rz 2011 Additional Short Date dd MM yy Format 1 17 03 11 Additional Short Date d M yy Format 2 17 3 11 Additional Long Date d MMMM yyyy Format 1 17 M rz 2011 Additional Long Date d MMM yyyy Format 2 17 Mrz 2011 Leading Zero in Day Field yes for Short Date Format Leading Zero in Month Field for Short Date yes Format No of digits for year for 4 Short Day Format Leading Zero in Day Field yes for Long Date Format n a The long date format does not use digits but months are spelled out or Leading Zero in Month eading Zero abbreviated Field for Long Date 17 Country region Switzerland Liechtenstein Number of digits for year 4 for Long Day Format Date Format for cityname dd MMMM yyyy Correspondence Z rich 17 M rz 2011 n a d is for day number of d s indicates the format d digits without leading zero dd digits with leading zero ddd the abbreviated day name dddd full day name Abbreviations in Format M is for month number of M s gives number of digits M digits without leading Codes zero MM digits with leading
33. ame tense as in the source string Use different tenses only to avoid ungrammatical or illogical results Rephrase to produce an appropriate translation may V V m glicherweise Do not use vielleicht eventuell Shorten and rephrase Problem beim nominalized V or if this does not work Problem beim bei der N 82 An error occurred while trying to display the image The following error occurred 1 s error 2 Ix An unknown error has occurred No error occurred This message should only occur on a down level computer Problem converting equation Insufficient memory to convert equation Insufficient memory to complete Cannot find the graphic file s Do you want to continue installing M chten Sie die Installation von Microsoft Exchange a Exchange fortsetzen Please wait a few minutes and then click OK to continue If you skip this file Windows may not work correctly Do not use ist ein Problem aaa Shorten and rephrase Fehler beim nominalized V or if this does not work Fehler beim bei der N Do not use ist ein Fehler aufgetreten Shorten this construction where possible Do not use Folgender Fehler trat auf Shorten this construction where possible Translate the verb occur in the sense of appearing on the screen with erscheinen Do not use auftreten Fehler beim Anzeigen des e Fehler 1 s Fehler 2 Ix
34. and examples e English Terminology and the German Lanquage System Word Order Please follow general German language grammatical rules on Word Order 50 Style and Tone Considerations This section focuses on higher level considerations for audience style tone and voice Audience A product may be targeted at individual consumers businesses or internet audiences When localizing a product please always keep in mind the target user audience and address the intended user with the appropriate tone and level of grammar and formality as well as reading level e g technical register for IT professionals children s register for children Style Consistency and Idiomaticity The language in Microsoft products should have the Look and Feel of a product originally written in German using idiomatic syntax and terminology while at the same time maintaining a high level of terminological consistency so as to guarantee the maximum user experience and usability for our customers With regard to consistency and idiomaticity the following general guideline should be followed Consistency must not be maintained at all costs and at the expense of idiomaticity and vice versa The line between those two pillars is a thin one therefore this topic was designed to help find a balanced approach Note The following example strings should only serve as idiomatic examples they don t need to be taken over literally Syntax If there is
35. bH Die Microsoft Deutschland GmbH ist die 1983 gegr ndete Tochtergesellschaft der Microsoft Corporation Redmond U S A des weltweit f hrenden Herstellers von Standardsoftware Services und L sungen mit 62 48 Mrd US Dollar Umsatz Gesch ftsjahr 2010 30 Juni 2010 Der operative Gewinn im Fiskaljahr 2010 betrug 24 10 Mrd US Dollar Neben der Firmenzentrale in Unterschlei heim bei M nchen ist die Microsoft Deutschland GmbH bundesweit mit sechs Regionalb ros vertreten und besch ftigt rund 2 700 Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter Im Verbund mit rund 31 500 Partnerunternehmen betreut sie Firmen aller Branchen und Gr en Das European Microsoft Innovation Center EMIC in Aachen hat Forschungsschwerpunkte in IT Sicherheit Datenschutz Mobilit t mobile Anwendungen und Web Services Erstellt am 13 Januar 2011 um 16 00 Uhr Source of sample text http www microsoft com germany presseservice news pressemitteilung mspx id 533297 Created on January 13 2011 Disclaimer Please note that the information in this sample text should under no circumstances be used in examples as fictitious information Reference Material Use the German language and terminology as described and used in the following publications Microsoft terminology and term information is available through the Microsoft Language Portal www microsoft com Language de de Search aspx Terminology and term information available through the Microsoft Language Portal or this S
36. be replaced with the equivalent German URLs as provided by Microsoft If a corresponding German page is not available there are two options either keep the US URL or remove it depending on the relevance of the page Ifthe US URL is relevant to the audience local market then it should be kept generally followed by the disclaimer in englischer Sprache If the US URL is not relevant to the audience local market it should be removed In specific cases a disclaimer may be inserted because sometimes so called fw links are used and the pages they point to might be localized at a later time This general rule also applies for hyperlinked or non hyperlinked references to US content References relevant to the audience local market should be kept and left in English so that the users can find them on the Web followed by a translation in parentheses and the disclaimer in englischer Sprache However if the English meaning is obvious and will be well understood by the audience the translation in parenthesis can be omitted Frequent Errors Troublesome or Conflictive Words There are certain cases where terminological or orthographic ambiguities leave room for interpretation The intention of this section is to provide recommendations for these specific cases For additional information and examples see also Error Messages and Anglicism Orthographic Ambiguities The German orthographic reform sometimes allows for spelling alternatives
37. ber of Digit Number of Digit Groupings region of Digits Groupings Digits Groupings Digits International Local Local Mobile Mobile International Luxembourg 8 HH HH HH 8 HH HH HH HH 9 11 HHH HH HH HH HH HH HH Ht HHH Ht HH HH HH 23 Notes e There are no regional codes in Luxemburg All phone numbers consist of 6 or 8 digits e All mobile phone numbers consist of 8 digits and start with a 6 60 and 61 are not used e http www gouvernement lu Country Internation Number of Separator Number of Digit Groupings region al Dialing Digits Digits Domestic Code Area Codes Domestic Country Number of Digit Number of Digit Number of Digit Groupings region Digits Groupings Digits Groupings Digits International Local Local Mobile Mobile International Liechtenstein 7 HHH HH HH 7 HHH HH HH 7 HHH HHH HH HH Notes e All mobile phone numbers consist of 7 digits and start with a 6 or a 7 e There are no regional codes in Liechtenstein All phone numbers consist of 7 digits e http www ak li Addresses Country region Germany Switzerland Austria Liechtenstein Luxembourg Disclaimer Please note that the information in this entry should under no circumstances be used in examples as fictitious information Address Format Format Local Example Example Guide information in brackets is optional 1 CompanyName Protunda AG Protunda AG CompanyName 2 Title Hon
38. chaftszuweisung Anzahl von Do not use an or der Read error on input file Lesefehler in der Eingabedatei Input past end of file Eingabe hinter dem Dateiende Do notuse nach not use nach Das Netzwerk ist ausgefallen Metaphorically used prepositions usually require rephrasing The network is down Network is down You interrupted Setup while it was copying Windows files from a Setup CAB file Disk full while accessing 1 Verbs Setup wurde beim Kopieren der Windows Dateien von einer Setup Datei CAB unterbrochen Der Datentr ger war beim Zugriff auf 1 voll while V ing beim N or nominalized V Do not use w hrend des EMT Tesmn Teammen The document is too large Document too large Access was denied Access denied The installed WordPerfect graphics filter is an old version The application may attempt to convert the graphic A problem occurred while trying to connect to the network share 1 s Das Dokument ist zu gro Der Zugriff wurde verweigert Bei dem installierten WordPerfect Grafikfilter handelt es sich um eine ltere Version Die Anwendung versucht m glicherweise die Grafik zu konvertieren Problem beim Herstellen der Verbindung mit der Netzwerkfreigabe 1 s Use ist sind werden wurde etc consistently even if source message does not In complete sentences use verbs and the s
39. chaltfl che Tool tip for the Start button of Windows XP See also Guidelines for the Localization of Error Messages Guidelines for the Localization of Wizard Names Translation of Command Line Descriptions Descriptions for Command Line parameters should use the following verb forms Examples e A Listet Dateien mit angegebenen Attributen auf e A Beendet den Prozess der in allen Sitzungen ausgef hrt wird Messages Status Messages Status messages report that a process is executing Standard German syntax should be applied to status messages wherever possible What is a Status Bar Message A status bar message is an informational message about the active document or a selected command as well as about any active or selected interface item Messages are shown in the status bar at the bottom of the window when the user has chosen a menu a command or any other item or has started a function The status bar messages refer to actions being performed or already complete for example in Outlook below 77 Statusleiste anpassen Kontingentinformationen Aus Filtern Elemente in der Ansicht 17 Kopfzeilenelemente in der Ansicht Ungelesene Elemente in der Ansicht 11 Erinnerungen Tastenkombinationen anzeigen oom 100 Y ca zZ Z v oomregler German Style in Status bar Messages In English the status bar messages have different forms dependent on the information they must convey These
40. de version had to be moved to different topics Please find below a list of New and Updated Topics Note that changes in these sections also apply to the corresponding sub sections New Topics The following topics were added e Language Specific Conventions e Symbols amp Non Breaking Spaces e Unlocalized Items e Using the Word Microsoft e Messages e Copyright Updated Topics The following topics were updated February 2011 e Introduction e Recommended Reference Material e Grammar Syntax 8 Orthographic Conventions e Style and Tone Considerations e Localization Guidelines e Software Considerations e Document Translation Considerations e Pronouns Special Case My Terminology section minor update e Keys subsection Key Names added e User Interface subsection added Special Case Translation of the About menu item July 2014 e Country Region Standards subsection Characters minor edit Introduction This Style Guide went through major revision in February 2011 in order to remove outdated and unnecessary content About This Style Guide The purpose of this Style Guide is to provide everybody involved in the localization of German Microsoft products with Microsoft specific linguistic guidelines and standard conventions that differ from or are more prescriptive than those found in language reference materials These conventions have been adopted after considering context based on variou
