German and Swiss

Hi guys,

to fill the gap while Jojo takes his well-earned holiday some notes from me (a de-DE boy)

• I don't know if and how it's possible to use e.g. de-CH, maybe renaming the files to de-DE is the only (not-really-)way
• language overrides can be limited to single strings, no need for complete files. So there could be a very small file one can copy to site template folder additionally to normal installed de-DE language pack.
• one additional difference (where both translations can be found) is "State": "Bundesland" vs. "Kanton" - both are country specific

Hi, a quick reply from my well .. holidays
Because I was the first who started translating to german, I translated it in my swiss manner. Yes ee can understand the sharp s passively but we never learn to use it actively. So if one of the imperial germans want to change it, it's free, but always when I will help there could be swiss things. I agree with the kanton. There I used it because Bundesland is even notgood for some countries.
Benesth the fact that with an imperial german version I can not help anymore, I would say, there's no need of producing swiss and austrian versions.
The word Jänner is very very special. There should be used the common expression.

A friendly Hello to everyone!

While being the person talking to Ernst a few days ago and therefore being the one leading to this discussion here, I am positively surprised.
I never thought that after stumbling over a few words in the translation, my little annotation on those terms could/would lead to such an extensive and prolific discussion. :thumbsup:
I can't really add to the discussion, if a de_CH or de_AT language pack would make sense or if an override file would be sufficient. Personally I don't mind changing a few lines of code on my site provided that I know where to look for the relevant file(s).

What I want to add to the discussion is the fact, that the backend and the frontend language files differ from each other (that is what led to the remark on "Strasse" and a closer look on other terms). In my eyes, those two files should have the same translations for the same words.
Looking at [SITE] com_jem.ini and [ADMIN] com_jem.ini and comparing those two, we currently have for instance There are a few more minor points (i.e. for COM_JEM_WEBSITE_HINT or COM_JEM_VENUE_NAME_ALREADY_EXIST).

I agree that the decision between using a sharp s (ß) or a double s (ss) is for either country almost trivial, as we all understand the meaning of both spellings.

The discussion on Kanton vs. Bundesland is less trivial, as those terms are official terms for administrative districts ("Verwaltungsbezirke"). Germany and Austria use "Bundesland", Switzerland uses "Kanton". So which term should be used as default?

I have to admit that "Jänner" is not a JEM-related example, I found that one in the Community Builder language pack and over there, the term has even been checked and approved in Transifex (well, obiously by someone being Austrian)

Well, this has indeed become an extensive topic now. Thank you all for your input!

My role here is simply to facilitate the translations. I'm not taking a standpoint if there should be separate languages created or not. My only concern was that IF a separate language had to be determined, it would have to be done in an easy and efficient manner.

If so, the easiest way would be to clone de_DE into de_CH and only change the lines needed.
The advantage would be that It would produce an installable de_CH language pack. The disadvantage is that it means we have to maintain 2 languages, which are 99% identical after all.

So yes, you convinced me there is no need for a separate language pack, and we would have top stick to de_DE as a main language, and maybe offer a de_CH override with just a few lines.

If someone can create that, I'd be happy to put that in the download section. Maybe an 'UNZIP-1st' zip-file with the language override files, and a small text file with instructions that you have to install de_DE first, and where to place the overrides.