Bug#1095681: apt: [INTL:de] updated German po file translation

On Sun, Mar 02, 2025 at 07:35:12PM +0100, Florian Bach wrote:
> Hello Helge, hello David,
> 
> I just upgraded my machine to trixie and thus stumbled upon the new APT
> interface with its new translations that were added with this bug report not
> too long ago.
> 
> I hope it's okay to put this feedback into this bug report instead of
> opening a new one.
> 
> There's two things in this translation that are a bit confusing, at least in
> my opinion, and I would like to ask if these could be changed.
> 
> Translating the header "REMOVING:" that's shown prior to the list of
> packages being removed as "ENTFERNUNG:" doesn't really sound right to me.
> 
> "Entfernung" *can* mean the removal of something, but its far more common
> meaning is "distance" and thus using it as a header for a list of packages
> to be removed does sound a bit confusing - even though from the context it's
> clear what is meant, it's definitely something where I'd go like "Okay this
> comes from a machine translator or a non-native speaker" when I read this.
> And a novice who doesn't know what outputs are expected to occur when
> they're using apt, this is probably even more confusing.
> 
> The 2nd thing I noticed is inconsistencies in the summary message.
> 
> In english, the summary prints:
> Upgrading: X, Installing: X, Removing: X, Not Upgrading: X
> 
> Which is consistent and always uses the same form (verb ending in -ing).

Indeed, this is documented in

https://salsa.debian.org/apt-team/apt/-/blob/main/doc/design/install.md?ref_type=heads

Namely:
 Note that blocks that describe an action are given as a progressive
 verb, whereas non-action blocks have a non-verb title.

I left out the helper verb so you can read it as present or future
progressive:

APT will be upgrading / APT is upgrading

Depending on how your perception of time and transactions (yes it's not
exactly happening _right now_ but it is part of the same transaction
that you just need to confirm).

> 
> With the new German translation this now reads:
> Aktualisierung: X, Installation: X, Entfernen: X, nicht aktualisieren: X
> 
> which sounds fairly inconsistent to me.
> 
> My suggestions would be to
> 
> A) replace "ENTFERNUNG:" with "DEINSTALLATION:" (to make it consistent with
> how it says "Installation:" when installing something), or translate
> "Installation:" with "Installiere:" and "Deinstallation:" with "Entferne:"
> (or "Deinstalliere:") which would also remove the ambiguity with
> "Entfernung" / "distance".
> 
> and B) make the summary a bit more consistent, like:
> "Aktualisiere: X, Installiere: X, Entferne: X, keine
> Aktualisierung/Änderung: X"
> or
> "Aktualisieren: X, Installieren: X, Entfernen: X, nicht
> aktualisieren/ändern: X"

The former feels more natural to me. Notably this is going to be the
closest translation of present progressive:

I am upgrading <=> Ich aktualisiere
I am installing <=> Ich installiere

The second one is a future tense which doesn't work wihout the helping
verb:

I will be upgrading ~ Ich werde aktualisieren


> 
> PS.: I was also surprised by the translation of the log level "Debug" with
> "Fehlersuche". Is this an appropriate translation for log levels (aren't log
> levels typically technical terms that shouldn't be translated, at least not
> beyond a simple Warning->Warnung replacement?) and does Debian commonly
> translate "Debug" instead of leaving it as-is as a germanized word? At least
> in Apt's command line help (in the same PO file) "debug mode" is translated
> as "Debug-Modus" instead of the far more clunky "Fehlersuche-Modus". I'd
> understand translating "Debugging" as "Fehlersuche", but a standalone
> "Debug"? Doesn't really make sense to me, unless I'm misunderstanding where
> this particular translation is being used.

It may be missing an annotation for translators to get the context for.

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