41. ds that are written the same way in German as in English Please note that exceptions may apply For certain products or concepts a different target term might need to be used Please refer to the Microsoft terminology databases and always verify the respective term in context Examples Examples Examples Examples Examples Examples Standard Acti Pages 73 Examples Examples Examples Examples Examples Examples Using the Word Microsoft Both in English and in German it is prohibited for legal reasons to use MS as an abbreviation for Microsoft Exception MS DOS Software Considerations This section refers to all menus menu items commands buttons check boxes etc which should be consistently translated in the localized product Refer to http msdn microsoft com library aa511258 aspx for a detailed explanation of the Windows user interface guidelines English Typographic Conventions in Software Use one method consistently within your product as consistent use of typographic conventions helps users locate and interpret information easily The following guidelines present specific typographic conventions that are relevant for localization of software Examples When a user interface element is referred to in the software usually in EDB format it is placed in quotation marks e The file menu gt das Men Datei e The Internet Explorer icon gt das S
42. e gt Hypertext Markup Language HTML e TCP IP Protokoll gt TCP IP e PIN Nummer gt PIN 66 Localized Acronyms In UA material spell out the words on first mention in the text if possible for example in the section where a feature is described followed by a translation in parentheses Example e Datenzugriffsobjekte Data Access Objects DAO e ActiveX Datenobjekte ActiveX Data Objects ADO Specifically for Ul material there is usually not enough space for all three terms US term German translation and the acronym only in wizards the acronym can easily be spelled out and localized on first mention If there are space constraints or there is no first occurrence it is up to the localizers to judge to the best of their knowledge if the acronym can be left as is or if it should be localized The localizer s judgment should also take into account that users of distinct products will also have different levels of knowledge while for a German Exchange user identifying DL won t pose any serious problems the average German Windows user would have difficulties in understanding DL and prefer Verteilerliste Try to be consistent within a product Note Although the English acronym in general can t be derived from the German translation creating a new acronym derived from the German translated term is not an option Unlocalized Acronyms Many acronyms are standardized and remain untranslated They a
43. e Print window Switch to normal view in the document window die Registerkarte Ansicht die Option Hochformat das Feld Formular die Schaltfl che Abbrechen das Listenfeld Dateityp das Textfeld Kennwort das Kontrollk stchen Schreibgesch tzt Doppelklicken Sie auf das Symbol Microsoft Internet Explorer Symbolleiste Datenbank Toolbar names have not been formatted consistently in the past Please use the above listed formatting in procedural steps if the toolbar name appears in the UI e g menu item When referring to the toolbar in general text it is also acceptable to use the following formatting Example Die Standardsymbolleiste befindet sich die Ansicht Ganzer Bildschirm das Fenster Drucken Wechseln Sie zur Normalansicht im Dokumentfenster 98 User Input Placeholder Type password Geben Sie Kennwort ein Key names and Print Help Same size as press ENTER dr cken Sie die combinations English but consistent press SHIFT F2Ctrl G EINGABETASTE within the product dr cken Sie Software Initial Caps UMSCHALT F2Strg G Text Boxes Inthe ___ box type ___ In the Fonts box type Arial Geben Sie Arial im and then press enter and then press enter Feld Schriftart ein und dr cken Sie dann die EINGABETASTE Do not use Geben Sie im Feld Schriftart Arial ein una Avoid having t
44. e and address the intended user with the appropriate tone and level of grammar and formality as well as reading level e g technical register for IT professionals children s register for children When you formal try to start Wenn Sie versuchen Microsoft Polite form is used throughout the text Microsoft Money after you Money nach der Neuinstallation zu jargon may not be used in Microsoft formal reinstall Money you starten erhalten Sie products formal may receive an error m glicherweise diese oder eine message that is similar to the hnliche Fehlermeldung Exceptions for a more relaxed tone are following Windows Live and Gaming products Voice In Microsoft software and documentation the user is addressed in the third person plural referring to the user as Sie Man as a pronoun is not used Please also refer to the example provided under Tone Usage of Sie in Instructions The question of how often Sie should be included in instructional sentences occurs every now and then The advice is to avoid unnecessary usage of Sie in instructions and to keep instructions as concise and as clear as possible However when the action changes Sie should be used as an additional indicator that the next step is different from the previous action Sie can also mark certain sentence constructions unambiguously as instructions Examples Click the Office button and then click New Klicken Sie auf die Office
45. e grammatical rules on using periods Please find specific information below Periods in lists and tables To avoid inconsistencies when setting a period at the end of a list or table entry please adhere to the following guidelines Guidelines e f bulleted items are complete sentences each ends with a period e f bulleted items continue an introductory clause do not use a period e For items in a list chapters sections products system requirements etc that are neither sentences nor continuations of sentences do not use a period e f your translation is longer than the US text or if you split your translation into several independent sentences use common sense and insert a period if it improves the German style e Never put a period after just one word e The same convention applies to instruction lists captions and callouts For information on punctuation in numerals please also refer to the section Digit Groups Quotation Marks Quotation marks are for example used when a software user interface element is referred to Double quotes are the correct German typographical characters although slightly different from the English in terms of direction and location The opening quotation mark is at the bottom ANSI 0132 the closing quotation mark is at the top ANSI 0147 cp English closing quotation mark ANSI 0148 47 As the manufacturer of one of the leading word processing applications we have an obligat
46. ea Codes Domestic Switzerland HHH HHH HH HH HHHH HHH HHH Country Number of Digit Number of Digit Number of Digit Groupings region Digits Groupings Digits Groupings Digits International Local Local Mobile Mobile International Switzerland 10 HHH HHH HH 7 HHH HHH HH 9 10 41 H HHH HH HA HE HHE 41 HRH HHH HHH HHHH HHH HEHHE HEHEHE HH 41 HEH HHH HH HH HHH 41 HHHH HHH HHH Notes e For mobile phone numbers since there is no fixed rule but only recommendations for number grouping it has become a custom in Germany Austria and Switzerland to group the mobile phone numbers in groups of 3 2 2 preceded by the prefix in brackets Example 079 123 45 67 or 0179 123 45 67 e Mobile phone format Prefixes consist of 3 digits including the leading zero and range from 076 to 079 plus 020 All mobile phone numbers consist of 7 digits e Effective 29 March 2002 Switzerland has switched to a flat numbering system without area codes All telephone calls in Switzerland then need to include the city code prefix even local calls within the same city The 0 prefix will have to be included on all calls International number format will stay the same however e http www bakom ch Country Internatio Area Codes Number of Separator Number of Digit Groupings region nal Used Digits Digits Domestic Dialing Area Codes Domestic Code Luxembourg HH HH HH Hit HH HH HH Country Number Digit Num
47. ease use nouns in this 61 Linguistic Method category only ifthey are already commonly used in German Mention both genders explicitly Leser Benutzerinnen und Benutzer Sehr geehrte Leserinnen und Only in prefaces introductions product information greetings Sehr geehrte Kundin sehr geehrter Kunde Combining both gender by means of a slash or brackets Vorgesetze r Readability is key in Microsoft documentation This option is generally not used except in Microsoft License Terms formerly known as EULA Always use with caution especially in combination with adjectives and articles Rephrasing Recommendations Benutzer in Adressat in Only in exceptional cases such as License Terms sometimes in tables e g headers column row titles At times the US English source text has to be paraphrased or restructured Examples A custom dictionary can only be used by the user who created it All users who use this feature Some of the best snapshots could be made because the photographer Send the slide show through e mail to your friends and family Create an appealing and secure shopping environment for your customers Ein Benutzerw rterbuch kann nur von der Person verwendet werden die es erstellt hat Alle die dieses Feature einsetzen Einige der besten Schnappsch sse kamen gerade deshalb zustande weil die Person hinter der Kamera Versenden Sie die F
48. eed to be checked even if previously approved A thorough understanding of the culture of the target market is required for checking the appropriateness of cultural content clip art and other visual representations of religious symbols body and hand gestures English Terminology and the German Language System The influx of English into the German language system has significantly increased with the information revolution Although there is no language governing institution in German speaking countries there are popular movements to resist this trend For the localization of Microsoft products into German please use the terminology that is most widely used in the computer press and among users This naturally depends on the target market of each product technical products are bound to contain more specialized language which usually means more English terminology 33 While it is acceptable to use English terms if they are indeed the industry standard in Germany it is by no means an alternative to researching current industry standards False friends such as Maschine for machine and stylistic anglicisms are still major translation mistakes see section on anglicisms below When incorporating English terms they must follow German grammar and syntax rules The Institut f r deutsche Sprache has guidelines for the formation and incorporation of neologisms which we have adapted for this style guide In cases that require more information we
49. en brackets Do not add brackets if translation is obvious redundant if length restrictions apply e g in banners or titles when communicating to a Developer or IT Pro audience Whatever the audience make sure that the reader knows that you are referring to a non localized product by adding a disclaimer This is to ensure that readers do not mistake it for an oversight error Copyright Copyright protection is granted to any original work of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression from which it can be perceived reproduced or communicated For information on how to deal with product feature and component names please refer to the section Applications Products and Features Here are some examples of aspects on legal information and copyright which need to be taken into account e Competitions offered legally in the United States may be illegal in other countries e The privacy laws and rules for storing personal information on Web sites vary from country to country e Check if the following aspects need to be modified or deleted for your market prices special offers product support services offers postal or email addresses telephone numbers accessibility services and competitive comparisons 101 e Each web page must contain the copyright statement using the correct calendar year in German 2011 Microsoft Corporation Alle Rechte vorbehalten plus the mandatory links to Terms of use Nutzungsbedingungen tr
