Re: How can we change the keyboard layout?
On Tue, 2024-02-06 at 12:47 +0100, hw wrote:
> 'Strg' doesn't belong on a key. It's 'Ctrl'. There is no German
> translation for that, and calling it 'Steuerung' is plain wrong. A
> more correct translation would be 'Kontrolle', and it is also wrong
> for this key. If someone says 'String' that only shows that they
> have
> no clue what they're talking about.
No, actually "Steuerung" is a/the correct translation of "control":
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/german-english/steuerung
Yes, in some contexts "Control" can also mean "Kontrolle", but more
often than not it is a "false friend".
> 'Strg' means nothing. It's another failure like 'allgemeine
> Schutzverletzung' which, very likely, is a failed transation of
> 'segementation fault'. 'Allgemeine Schutzverletzung' means nothing.
The concept of control characters/"Steuerzeichen" is a completely
valid concept, and "Steuerzeichen" is the dominant, and IMO correct
translation of it. These characters are meant not to print letters, but
to control stuff (make the bell go "pling", return the carriage)
etc, "sie sollen Geräte steuern".
I do completely agree with you, that especially Microsoft made
some truely bad decisions in creating German translations for
concepts that are expressed much more elegantly in the English
original.
But translating "Ctrl" to "Strg" (if you do not read it as "String
or even "Strange" as some people do) is not one of these. Yes, the
choice the Swiss made with just printing "Ctrl" on the key was probably
better.
That said, and to be at least somewhat more on-topic: Most of my
systems are in en_GB locale, but I've found the German translations of
Debian to be worlds better than their Microsoft counterparts.
/ralph
Reply to: