Last update: May 2, 2023
1. Introduction
1.1 Proton’s tone and voice
- Inspiring, community-focused, user-centric
- Approachable, conversational, clear, concise, simple: wherever possible, let’s use human-centric words
- Genuine, principled, transparent, fair
- Gender-neutral as much as possible, each time we can use other formulations, like plural forms for some languages, to avoid gender-centered language
- We use American English for our source copy
| We avoid | We prefer |
|---|---|
| Wow, you’re amazing! Thanks for being the best! We love our users! | Thank you so much for your support. It means a lot and is deeply appreciated! |
| Proton Mail provides military-grade encryption. | Proton Mail uses advanced elliptic-curve encryption for the highest security. |
| You can create a new account | Create a new account |
| Assistance | Help |
| Enable | Let |
| Ensure | Make sure |
| However | But |
| In order to | To |
| Obtain | Get |
| Provide | Give |
| Query | Question |
| Request | Ask |
| Require | Need |
| Resolve | Fix |
| Specify | Select/Choose |
| Therefore | So |
| Currently | Now |
| Preceding | Before |
1.2 Proton Content
We localize a variety of different types of content, including:
- User Interface (UI) elements
- Applications and product-related communications
- App descriptions
- Others
1.3 Crowdin Enterprise: Proton online translation platform
Crowdin Enterprise is the online platform where we do translations.
Each Proton project requires a membership request for Proton to approve before you can start translating. Once your request is approved, you will use Crowdin Enterprise to translate online.
You can access here a complete guide on how to use Crowdin Enterprise.
Make good use of the Glossary and the Translation Memory, which are here to guide and help you.
1.4 UX copy
What is a UX copy?
A UX copy is the text you read or hear in a user interface (UI), or where the user and a computer interact. A UX text helps the user navigate the app and use the features. A good and clear UX copy is the difference between an enjoyable and a frustrating app experience.
At Proton, it means interaction and information texts (labels, buttons, descriptions, error messages, notifications, confirmation messages, empty states, captions, alt text/text describing a picture…), support copy (legal notices, guides, onboarding material…) and product-related copy (email notifications, Knowledge Base/Support articles…).
What is a good UX copy?
User-centric copy
- Accessible: write as if you were addressing a smart 15 or 16 year old.
- Purposeful: the user understands the steps to meet their goal.
- Concise: it’s easier to read when it’s less than 50 characters and max 3 lines, and buttons use 3 words maximum.
- Conversational: the user feels they are talking with a human.
- Clear: the user instantly recognizes the meaning (no idioms, slang, metaphors).
Basic principles for translating UX copy
| Principle | We avoid | We prefer |
|---|---|---|
| Focus on the user Think about the impact and benefit for the user. |
This is Proton Mail, our end-to-end encrypted email service. | Use Proton Mail to securely communicate with family, friends, and colleagues. |
| Use a language easy to understand Avoid synonyms, use present tenses whenever possible. |
Click to read more details about the error that occurred during your export. | Show more details. |
| Be straightforward and direct No jokes, interjections or unnecessary punctuation like exclamation marks for example. |
Calendar export failed We’re sorry about that, but we couldn’t access some of your files! |
Calendar export failed Due to a password reset, some events cannot be decrypted and exported. |
| Be consistent If you said “remove”, don’t change it to “delete.” |
Are you sure you want to delete this label? Removing a label will not remove the messages with that label. | Are you sure you want to delete this label? Deleting a label will not remove the messages with that label. |
| Users’ attention to privacy Avoid any language that might create anxiety. |
Your data will be stored on Proton servers. | We will apply zero-access encryption to your data and store it on our servers. |
2. General guidelines
2.1 Localization main rules
- Use standard language (no colloquialisms and slang).
- Keep it short and simple, making information easy to understand without requiring background knowledge or specific experience.
- Provide translations that are as accurate and precise as possible.
- Make it local, avoiding direct and literal translations that don’t feel natural.
- Be friendly and polite, with warm messages, especially when announcing bad news (let’s avoid alarming statements that would make users panic).