50. erms found there are often not translated literally Examples e Industrial terminology Seach the EU database IATE http iate europa eu Example bar code gt Strichcode focal length gt Brennweite e Security terminology Search the Bundesamt f r Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik site www bsi de Example block cipher gt Blockchiffre digital signatures biometry e The German Federal Foreign Office http www auswaertigesamt de a good resource to verify country or city names Recurring Patterns For recurring patterns please refer to the Links provided in the following section Standardized Translations Standardized Translations There are a number of standardized translations mentioned in all sections of this Style Guide In order to find them more easily the most relevant topics and sections are compiled here for you reference e Titles of the Type Sending a File e Procedural Titles e Procedural Syntax e Sentences of the Type In order to Do this e Terminological Ambiquities e Ul Messages e Wizard Names e My Terminology e ReadMe Files e Product Names e Disclaimer for Unlocalized URLs References e Version Numbers 72 Unlocalized Items Trademarked names and the name Microsoft Corporation shouldn t be localized A list of Microsoft trademarks is available for your reference at the following location http www microsoft com trademarks t mark names htm Below please find a list of some Ul wor
51. es Windows password Windows Kennwort Microsoft Word document Microsoft Word Dokument Microsoft SQL Server Database Microsoft SQL Server Datenbank Compounds with Component and Feature Names Resource Manager Ressourcen Manager Equation Editor Formel Editor ActiveX Control ActiveX Steuerelement Compounds with Acronyms Abbreviations or Numerals CD ROM drive CD ROM Laufwerk 2 D gridlines 2D Gitternetzlinien 24 bit color value 24 Bit Farbwerte Compounds with Software Components To emphasize the independent nature of these software components the following components are usually hyphenated e Manager Agent Assistent Editor e Generator Designer Viewer Explorer Please note the following exception Event Viewer is translated as Ereignisanzeige not as Ereignis Viewer Examples e PC Karten Assistent Desktop Manager e Faxdeckblatt Editor Fehlerprotokoll Viewer 40 Examples for English amp German Compounds German Compounds Logon script processing Workgroup Administrator Port driver assignment English Compounds Proxy server Game Controller Cube measure English German Compounds Online documentation Website information Remote administration Hardware address Client registration options Anmeldeskriptverarbeitung Arbeitsgruppenadministrator Anschlusstreiberzuweisung Proxyserver Gamecontroller
52. es Internets e Host gt des Hosts Convention 3 Acronyms Applying the standard German orthography abbreviations like URL do in general not receive the genitive s if the genitive case is clearly recognizable through the syntax cp des PKW Examples e URL gt der URL e CD gt der CD e DVD gt der DVD See also Unlocalized Feature Names in the section Articles 43 Modifiers This section does not apply to German Nouns Please follow general German language grammatical rules Please find specific information on nouns in the section on English Terminology and the German Language System Prepositions Pay attention to the correct use of the preposition in translations Influenced by the English language many translators omit them or change the word order Translate English prepositions according to their context and avoid Anglicism The following prepositions have become standard practice at Microsoft eee ee nn T ON menan rmeganin ETT EA change to ndern in used to be change in and ndern auf compatible with with kompatibel mit Do not use CT CET peer e OO e ETA Pro AUN rasoo Trraonertaste 44 welcome to willkommen bei Be For information on see Informationen zu Uber finden Do not use Fur Informationen Sie unter zu ber sehen Sie Pronouns For information on using Pronouns please fol
53. es below Abbreviations N Noun A Adjective incl participle used as A Nv Verb used as Noun Connection Wizard Verbindungs Assistent Rule 1 One noun is N Assistant Installation Wizard Installations Assistent followed by a hyphen and For the treatment of the Assistent Setup wizards please refer to the information available on the relevant entries in the Microsoft terminology database and mind possible conceptual differences There are good reasons for using translations like Two Sided Printing Setup Wizard gt Assistent zum Einrichten des beidseitigen Drucks or Stationary Setup Wizard gt Briefpapier Assistent 36 Disk Cleaner Wizard Remote Installation Wizard Create Folder Files Wizard Break Mirror Wizard File Folders Synchronization Wizard Scheduled Synchronization Wizard New Virtual Directory Wizard Command Button Wizard Welcome Screens Diskettenreinigungs Assistent Remoteinstallations Assistent Assistent zum Erstellen von Ordnerdateien Assistent zum Aufteilen eines gespiegelten Datentr gers Assistent zum Synchronisieren von Dateiordnern Assistent f r geplante Synchronisierung Assistent f r neues virtuelles Verzeichnis Befehlsschaltfl chen Assistent Rule 2 A compound of two nouns or a compound of an adjective and a noun is followed by a hyphen and Assistent Rule 3a In cases of a compound with m
54. eviations for list table format Official abbreviations slightly differ from the ones above In general text a period is needed to follow proper German grammar rules 20 Numbers Phone Numbers Country International Number of Separator Number of Digit Groupings region Dialing Digits Area Digits Domestic Code Codes Domestic Germany HHH HH HH HH HHHH HH HH HH HHHHH HH H HHHHH HH HH Country Number of Digit Number of Digit Number of Digit Groupings region Digits Groupings Digits Mobile Groupings Digits International Local Local Mobile International Germany 3 4 5 6 7 HH HH HH 7 HHH HHH HH 9 10 HH HH HH HH H 8 HH HH HE HHE HH HE HH HH HE HHHH HHHH HHH HH HH ne Notes Following DIN guidelines apply to the presentation of telephone numbers Generally the digits are grouped in pairs by spaces beginning from the right The area code is always put in parentheses Mobile phone format Prefixes consist of 4 digits including the leading zero and range from 0160 to 0179 GSM and UMTS prefixes have five digits 015xx All mobile phone numbers consist of 7 digits For mobile phone numbers since there is no fixed rule but only recommendations for number grouping it has become a custom in Germany Austria and Switzerland to group the mobile phone numbers in groups of 3 2 2 preceded by the prefix in brackets Example 079 123 45 67 or 0179 123 45 67 Following DIN
55. eviations in Format Codes M is for month number of M s gives number of digits M digits without leading zero MM digits with leading zero MMM the abbreviated name MMMM full name 14 Country region Germany Luxembourg UN y is for year number of y s gives number of digits yy two digits yyyy four digits First Week of the Year first week with 4 or more days zu Default Short Date dd MM yyyy Format Country region Default Long Date Format dddd dd MMMM yyyy exemple Mittwoch 17 Marz 2011 Additional Short Date dd MM yy Format 1 Additional Short Date dd M yy Format 2 Additional Long Date d MMMM yyyy Format 1 Additional Long Date d MMM yyyy Format 2 15 Leading Zero in Day Field yes for Short Date Format Leading Zero in Month Field for Short Date es Format No of digits for year for 4 Short Day Format Leading Zero in Day Field yes for Long Date Format Leading Zero in Month n a The long date format does not use digits but months are spelled out or Field for Long Date abbreviated Format Number of digits for year 4 for Long Day Format Date Format for cityname dd MMMM yyyy Correspondence A nn essen d is for day number of d s indicates the format d digits without leading zero dd digits with leading zero ddd the abbreviated day name dddd full day name Abbreviations in Format M is for month number of M s gives number of digits M digits without le
56. guidelines apply to the presentation of telephone numbers Generally the digits are grouped in pairs by spaces beginning from the right The area code is always put in parentheses Examples Single phone line without extension 069 62 50 80 0171 2 49 73 26 Direct dialing system telephone exchange 01234 1 23 0 01234 9 02 01 21 Extensions 069 12 34 5 67 International 49 69 12 34 0 49 69 12 34 56 e http www regtp de Country International Number of Separator Number of Digit Groupings region Dialing Digits Area Digits Domestic Code Codes Domestic Austria HHH HH HH HF HHH HH HH HH HHHHH HH H HHHHH HH HH Country Number of Digit Number of Digit Number of Digit Groupings region Digits Groupings Digits Mobile Groupings Digits International Local Local Mobile International Austria 3 4 5 6 7 HH HH HH 7 HHHH HHH 9 10 HH HH HH HH H 8 H HH HH HH HHE HH HH Ht HH HH HH HHH HHHH HHH HH HH oe Notes e For mobile phone numbers since there is no fixed rule but only recommendations for number grouping it has become a custom in Germany Austria and Switzerland to group the mobile phone numbers in groups of 3 2 2 preceded by the prefix in brackets Example 079 123 45 67 or 0179 123 45 67 e http www rtr at 22 Country International Number of Separator Number of Digit Groupings region Dialing Digits Digits Domestic Code Ar
57. her use active voice and imperative or indicative mood These are easier to understand than subjunctive mood or passive voice which can be confusing or sound formal 48 Symbols amp Non Breaking Spaces Symbols This Style Guide does not cover a comprise overview of existing symbols For information on Currency symbols used within German speaking countries please refer to the section Numbers and the sub section Currency Non Breaking Space In HTML coding the non breaking space amp nbsp is a character entity which can create white space between words or web page elements or stop the browser from breaking a line in the wrong place Example for preventing a line break with a non breaking space e Mr amp nbsp Mustermann gt Herr amp nbsp Mustermann Non breaking spaces amp nbsp should only be used whenever they are present also in the US text Otherwise it is recommended to use a blank space as non breaking spaces can create functionality problems Syntax For information on general German syntax please refer to German language grammar rules Parallelism Parallelism requires that words and phrases that have the same function also have the same form Use parallel language whenever you express ideas of equal weight and for Ul elements that are parallel in function such as headings labels lists or page titles Using parallel structures is a great way of making texts easier to understand and lists more coherent Users ex
58. in dynamic menus Do not use for German Duplicate hotkeys are allowed when yes no other character is available No hotkey is assigned when no more characters are available minor options only A punctuation sign appearing Do not use for German between brackets after item name can be used as hotkey The arrow keys move input focus among the controls within a group Pressing the right arrow key moves input focus to the next control in tab order whereas pressing the left arrow moves input focus to the previous control Home End Up and Down also have their expected behavior within a group Users can t navigate out of a control group using arrow keys Additional notes n a Arrow Keys Numeric Keypad It is recommended that you avoid distinguishing numeric keypad keys from the other keys unless it is required by a given application In case which keys to be pressed is not obvious provide necessary explanations Shortcut Keys 90 Shortcut keys are keystrokes or combinations of keystrokes used to perform defined functions in a software application Shortcut keys replace menu commands and they are sometimes given next to the command they represent In opposition to the access keys which can be used only when available on the screen shortcut keys can be used even when they are not accessible on the screen Standard Shortcut Keys US US English German German Command Shortcut Key Command Shortcut key General Windows Shortc
59. interface cards Normal thread execution is suspended oder Formatierung anzuzeigen Zellen formatieren mit einem Datum Meine Tabelle hat eine Kopfzeile Gr en leerer Seiten Interrupts Sek ist die durchschnittliche Rate mit der der Prozessor Hardwareinterrupts empfangen und bearbeitet hat Dies schlie t keine DPCs ein die separat gez hlt werden Dieser Wert ist eine indirekte Anzeige der Aktivitaten von Geraten die Interrupts erzeugen wie z B Netzwerkschnittstellenkart en Die normale Threadausf hrung ist ausgesetzt nur Werte oder Formatierungen einf gen m chten Zellen mit Datum formatieren Die Tabelle hat berschriften Leere Seiten in verschiedenen Gr en Interrupts Sek steht f r die durchschnittliche Frequenz mit der der Prozessor Hardwareinterrupts empf ngt und bearbeitet DCPs sind darin nicht enthalten diese werden separat gez hlt Der Wert zeigt die indirekte Aktivit t von Ger ten an die Interrupts erzeugen wie z B Netzwerkkarten Die normale Threadausf hrung wird ausgesetzt structure gets too complex Apply proper German syntax instead of the English e direct object indirect object verb Leave out possessives whenever the distinction my versus his hers theirs is not required Use explanatory workaround if a literal translation is not wrong but sounds cryptic Adjus
60. ion The US format should be followed as closely as possible Important In general text punctuation marks do not receive any special formatting the preceding word might have such as bold or italic This convention takes into account that punctuation marks are occasionally formatted bold in a particular programming context and therefore must be kept separate and discernible This convention deviates from the applicable Duden rule The typographic conventions for software files usually EDB files are covered in Typographic Conventions in Software User Interface Note Bold formatting is replaced with quotation marks when the element appears in a headline or another text that is already formatted in bold Menu names names Bold o the Filemenu File menu das Men Datei Men Datei Command names Bold the Page Setup command der Befehl Seite ne Dialog box titles Bold the Options dialog box das Dialogfeld Optionen 97 Dialog box elements Tab names Option names Field names Button names List box names Text box names Check box names Icon names Toolbar names named Views named Windows named Views unnamed Windows unnamed Bold Not bold the View tab the Portrait option the Form field the Cancel button the Files of type list box the Password text box the Read Only check box Double click the Microsoft Internet Explorer icon Database toolbar Full Screen view th
61. ion as indicated above Deviations from it are possible and necessary sometimes even for length reasons i e if the instructional part becomes too long Comment In this case the user has a choice and the goal of the action is the distinguishing element Therefore fronting the nominal phrase starting with zum is an appropriate option In these sentences Sie is repeated in order to mark them as instructions otherwise they would be 96 erstellenden Dateityp Dokument syntactically identical to z B Microsoft Word descriptions see also below Dokument Using a conditional phrase starting with wenn is also an option but it makes the sentences less concise and introduces the element of volition This element is not necessary but changes the tone to a more personal one a question of register To create anew folder Zum Erstellen eines Alternate Wenn Sie click File point to New neuen Ordners klicken einen neuen Ordner and then click Folder Sie auf Datei zeigen erstellen m chten Sie auf Neu und klicken Sie auf Datei klicken Sie dann auf zeigen Sie auf Neu Ordner und klicken Sie dann auf Ordner Typographic Conventions in Help and Documentation Consistent use of typographic conventions in documentation helps users locate and interpret information easily The following guidelines present specific typographic conventions which will be used in US and localized print and online documentat
62. ion to abide by German printing industry standards curly quotation marks being one of them The usage of German curly double quotation marks bottom top is recommended although all forms of quotation marks are possible for Microsoft products curly or straight quotes and top top or bottom top quotation marks Single quotation marks should be used only when necessary for technical reasons Some fonts do not display the German closing quotes correctly In cases of single sourcing where a Help engine does not support curly quotation marks using straight quotation marks is also a valid solution in printed documentation which is later converted to Help Examples 1 Favored solution curly bottom top Anf hrungszeichen 2 Alternate solution straight top top Anf hrungszeichen See also Typographic Conventions in Software Parentheses In German there is no space between the parentheses and the text inside them Please follow general German language grammatical rules on using parentheses Singular amp Plural Please follow general German language grammar rules on using singular and plural forms Please find specific information on the plural formation for English Loan Words in the section Nouns Split Infinitive This section does not apply to German Subjunctive In German the subjunctive form is mainly used in written form and indirect speech It is in general not appropriate style in the Microsoft context Rat
63. le and Usage Language Specific Conventions This part of the style guide contains information about standards specific to German Country Region Standards Characters Country region Germany Switzerland Austria Liechtenstein Luxembourg Upper case characters A A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Characters in caseless ia scripts Extended Latin characters Alphabetical order is not necessarily indicative of sorting order For information on sorting order refer to the section Sorting Note on alphabetical order There is no capital letter for the German B For text that is in all caps the B is replaced with two s Gro buchstaben GROSSBUCHSTABEN see also below n gt mo ollo w o gt a gt m Country region Germany Switzerland Austria Liechtenstein Luxembourg soo j J k K L m M n N 0 O p P q Q lt lt ole cle 4 gt aoo y 10 Country region Germany Switzerland Austria Liechtenstein Luxembourg w W x x y Y Z Z Always use the correct extended characters as not using the umlauts could change the meaning of a word significantly e g fordern to demand versus f rdern to promote For the same reason the umlauts A U are always to be used even for capital letters e g the official German country name for Austria is Osterreich The letter does not have an upper case eq
64. le to avoid do not use er oder sie inm oder ihr or seine oder ihre The language in Microsoft products should sound natural and people do not talk this way Also generally avoid the use of slashes and brackets to combine both genders although sometimes exceptions are made see table below Example Qualification Example nn Sie erhalten m glicherweise keine Antwort da dieser Kontakt den Status Abwesend hat Diese r Empf nger in antwortet m glicherweise nicht da er sie den Status Abwesend hat Man as a pronoun is not used in Microsoft software and documentation Use the following strategies to avoid the use of overtly gender biased expressions Linguistic Method German Example Neutral noun Person Servicepersonal Concept descriptions explanations Kursleitung Fachleute Belegschaft alle instead of jedermann The elements hilfe kraft RAR S Gesch ftsf hrung Redaktion Team personal schaft can be used to create neutral forms that replace individual masculine or feminine forms We strongly recommend this option whenever possible Nominalized present participles or Studierende Teilnehmende Concept descriptions explanations plural forms Beitragende Besch ftigte Freischaffende Angestellte This method results in nouns that are short and explicit However in a highly technical context they sometimes sound contrived and should therefore be used with caution Pl
65. low general German language grammatical rules and references Special Case My Terminology My terminology is rarely used in new US Microsoft materials however it was frequently used in the past and there are occurrences in legacy material For German products the guideline is to leave out the possessive pronoun The following translations are standard for Windows Examples e My Computer gt Arbeitsplatz e My Documents gt Eigene Dateien Punctuation For a detailed discussion of German punctuation please refer to the punctuation guidelines in Regeln und Worterverzeichnis Empfehlung des Rats fur deutsche Rechtschreibung March 8 2006 http rechtschreibrat ids mannheim de aktuell The comma rules in this document are not significantly different from the original rules Therefore we suggest not changing commas in legacy material unless they impede usability For information on punctuation in numerals please also refer to the section Digit Groups Comma Please follow general German language grammatical rules on using comma Please find specific information below Comma before und or oder If und or oder connect two full sentences with a subject and verb they need to be preceded by a comma 45 Colon Please follow general German language grammatical rules on using colons Please find specific information below Special Case Do not use colons or other punctuation mark at the end of p
66. ment Translation Translation through a server passieren durch werden ber einen einen Server Server geleitet include vs Include a wildcard Schlie en Sie ein F gen Sie ein einschlie en character Platzhalterzeichen eee ek ein ein period vs Periode validity period G ltigkeitsperiode G ltigkeitsdauer also G ltigkeitszeitraum e f aterm describing a concept already exists use it Use terms that already exist but avoid giving specific technical meaning to common German terms Worldwide users are most familiar with the standard meaning and might not notice the difference in use e Define emerging terminology in the text Emerging terminology might not be defined in most dictionaries Use common German when possible e Before adopting a translation for a new term make sure an equivalent term doesn t already exist Check other German language products by querying the Microsoft terminology database Check the spelling and hyphenation of new terms e Avoid using jargon and creating words or applying new meanings to common words Malware Werkzeug Bug and fatal are all good examples If you must use these terms define them near the beginning of every section or article Jargon is also frequently based on metaphor or business practices which might not make sense to worldwide users Depending on the context the text and style should be adopted to reflect the situation accordingly e Use simple direct words The tex
67. menten der Systemsteuerung zu suchen Mithilfe der Suche Urn eine f r Sie relevante Einstellung oder eine Aufgabe die Sie ausf hren m chten zu finden geben Sie ein Wort oder einen Ausdruck in das Suchfeld ein Geben Sie beispielsweise Sound ein urn bestimmte Einstellungen f r die Soundkarte Systernsounds und das Lautst rke Symbol auf der Taskleiste zu finden Durchsuchen Sie k nnen die Systemsteuerung durchsuchen indern Sie auf unterschiedliche Kategorien klicken z B System und Sicherheit Program me oder Erleichterte Bedienung Oder klicken Sie unter Anzeige auf Gro e Symbole oder Kleine Symbole um eine Liste aller Systensteuerungselemente anzuzeigen Tipps Wenn Sie die Systemsteuerung nach Symbolen durchsuchen k nnen Sie schnell ein Element in der Liste finden indern Sie den ersten Buchstaben des Elernmentnamens eingeben e Exceptions for using idiomatic terms There will be a few exceptions where a more idiomatic term within a given sentence or compound should be used Comment Standard Translation Idiomatic Translation Issue Examples conversation vs compounds conversation topic Unterhaltungsthema Gespr chsthema Ein Bericht wird an ein Postfach an ein Postfach geliefert bermittelt All messages pass Alle Nachrichten Alle Nachrichten deliver vs liefern A report is delivered to a mailbox Ein Bericht wird 55 Issue Examples Standard Idiomatic Com