- When there is a Style Guide dedicated to your language, make good use of it and share feedback to improve it.
2.2 Terminology
Terminology should be generic and aligned with industry and international standards. It also should always be consistent with Proton’s Glossary and Translation Memory (which you will often see abbreviated as TM), except in case of:
- Grammatical or translation errors
- Changes to Glossary terms (once Proton has shared an updated glossary)
- If explicitly asked by the Proton Localization Team to change something in strings and TMs
2.3 Active voice rather than passive voice
An active voice is more direct, concise and engaging because sentences written in an active voice show who is doing the action.
| Active voice | Passive voice |
|---|---|
| I throw the ball. | The ball is thrown. |
| The dog bit a man. | The man was bitten by a dog. |
| You can see who is doing the action to what. Active voice shows cause and effect in a way that makes it easier to understand what is happening. | You cannot always see who or what force is acting on the object of the sentence with the passive voice. This can be confusing. |
Especially in procedural texts (instructions), let’s limit the use of passive voice. There are instances when the passive voice makes more sense, especially if you want to focus more on the action rather than the actor. But let’s always check a passive sentence to see if it would be clearer in an active voice.
2.4 Sentence or string length
- You can split up long or complex sentences into smaller sentences that are easier to understand.
- But don’t merge or join segments, because this might cause technical issues.
2.5 Instructions/commands
- Be as complete as possible in these types of sentences, even if the source is not (absence of articles for example).
- Avoid fragments and use articles when needed.
- Provide instructions in a logical, step-by-step order.
2.6 Colloquialisms, idioms and metaphors
If there are any colloquialisms, idioms or metaphors in the English source texts, don’t translate them literally but adapt it to the target audience. The goal is to make sure the localized copy sounds natural in your language.
2.7 Variables and Placeholders
- Do not translate placeholders (example: Encrypting contact: {{progress}}%), they can represent variables, special formatting, proper names, code, etc.
- Copy placeholders from the English source to ensure formatting and variables are preserved correctly in the exported target file.
- Some languages have a different sentence structure or word order than English. In this case, feel free to change the order of the variables, keeping in mind the content of the variable might change, therefore the safest option is to use a translation that will work in all contexts, even if this translation may not be your preferred one stylistically.
- Most of the variables are self-explanatory, but here are some explanations on the generic ones:
| Variable | Meaning |
|---|---|
| %s, %@ | An alphanumeric string |
| %d | A number |
| %1$s | An alphanumeric string (1$ indicates a parameter to be used) |
| %1$d, %1%d | A number (1$ and 1% indicate a parameter to be used) |
Example: %1$d Apps excluded. Here, the variable %1$d represents a specific number of excluded apps.
Some hyperlinks might contain translatable text. The text to be translated is added in the “Run Text=” tag. See an example here: Get help from our customer support by sending a <Hyperlink Foreground=“White” Command=“{Binding ReportBugCommand}”><Run Text=“Issue Report”/></Hyperlink>.
2.8 Non-translatable
Acronyms (such as “HIPPA” for “Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act”), product names and brand names are never translated and transcribed into a non-Latin alphabet. To help you, the most common untranslatable words are in the Glossary.
2.9 Hashtags in social media quotes
In the context of testimonials and user reviews, Proton sometimes quotes messages posted on social networks that may include English hashtags. We have identified 2 types of situations:
- Hashtags are placed at the end of the sentence, not needing any grammatical agreement. In this case we don’t translate them and leave them in English.
- Hashtags are placed within the sentence as part of the meaningful phrase. In this case, we incorporate the translation of the hashtag into the sentence, as a word, to make it meaningful and we add the original hashtag in parentheses.
| English sentence | Translated sentence |
|---|---|
| Keep doing what you’re doing and you’ve got a customer for life!! #privacy #freedom #internet | Keep doing what you’re doing and you’ve got a customer for life!! #privacy #freedom #internet |
| It is an important weapon in the fight for #freedom & democracy | It is an important weapon in the fight for freedom (#freedom) & democracy |