68. n Launch Task Manager and Ctrl Shift Esc system initialization Starten des Task Managers und STRG UMSCHALT der Systeminitialisierung ESC File New Ctrl N Neue Datei erstellen STRG N File Open Ctrl O Datei ffnen STRG 0 Ctrl F4 STRG F4 STRG W File Close Datei schlie en File Save Ctrl S Datei speichern STRG S File Save as F12 Speichern unter File Print Preview Ctrl F2 Seitenansicht STRG F2 File Print Ctrl P Drucken STRG P 7 ih N File Exit Alt F4 Datei beenden ALT F4 Edit Undo Ctrl Z R ckg ngig STRG Z Ctrl Y Wiederherstellen oder STRG Y Wiederholen Edit Repeat Edit Cut Ctrl X Ausschneiden STRG X Edit Copy Ctrl C Kopieren STRG C Edit Paste Ctrl V Einf gen STRG V Edit Delete Ctrl Backspace Letztes Wort l schen STRG R CK Edit Select All Ctrl A Alles markieren STRG A Edit Find Ctrl F Suchen STRG F Edit Replace Ctrl H Ersetzen STRG H Edit Go To Ctrl B Absatz Block STRG B 92 US US English German German Command Shortcut Key Command Shortcut key Italic Ctrl I Kursiv STRG UMSCHALT K Bold Ctrl G Fett STRG UMSCHALT F Underlined Word underline Ctrl U Unterstreichen R Ctrl Shift A Gro buchstaben ea Small caps Ctrl Shift K n a SIMILAR COMMAND UMSCHALT F3 Gro Kleinschreibung ndern Paragraph Format Document Translation Considerations Document localization may require some specific considerations that are different from software localization This section cover
69. nit Example Notes Fr The currency symbol is placed before the number preceded by a space and followed by a period 123 45 For negative values an en dash ANSI 0150 is placed in front of the digits followed by a space 123 45 period 2 apostrophe 3 1 234 567 890 00 1 234 567 890 00 CHF Rappen Rp 15 Rp e Germany Austria and Luxembourg use a comma as decimal separator and a period for thousands e Switzerland and Liechtenstein use a period as decimal separator and an apostrophe for thousands e For further details please refer to the section Digit Groups Digit Groups Country region Germany Austria and Luxembourg Decimal Separator Decimal Separator Description comma Decimal Separator Example 10 50 cm 199 95 1 495 68 kg Thousand Separator 27 Thousand Separator Description period Thousand Separator Example 9 999 99 120 000 kg 1 250 254 99 m Notes Numbers are written in groups of 3 digits Country region Switzerland and Liechtenstein Decimal Separator Decimal Separator Description period Decimal Separator Example 10 50 cm 199 95 SFR 1 495 68 kg Thousand Separator Thousand Separator Description apostrophe Thousand Separator Example 9 999 99 SFR 120 000 kg 1 250 254 99 m Notes Numbers are written in groups of 3 digits Measurement Units Metric System Commonly Used Yes Temperature Celsius Gegen Tosengen Teoman Tasten er O r
70. olienpr sentation per E Mail an Ihre Familie und Ihren Freundeskreis Schaffen Sie ein ansprechendes und sicheres Einkaufsklima f r Ihre Kundschaft 62 Ethnic and Racial Bias Ethnic or racial slurs are easy to identify and as such easy to avoid It is more difficult however to avoid involuntary bias which consists in the use of expressions or names that the group represented considers inappropriate As a rule the group and its members should be represented as they wish i e Sinti and Roma This means above all using the name that the group itself uses These names are subject to change resulting from altered awareness within the specific culture or a change of consciousness within the group itself so that terms used in the past may no longer be acceptable If in doubt the localizer needs to research the most current sources on the name of the group Ethnic and racial bias should also be avoided in scenarios examples and other illustrations 63 Localization Guidelines This section contains guidelines for localization into German General Considerations The language in Microsoft products should have the Look and Feel of a product originally written in German using idiomatic syntax and terminology while at the same time maintaining a high level of terminological consistency so as to guarantee the maximum user experience and usability for our customers For information and examples on handling Consistency versus
71. ore than two elements you can use zum nominalized verb and noun Rule 3b In cases of a compound with more than two elements you can use f r adjective and noun Exception In cases where the wizard name cannot be separated it is acceptable to have a compound with more than two elements followed by a hyphen and Assistent NN Assistent or AN Assistent Rule 3 In cases of three or more components there are two different constructions 3a 3b Assistent zum Nv von N NN Or Assistent zum Nv eines einer von A N NN Assistent fur A N NN There is no guideline for translating Welcome screens within wizards Complete phrases are just as fine as Willkommen only However the names of Welcome screens should be localized according to one consistent pattern within one US English German Option 1 German Option 2 a Willkommen beim Verbindungs Welcome to the Connection Wizard 9 Willkommen oe Reasons e Space issues for German wizard names which tend to increase very much in size see especially examples for Rule 3a e Inflection issues for cases where the wizard name is inserted during run time The German translation requires the dative case thus the suffix en must be added which is not always possible if placeholders are filled in during run time e Redundancy issues If the dialog title would be xyz wizard and directly underneath it would say Welcome to the xyz wizard
72. orific FirstName Frau Frau Title LastName LastName Dr Ruth L ster Mayer Dr Honorific Ruth FirstName L ster Mayer LastName LastName 3 Address1 Langenweg 1 Langenweg 1 StreetName 24 Format Local Example Example Guide information in brackets is optional 5 CountryCode PostalCode City CH 4814 Bottenwil CH 4814 Bottenwil Country Code PostalCode City 6 Country SCHWEIZ Schweiz Country Example Address Example Germany Herrn Hans Mustermann Schillerstr 9 60823 Frankfurt am Main DEUTSCHLAND Same example would look like this in Switzerland and Austria Herrn Hans Mustermann Schillerstr 9 D 60823 Frankfurt am Main DEUTSCHLAND Local Postal Code Format Postal codes have five digits in Germany and four digits in Austria Switzerland including Liechtenstein and Luxemburg The postal code is always placed in front of the city name Local Postal Code Examples Germany 85716 Unterschlei heim Austria 1100 Wien Switzerland 8304 Wallisellen Liechtenstein 9490 Vaduz Luxemburg 1470 Luxemburg 25 Notes Following recommendations from the German Post Office apply to the presentation of addresses in Germany ONLY Switzerland and Austria use the standard format illustrated above numbers in brackets apply to the example above Germany Add a blank line with a maximum height of 10 mm between street address PO box 7 and postal code amp city 9 Do not use the
73. pect that words and phrases with the same function have the same or a similar linguistic format This is called Parallelism here Apply parallel structures for ideas of equal weight and for Ul elements that are parallel in function Typically this is the case for e Headings e Labels e Lists e Page titles 49 Use the following methods to achieve this kind of parallelism e Make all items similar in length e Make all items similar in form e Make all items use the same part of speech For example make items all begin with a verb make them all utilize a noun verb adverb structure or make them all single word imperative verbs Examples H ren These items are parallel because all four items are single word Sehen imperative verbs Teilen Sammeln Musik These items are not parallel because Musik and Video are nouns but Video Teilen and H ren are verbs Teilen H ren For examples on special cases related to syntax please also refer to the paragraph on Syntax in the Section Style and Tone Considerations as well as to the sections Procedural Syntax and Standardized Translations Verbs Please follow general German language grammatical rules on using Verbs For specific information and examples please refer to the following sections e Some Verbs require different translations depending on the concept or context Please refer to the section Terminological Ambiguities for detailed information
74. phic Conventions uurssssssssnnsnennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn nn 38 Adjettives 2 un 2 ash ee da a 38 AUS A AI E N P E TE E TEE AAA 38 CapitaliZatlon e tet Nac a enden aa a Aa leche beri ee ana Ehen e A 39 GOMpOUNdS EA EATE E lerne E 39 A O r TE ET 42 GenitiVe a Rs HN ae 42 Mod Socia a Ar ate eee et 44 NOUNS 2 2 2 E ge ee 44 PrEPOSIIO NS monera ire ar e OTi E loe EETA AN PAER loque aba kleine est 44 PrONOUNS sainan a aa T A E E A A A ATT 45 Punctuation Her lta a o 45 Sing lar SePlUTal old tddi eat 48 Split IMTMIitIVe 0 AA AA ea 48 SUDJUNCUVO pc lean etna ee eval lide a idan ein bi ate Mei eee s 48 Symbols amp Non Breaking Spaces ccccccccceccseseeceeeeeceeeeeeeaeceeeeeseaeeeseaeeeeeeeseeeeesaeeeeaeseneeeeas 49 A Hasler erh A E O PA EO elle ae aoa oh dee Teele 49 NGIOS nich Sie Ee Rie ee i ee i leo 50 Style and Tone Considerations cooooccccnonococccononcncnononnnnnnnonnncnnnnnnnnnannnnnn naar tarsat rnanan nnns nnmnnn ennnen 51 Audiences ans dada 51 Style Consistency and Idiomaticity coonnocinnnnnnnnccncccnnoconnnccnancccnnrnnn arrancan rra 51 O EE 57 VOICE En a Hier Ne ete EDER cda lien 58 Localization Guidelines 2 223 rar ana tii 64 General Considerations ccccsccccccecsssessceeceseesceesesaeeeceseeseseaseeeceseessnusaeaeseceseesesesaeaeseceesesenes 64 A previatlo NSi sena A A AS ed ate keen ees 64 ACIONYINS cai oo E 66 Applications Products and Features
75. prefixed by re e g reinstall in the sense of once more or the word Installieren Sie das Programm a F hren Sie Setup erneut aus 83 again calls for it To try copying files again click OK Klicken Sie auf OK um die Omit the translation of try when Dateien erneut zu kopieren there is a simple alternative Negation mn Ten R hort f in thi f Out of input Keine weitere Eingabe SPIOQUES snort formants pee error message Not the same device Nicht das gleiche Ger t Do not use dasselbe not enough insufficient nicht Not enough memory Nicht gen gend Speicher gen gend Do not use nicht ausreichend Wrong file type Ealscher Dateityp Wrong incorrect falsch An illegal setti has b E de ei li n illegal setting name has been s wurde ein ung iger Invalid illegal ung ltig entered Einstellungsname eingegeben Ung ltige Liste k tibl Check relati id i invalid compatible device list Ing ige Liste kompatibler eck relations to avoid incorrect Ger te reference Adjective bad ung ltig unless the 1 has a bad format 1 hat ein ung ltiges Format meaning is physically broken besch digt Use standard word order Do not use Objekt unterst tzt nicht die aktuelle L ndereinstellung Object doesn t support current locale Das Objekt unterst tzt die setting aktuelle L ndereinstellung nicht Die Konvertierungsdatei kann nicht ge
76. ral titles are very important because they tell users exactly what they are going to do in the steps that follow To signal to the users that they will have to perform these actions in a certain sequence we use the following formula in German So verb Sie object Another reason for this sentence is to clearly differentiate between procedural titles and main titles of sections or chapters It would therefore be wrong to use the following syntax which is reserved for main titles Installieren des Programms ABC Important Please note that there is NO colon or other punctuation mark at the end of this type of sentence Example Ten To set up the ABC program So installieren Sie das Programm There is NO colon or other 125 ABC punctuation mark at the end of procedural titles 2 Vis Dias Procedural Syntax In procedural text which tells the user to perform certain actions in a certain number of steps the order in which interface terms are to appear in the translation is usually top to bottom i e menu command dialog box dialog box controls This order reflects the sequence in which the action needs to be performed and it should be maintained unless there are technical reasons preventing it This convention is less important in normal body text Flie text which is usually written in a more personal tone and less formal style thus requiring the translator to be more creative Example e Klicken Sie im Men An
77. re only followed by their full spelling in English if the acronym needs to be explained to German speaking audiences In other cases where the acronym is rather common adding the fully spelled out form will not add any value but only confuse users In these cases the acronym can be used on its own Example e ANSI American National Standards Institute e SO International Standards Organization e ISDN e DSL e CD e DVD 67 Applications Products and Features Application product names are often trademarked or may be trademarked in the future and are therefore rarely translated Occasionally feature names are trademarked too e g IntelliSense Before translating any application product or feature name please verify that it is in fact translatable and not protected in any way Version Numbers Version numbers always contain a period e g Version 4 2 Please note the following punctuation examples of Version x x Example e f you are using Microsoft Expression Web 4 0 or later Wenn Sie Microsoft Expression Web Version 4 0 oder h her verwenden Version numbers are usually also a part of version strings but technically they are not the same Translation of Version Strings A frequent location of product feature and component names are the so called version strings as they appear in the software When localizing version strings please use the following guidelines Version strings that contain cop
78. rocedural titles See also Punctuation in Error Messages Example To set up the ABC program So installieren Sie das Programm There is NO colon or other Lo ABC punctuation mark at the end of 2 ona procedural titles Dai Dashes and Hyphens There are three different dash characters Hyphen The hyphen is used to divide words between syllables and to link parts of a compound word First and foremost avoid unnecessary hyphenation Hyphens can often be avoided by applying the common rules of German syntax instead of following the US syntax When faced with a complex compound resolve it by clarifying the relationship among the various compound components Ways of doing this include shifting the word order or using prepositions For detailed information and examples on the Microsoft standard use of hyphens in compounds please go to the section Compounds En Dash Halbgeviertstrich en dash typically used as Gedankenstrich and Minuszeichen Example e 2 375 99 EUR 46 Em Dash Character EmDash Geviertstrich em dash not used in German documentation Ellipses Suspension Points Character Elipses Ellipsis is a triple dot punctuation mark which is also called a suspension point Auslassungspunkte Ellipses in general tend to apply to a colloquial register and wherever possible should be avoided in the Microsoft context Period Please follow general German languag
79. s a few of these areas Titles Titles should convey as much information as possible about the ensuing text to help readers locate information quickly In English the titles for chapters usually begin with How to or with phrases such as Working with or Using Use the nominalized verb without article whenever possible in the German version of Microsoft documentation 93 Examples e Sending a File gt Senden einer Datei e Using Styles gt Verwenden von Formatvorlagen Capitalization In English titles all nouns pronouns adjectives verbs adverbs and subordinate conjunctions e g that until which are capitalized Please do not apply the same principle to German titles Instead follow the normal German capitalization rules The same rule applies to software strings Example e Switching Between Windows gt Wechseln zwischen Fenstern In Lists and Tables Whenever possible titles of lists and tables should consist of one or two words preferably active nouns They should be concise even ifthe US original uses a longer phrase The following standard translations can be used Examples CET TS Versus Vs Occasionally the German equivalents im Vergleich zu kontra or oder work Leaving it untranslated is not an acceptable option Example e Daily vs Weekly Backups gt T gliches oder w chentliches Erstellen von Sicherheitskopien 94 Procedural Titles Procedu
80. s needs but above all they are easy to follow and applicable for all types of software to be localized The Style Guide covers the areas of formatting and grammatical conventions It also presents the reader with a general idea of the reasoning behind the conventions The present Style Guide is a revision of our previous Style Guide version with the intention of making it more standardized more structured and easier to use as a reference The guidelines and conventions presented in this Style Guide are intended to help you localize Microsoft products and materials We welcome your feedback questions and concerns regarding the Style Guide You can send us your feedback via the Microsoft Language Portal feedback page Scope of This Document This Style Guide is intended for the localization professional working on Microsoft products It is not intended to be acomprehensive coverage of all localization practices but to highlight areas where Microsoft has preference or deviates from standard practices for German localization Style Guide Conventions In this document a plus sign before a translation example means that this is the recommended correct translation A minus sign is used for incorrect translation examples In Microsoft localization context the word term is used in a slightly untraditional sense meaning the same as e g a segment in Trados The distinguishing feature of a term here is that it is translated as one unit it ma
81. sicht auf Schriftarten und dann auf Klein Descriptors Use the descriptor menu button command etc only if the US text uses it or if it is needed for clarifying the position of a term in the interface Sentences of the type To do this and that click on 95 You may come across procedural instructions of the type To do this and that click on The preferred translation is Klicken Sie auf um dies und das zu tun The reason for putting the action first is that the action usually matters most to the user Also sentences beginning with um zu are often considered stylistically less desirable particularly when they follow one after another However sometimes it is important to stress the purpose of an action before describing it In this case alternatives to starting the sentence with um zu should be given precedence nominal constructions rephrasing even though there is no strict rule prohibiting an initial um zu If you decide to use a nominal construction the action verb should preferably be put in the first position in order to highlight the instructional character of the sentence e g Klicken Sie zum ffnen des Dialogfelds auf ffnen Solutions of the type Zum ffnen des Dialogfelds klicken Sie auf ffnen are acceptable if the goal of the action is the distinguishing element or otherwise needs to be strongly emphasized The touchstone is stylistic consistency throughout the instructions The users sho
82. sis Standard Phrases in Error Messages When translating standard phrases standardize Note that sometimes the US uses different forms to express the same thing Please find acomprehensive list of error message examples on the following pages Examples of the most important Error Message Standards Cannot konnte nicht The texture file could not Could not couldn t V N Could not be opened Couldn t open konnte nicht output file Do not use Konnte nicht at the beginning Die Strukturdatei of the sentence konnte nicht ge ffnet werden Die Ausgabedatei konnte nicht ge ffnet werden Failed to Fehler Failed to generate due Failure Fehler to a failure in generating a name Failure of Fehler beim Generieren einer aufgrund eines Fehlers beim Generieren eines 80 Cannot find finden Cannot locate Microsoft Locate find finden Conversion Library Could not find Unable to find Die Microsoft Unable to locate Konvertierungsbibliothek kann nicht gefunden werden Not enough memory nicht gen gend Not enough memory to not enough insufficient Insufficient memory complete this operation nicht gen gend Do not There is not enough memory Nicht gen gend use nicht Speicher zum Abschlie en Ausreichend des Vorgangs Also use the definite article instead of the demonstrative pronoun unless it is impor
83. small caps In German key names are spelled in initial caps On the first mention use the definite article and TASTE in conjunction with the key name for example die ESC TASTE On all subsequent references refer to the key only by its name for example Dr cken Sie ESC As a rule of thumb be frugal in your use of the word TASTE Use it as in the first example below if the key name appears alone in the sentence and the actual key name does not appear on the keyboard In the second example the name ALT appears on the key of the keyboard so you don t need to follow it with TASTE Example three and four deal with a procedure involving the pressing of two or more keys simultaneously note that you are not using the word TASTE in this case Also don t use TASTE in tables Examples e Verwenden Sie die NACH LINKS TASTE um das Objekt nach links zu verschieben Dr cken Sie ALT e Dr cken Sie ALT O Zum Erweitern der Markierung dr cken Sie UMSCHALT NACH LINKS TASTE 87 Key Names US Key Name ALT BACKSPACE BREAK CAPS LOC CLEAR CTRL COMMAND DELETE DEL DELETE in the backspace location on the Mac DOWN ARROW END ENTER ESC F1 F12 HELP HOME INSERT INS LEFT ARROW NUM LOCK OPTION PAGE DOWN PAGE UP PAUSE PRINT SCREEN RETURN key pad RIGHT ARROW CS FE wa SSS ESO 7 UOS EINGABE Zehnertastatur ESC ESC C e NUM NUM ESO COS EINGABE Zeilenschalter TAB TAB TAB UP
84. so end with a period A period is also advised if the target string is acomplete and complex or long sentence full sentence with sub clauses or stretching over several lines Examples e accept the license terms e Ich akzeptiere die Lizenzbedingungen From Windows 7 e accept this agreement e Ich stimme dem Lizenzvertrag zu From Office Live Translation of Dialog Box Titles Dialog box titles should have the same linguistic form as the corresponding menu items This pattern is usually observed in the source text and the source text format is decisive here Ifthe source text does use a headline format Doing xyz the German equivalent to this format should be used see Titles Example e Insert Table e Tabelle einf gen Translation of Tool Tips Tool tips should be short and concise but helpful to the users In very many cases they have exactly the same linguistic form as menus commands or buttons and use an impersonal style without a period but in other cases 76 they serve as short explanations and address the user directly see for instance the extended tool tips in Office 2007 A consistent and usability centered approach should be taken Example e Insert Microsoft Excel Worksheet e Microsoft Excel Tabelle einf gen Tool tip for an icon in the Word 2003 toolbar This is the preferred form where possible and helpful e Click here to begin e Klicken Sie zum Starten auf diese S
85. ssages Translation of Status Bar Messages Bias Free Language Biased language referring to women or racial ethnic and other minority groups ranges from patronizing representations stereotypes and often well intended euphemisms to obviously offensive expressions Gender Bias Regardless of whether the localized product is targeted at individual consumers businesses or internet audiences the sensitivity of users to male and female stereotypes should be recognized by writers and localizers Guidelines Instead of stressing gender differences and or reinforcing stereotypical distinctions between men and women the language used should be as neutral as possible The neutral approach also applies to the localization of scenarios comparisons examples illustrations and metaphors Create a balance when assigning roles and functions to men and women e g active vs passive roles leading vs secondary roles technical vs non technical professions etc Scenarios pictures metaphors and comparisons should be based on areas and attributes common to both genders 60 Instead of using phrases which mention the two genders separately use a general term that includes both genders such as Menschen Kinder or Personen Avoid writing sentences that refer to a single person whose gender is unknown You can often avoid this situation by rewriting the sentence to make the subject plural In cases where a reference to a single person is impossib
86. strings but in German strings the product name may be omitted for the below reasons About Internet Explorer Info Informationen zu Internet Explorer Reasons e Space issues for German About strings which tend to increase in size e Inflection issues for cases where the product name is inserted during run time Depending on the product name the German translation could require the dative case wich in turn would require that a suffix must be added which is not always possible if placeholders are filled in during run time e Redundancy issues If the About menu item is obviously associated with the corresponding product the repetition of the product name is not needed 75 Translation of Checkboxes and Radio Buttons The text for checkboxes and radio buttons does not typically address the user directly Using Sie in checkbox or radio button texts should therefore be a relatively rare choice Examples e Confirm file format conversion on open e Dateiformatkonvertierung beim ffnen best tigen Do not use Best tigen Sie die Dateiformatkonvertierung beim ffnen Punctuation in the source text often indicates whether a string is to be interpreted as a full sentence but unfortunately this is not always the case As a general rule checkboxes and radio buttons receive no period at the end If the period is there in the source text and if the string is a complete sentence the localized string should al
87. sually combined with a noun and hyphenated e g 3D Darstellung do not to use a hyphen in the abbreviation itself Abbreviations for Measurements In addition t0 common measurements such as km m cm mm etc the following abbreviations are used in technical documentation Examples Co T a Bits pro Sekunde Bit s Use same type for similar measurements e g frames per second gt F s Megabits pro Sekunde used to be Mbit s Kilobits pro Sekunde used to be Kbit s 65 Bytes pro Sekunde B s Po Inch Zoll is acceptable in Packaging and tables but not in body text Use full form instead Megahertz Exclusion List Don t abbreviate such words as e oder e und e allgemein e etwas e links e rechts e oranything else that may not be immediately recognizable to a user When in doubt spell it out Acronyms Acronyms are words made up of the initial letters of major parts of a compound term Some well known examples are WYSIWYG What You See Is What You Get OLE Object Linking and Embedding or RAM Random Access Memory Acronyms are not as common in German as they are in English Caution Be careful NOT to include a generic term after an acronym if one of the acronym s letters stands for the same term Even though this might occur in the US English version it should be corrected in the localized version Examples e RPC call gt Remoteprozeduraufruf e HTML languag
88. t style must be clear simple and correct Use the simplest and most specific word possible This is especially effective when explaining a complex technical concept or action Imagine looking over the user s shoulder and explaining how to accomplish the task e Acceptable Verwenden Sie diese Vorgehensweise um das Kennwort zu andern e Better Gehen Sie folgenderma en vor um das Kennwort zu ndern or e Gehen Sie so vor um das Kennwort zu ndern 56 Use precise words When it works with the tone and voice use one word nouns and verbs Nouns and verbs containing multiple words such as in ein Urteil f llen in Erw gung ziehen in die Tat umsetzen can be mistakenly interpreted as individual terms instead of the noun or verb phrase One word terms such as urteilen erw gen verwirklichen are easier to interpret e Poor Machen Sie den Ordner Autorun wie folgt ausfindig e Acceptable Sie finden den Ordner Autorun folgenderma en e Better So finden Sie den Ordner Autorun Avoid idioms and colloquial expressions Idioms can confuse non native speakers and they take extra time to translate For example the Italian equivalent of Zwei Fliegen mit einer Klappe schlagen is Zwei Tauben mit einer Bohne fangen However in some contexts a methaphors and idiomatic expressions should be considered e g in conceptional and of course in marketing related contexts Example
89. t tense to present for general statements if it sounds more natural Split up sentences if it improves readability Dieser Der Ist Anzeige zeigt an steht f r Netzwerkschnittstellenkart en Netzwerkkarten Apply Vorgangspassiv and Zustandspassiv according to what the context requires 52 Consistent syntax helps set users expectations Once these expectations are set users can more quickly parse text that uses consistent syntax For example if instructions are always written in the imperative form users will learn to pay closer attention to imperative sentences Example Alle anzeigen v So k nnen Sie ein Symbol im Infobereich entfernen oder ausblenden Klicken Sie im Infobereich auf das Symbol und ziehen Sie es auf den Desktop v So zeigen Sie ausgeblendete Symbole an Klicken Sie auf den Pfeil neben dem Infobereich Falls der Pfeil nicht vorhanden ist gibt es keine ausgeblendeten Symbole v So zeigen Sie immer alle Symbole auf der Taskleiste an 1 Klicken Sie mit der rechten Maustaste auf einen leeren Bereich auf der Taskleiste und klicken Sie dann auf Eigenschaften 2 Klicken Sie unter Infobereich auf Anpassen 3 Deaktivieren Sie das Kontrollk stchen Immer alle Symbole und Benachrichtigungen auf der Taskleiste anzeigen und klicken Sie anschlie end auf OK gt So ndern Sie die Darstellung von Symbolen und Benachrichtigungen im Infobereich gt So aktivieren bzw deaktivieren
90. tant in context There is not enough memory available Is not available nicht verf gbar FCB unavailable Unavailable nicht Is unavailable verf gbar FCB ist nicht verf gbar Articles and Pronouns ran CTN CS File already exists The file already Die Datei ist bereits vorhanden In complete sentences use articles exists This file already exists consistently even if the US string does not Memory control blocks were Arbeitsspeicher Kontrollbl cke In the plural avoid the definite article destroyed wurden besch digt die unless it is clear that reference to all is made Any action to correct the problem Jeder Versuch das Problem zu Adapt translation of any to the should be performed on this behandeln sollte auf diesem context jede jeder alle computer Computer durchgef hrt werden der die das or omit Here the demonstrative pronoun diesem is important Windows cannot start your system Das System kann nicht gestartet Use definite articles instead of If the problem persists contact your werden Wenden Sie sich an den possessive pronouns Ihr Ihre unless 81 Comment network administrator Prepositions and Conjunctions Netzwerkadministratoren wenn das Problem wiederholt auftritt ownership is important in context ran CS CS Wrong number of arguments or invalid property assignment Falsche Anzahl von Argumenten oder ung ltige Eigens
91. tures that would allow a straightforward integration into the noun class system of the German language e Analogy Is there an equivalent German term whose article could be used e Frequency Is the term used in other technical documentation If so what article is used most often The Internet may be a helpful reference here e Please refer to the Microsoft terminology database to confirm the use of a new loan word and its proper article to avoid inconsistencies Example e die Homepage gt die Seite Anglicisms Anglicisms also increasingly sneak into sentence structure and syntax Please edit your documents with this in mind The following examples illustrate the type of direct translation that increasingly occurs but is not acceptable 35 Examples US English Anglicism in German Correct Translation Holidays Urlaub Feiertage f r mehrere Minuten mehrere Minuten lang Middle East Mittlerer Osten Naher Osten The term Mittlerer Osten exists in German as well but it describes a much smaller region than the English term Middle East The closest German term to the English Middle East is Naher Osten For more information please F r weitere Informationen Um weitere Informationen zu contact kontaktieren Sie erhalten wenden Sie sich an Guidelines for the Localization of Wizard Names General Guidelines For the localization of wizard names please follow the guidelin
92. tyle Guide in general override information available in other resources In this Style Guide the Microsoft terminology collection available through the Microsoft Language Portal is referred to as the Microsoft terminology database References Orthography Style and Usage The German government does not prescribe an official dictionary The Duden is the main reference resource and inofficial authority with regards to German grammar and orthography Also in use Wahrig Die deutsche Rechtscheibung These sources must be adhered to Any deviation from them automatically fails a string in most cases When more than one solution is allowed in these sources look for the recommended one in other parts of the Style Guide or refer to information provided in the Microsoft terminology database List of References 1 Duden Die deutsche Rechtschreibung Bibliographisches Institut 25 Auflage 25th edition Mannheim 2009 2 Wahrig Die deutsche Rechtschreibung Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag G tersloh M nchen 2008 3 Duden Richtiges und gutes Deutsch Bibliographisches Institut 6 Auflage 6th edition Mannheim 2007 4 Duden Die Grammatik Bibliographisches Institut 8 Auflage 8th edition berarbeitet Mannheim 2009 These reference editions should be used until a new edition is released Informative References This section does not apply to German for information on References please refer to the above section on Orthography Sty
93. uf Red Rot b The Note Hinweis vs Notiz Hinweis is used for notes to the user e g in software or documentation Notiz is used for notes the user is taking Anmerkung should not be used except in cases where note is used in the same text or section as remark Glossaries The Microsoft terminology database should be the primary reference resource Refer to the section Reference Material for additional information In case no approved target term is available please research online Microsoft resources to gather information on features functionality descriptions as well as on the terminology already used In addition check partners and competitors sites in order to come up with an Industry specific target term or translation that customers are used to For example if terms are used in the industry but new to Microsoft products such as Expression terminology which is similar to Adobe Photoshop the existing localized equivalent from the market leader here Photoshop is the one to be used 71 Examples of Microsoft online resources for background information e MSDN http msdn microsoft com de de default aspx e TechNet http technet microsoft com de de default aspx e Blogs There are several Microsoft expert blogs as well as blogs from Microsoft MVPs available on the Internet these can be very valuable resources You may also want to verify terminology or translations on official or University sites as t
94. uivalent and is to be replaced with double S when capitalized The letter is not used in Switzerland and always replaced with double s Special Characters The following is a list of special characters and their Microsoft standard names Using other names than those in the list is a terminology issue Character Name of character Character Name of character Character Name of character ANSI code if available ANSI code if available ANSI code if available Graviszeichen 098 gt Zeichen In Internet specific explanations also referred to as at Zeichen Do not use Klammeraffe A Umgekehrter Schr gstrich Geschweifte Klammer links rechts 0123 0125 Eckige Klammer links rechts 091 093 11 o Apostroph Benutzereingabe 42 A 092 Character Name of character Character Name of character Character Name of character ANSI code if available ANSI code if available 094 0162 0171 0187 0169 0176 0247 036 Geviertstrich em dash not used in 0151 German documentation Halbgeviertstrich en dash typically 0150 used as Gedankenstrich and Minuszeichen 061 033 062 0173 Zolizeichen 084 Multiplixationszeichen 0 Absatzzeichen DIN Pilcrow 0182 Zeichen 040 0041 0181 0124 0043 eo Plus fMinuszeichen 0177 063 Doppelte typografische 0132 0147 Anf hrungszeichen er Doppelte gerade Anf hrungszeichen o Einfachetypografische 044 0145 OS Y o oO N
95. uld be able to rely on the parallel linguistic format of procedural texts Only if the users can choose what they want to do a conditional clause starting with wenn can be used Using a wenn clause without such a choice is an error in the ordered sequence of steps or any other procedural text Examples 1 To create new folders in Windows Explorer To create a new folder click File point to New and then click Folder 2 To create new files or folders in Windows Explorer To create a new file click File point to New and then click on the file type you want to create e g Microsoft Word Document 1 So erstellen Sie neue Ordner in Windows Explorer Klicken Sie auf Datei zeigen Sie auf Neu und klicken Sie dann auf Ordner um einen neuen Ordner zu erstellen 2 So erstellen Sie neue Dateien oder Ordner in Windows Explorer Zum Erstellen einer neuen Datei klicken Sie auf Datei zeigen Sie auf Neu und klicken Sie dann auf den zu Do not use Wenn Sie einen neuen Ordner erstellen m chten klicken Sie auf Datei zeigen Sie auf Neu und klicken Sie auf Ordner Alternate Wenn Sie eine neue Datei erstellen m chten klicken Sie auf Datei zeigen Sie auf Neu und klicken Sie dann auf den zu erstellenden Dateityp z B Microsoft Word Using wenn would be an error here because the user has no alternative in this context The correct example sentence is the standard solut
96. ut keys Fi Context sensitive Help Shift F1 Anzeigen der kontextbezogene F1 Hilfe UMSCHALT F1 Display pop up menu Shift F10 Anzeigen des Kontextmen s UMSCHALT F10 Activate Deactivate menu bar F10 Aktivieren der Mentleiste F10 mode Switch to the next primary Alt Tab Wechseln zwischen ge ffneten ALT TAB application Elementen Display next window Alt Esc Umschalten zwischen Elementen ALT ESC in der Reihenfolge in der sie ge ffnet wurden Display pop up menu for the Alt Spacebar ffnen des Kontextmen s f r das ALT LEER window aktive Fenster Display pop up menu for the Alt a n a active child window Display property sheet for current Alt Enter Anzeigen der Eigenschaften f r ALT EINGABE selection das ausgew hlte Element Close active application window Alt F4 Schlie t das aktive Element oder ALT F4 beendet das aktive Programm Switch to next window within Alt F6 Wechseln zum n chsten Fenster ALT F6 application innerhalb der Anwendung Capture active window image to Alt Prnt Scrn aktives Fensters kopieren ALT DRUCK the Clipboard Capture desktop image to the gesamten Bildschirm kopieren DRUCK 91 US US English Command Shortcut Key Clipboard German Shortcut key German Command Access Start button in taskbar Ctrl Esc ffnen des Startmen s STRG ESC Display next child window Ctrl F6 Anzeigen des nachsten Fensters STRG F6 Display next tabbed pane Ctrl Tab Vorwartsbewegen durch die STRG TAB Registerkarte
97. von einer Person in Ihrem Netzwerk erstellt wurde Mit einer Heimnetzgruppe werden die Computer in Ihrem Heimnetzwerk vernetzt sodass Sie Bilder Musik Videos Dokumente und Drucker freigeben k nnen Die Heimnetzgruppe ist durch ein Kennwort gesch tzt und Sie k nnen immer ausw hlen welche Elemente Sie f r die Gruppe freigeben Weitere Informationen zu Heimnetzgruppen Erweiterte Freigabeeinstellungen ndern Heimnetzgruppen Problembehandlung starten 54 Example for terminology consistency between software and help irbeiten EA y Systemsteuerung Ansicht Extras Einstellungen des Computers anpassen Kategorie System und Sicherheit tatus des Computers berpr fen Sicherung des Computers erstellen Probleme erkennen und beheben Netzwerk und Internet Netzwerkstatus und aufgaben anzeigen Heimnetzgruppen und Freigabeoptionen ausw hlen Hardware und Sound Ger te und Drucker anzeigen Ger t hinzuf gen ny 9 Benutzerkonten Kontotyp ndern Darstellung und Anpassung Design ndern Desktophintergrund ndern Bildschirmaufl sung anpassen Zeit Sprache und Region Tastaturen und Eingabemethoden ndern Anzeigesprache ndern Erleichterte Bedienung instellungen empfehlen lassen Visuelle Darstellung des Bildschirms optimieren Verwenden Sie das Suchfeld um Aufgaben schnell zu finden Es gibt zwei M glichkeiten um nach Ele
98. wo unrelated terms in the same formatting follow each other Adapt the syntax instead Please use the same font size as US and make sure to be consistent within the document Cross References Titles of manuals Italic see Chapter 12 in the finden Sie in Kapitel Microsoft Word for 12 im Benutzerhandbuch Windows User s Guide Arbeiten mit Microsoft Word f r Windows Appendix chapter and Quotation marks see Special finden Sie unter section names or Characters inchapter 4 Sonderzeichen in Kapitel Programming 4 Grundlegendes zur See also Quotation Marks f Fundamentals Programmierung OR finden Sie unter Sonderzeichen in Kapitel 99 4 Grundlegendes zur Programmierung Help index entry Bold In the online index look up Suchbegriffe im Favorites Hilfeindex Favoriten Miscellaneous Program names feature Only bold when one has to the Windows Explorer Windows Explorer names and group names click on them shows the file structure zeigt die Dateistruktur Click Windows Explorer to an Klicken Sie auf open it Windows Explorer um diesen zu ffnen Directory names folders Same as US or with Lexirom exe Lexirom exe long short file names regular German EXCEL EXE EXCEL EXE palls UNE capitalization But Dold http www microsoft com http www microsoft com g ermany In HTML help files hyperlink titles that include a mouse
99. y be a traditional term as used in terminology a phrase a sentence or a paragraph References to interface elements really only refer to translatable texts associated with those interface elements Example translations in this document are only intended to illustrate the point in question They are not a source of approved terminology Microsoft Language Portal can be used as reference for approved terminology Sample Text German can easily be recognized by non German speakers using the following check list e Does your document contain many capitalized words especially within the sentences and not only at the beginning gt German capitalizes all nouns and all words used as nouns Capitalized nouns in sample below are in bold e Does your document contain many very long words gt In German two or more words nouns verbs adjectives etc can be put together in one word to form a compound There s no upper limit as to how many components can be contained in one compound e Does your document contain the following character R gt German is the only language using this special character not valid for German documents from Switzerland e Does your document contain any of the following characters gt These extended characters do not only exist in German but also in other languages Sample Text Gesellschaftliches Engagement Microsoft Deutschland unterst tzt F rderung von IT Kenntnissen mit bis zu
100. ymbol Internet Explorer e The draw toolbar gt die Symbolleiste Zeichnen For information on the use of typographic conventions please refer to the section Quotation Marks Formatting and typographic conventions for help files and other documents are covered in Typographic Conventions in Help and Documentation 74 User Interface Translating Ul items can be challenging at times One of the main difficulties in many cases is the lack of context and information on the exact function of a particular Ul item This topic is intended to give some general guidelines Always use all available resources to establish the context for Ul items In EDBs these could be the columns Instructions Resource ID String ID sometimes also Previous Source and Term Note Translation of Menus Commands and Buttons When translating menus commands and buttons you should translate a verb as a verb infinitive form unless there is a good reason not to do so Always try to establish whether a word is a noun or a verb using all available context and material Example e Manage Add ons e Add ons verwalten A menu command Do not use Add on Verwaltung e Set Query e Abfrage festlegen From Access 2007 This is the same syntactic pattern as in Run Query therefore do not use Satzabfrage Special Case Translation of the About menu item The About menu item is usually followed by a product name in English
101. your startup Fehler beim Erstellen der Startdiskette disk Setup cannot access the server you chose Kein Zugriff auf den gew hlten Server Setup cannot find the remote computer Der Remotecomputer wurde nicht gefunden Windows cannot start your system Das System kann nicht gestartet werden Terminal Server Licensing cannot start work scheduler Der Auftragsplaner kann nicht gestartet werden The license server cannot allocate the required memory Der erforderliche Arbeitsspeicher kann vom Lizenzserver nicht zugeordnet werden 59 e To avoid a wordy or awkward construction e When the action rather than the doer is the focus of the sentence e When the subject is unknown e In error messages when the user is the subject and might feel blamed for the error if the active voice is used Examples German Example Das neue Symbol sollte oben links angezeigt Subject is unknown respectively action is done by werden the software Die Seite wurde nicht gefunden Passive to avoid first person wir and to avoid blaming someone Einige erforderliche Angaben wurden nicht gemacht Passive to avoid blaming the user Das neue Symbol sollte von der Anwendung links Too clumsy platziert werden Wir k nnen die Seite nicht finden Wir sounds as if Microsoft is responsible for the issue and therefore carries negative associations here See also Guidelines for the Localization of Error Me
102. yright information should always be translated Example e Copyright 1991 1998 Microsoft Corporation Alle Rechte vorbehalten Version strings containing feature names that are trademarked should not be translated Exception Bookshelf gt LexiROM Unlike in U S version strings commas should be removed from German version strings if they appear between the actual product name and an addition to the product name such as e g xxx Edition Service Pack Feature Pack Security Update etc Example e Windows XP Service Pack 2 gt Windows XP Service Pack 2 Version strings containing feature names that are not trademarked can be translated according to the following criteria and guidelines 1 If a German user without knowledge of English would not understand the feature name the name is a good candidate for translation 68 Example e Internet Referral System gt Internetreferenzsystem 2 If the feature name could easily be trademarked at some point the name is likely to remain untranslated Example e Channel Guide Drag amp Plot Version strings usually also contain version numbers Please refer to the topic Version Numbers for further information How to Reference URL Links to English References Any URL whether pointing to Microsoft sites or to external third parties sites needs to be identified verified and approved by Microsoft before localization starts As a general rule US URLs should

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