Guidance for Catalan

[PMtranslator]

Last update: October 6, 2023

If you have any comments, suggestions, questions or need for an arbitration, create a topic in the Style Guide section, the Language Lead will get back to you.

Here you will find the guidance for Catalan, but you should also consider the guidance for all languages.

1. Capitalization

In general, we capitalize only the first letter of a sentence and of proper names.

Capitalize

• First word of a sentence, title or subtitle.
  Heu tancat la sessió.
  Torneu a iniciar la sessió.
• Proper names
  Proton Mail
  Proton VPN
  NetShield
• Command/Folder names and keywords (first word only)
  Respon
  Afegeix un filtre
  Correu brossa
• Acronyms are entirely written with capital letters
  VPN
• In UI items made up of 2 alternative commands separated by a slash, both are capitalized
  Importa/Exporta

Do not capitalize

• Nationalities and languages
  Protegit per les lleis de privacitat suïsses
  Escriure en anglès
• Names of days, months and their abbreviations
  El primer dilluns
  Cada dl., dc. i dv.
  El 15 de desembre

2. Gender

• Try to use gender neutral forms when possible. The use of double forms for both masculine and feminine is not recommended.
• Basic principles:
  • When possible, avoid the use of masculine singular form to refer to someone whose gender is unknown.
  • If you cannot use forms that are gender-free, try to rephrase the sentence.
  • Use the masculine form when no neuter expression is available, as it is the more generic one.

English	We avoid	We prefer
Thanks to our team of translators	Gràcies al nostre equip de traductors	Gràcies al nostre equip de traducció
Storage for users.	Emmagatzematge per a usuaris i usuàries.	Emmagatzematge per a usuaris.
Translator:	Traductor:	Traduït per:
Editors	Editors/editores	Equip d’edició
Are you sure you want to clear the trash?	Esteu segur que voleu netejar la paperera?	Segur que voleu netejar la paperera?

• You can use passive language to avoid gender-specific verbs, but only if it doesn’t hurt readability and/or make the sentence sound unnatural.
• Apply the masculine form when an adjective, verb, or another part of speech refers to multiple nouns with different genders.

The gender and number of an acronym are determined by the gender and number of the translation for the governing noun of the extended form. Here is an example: VPN (Virtual Personal Network) is feminine because the translation of “network” (“xarxa”) is feminine.

3. Abbreviations

Whenever possible, avoid using abbreviations.

Abbreviate the text only when you lack space (mainly buttons, option names or strings with specific character limitations) or when you need to ease the text readability. Instead of abbreviating (e.g., 4 or 5 consecutive words), summarize a term or a phrase in 2 or 3 words that can be written in full.

It is recommended to use the exact form of accepted abbreviations, as in the case of the ones shown in the following examples. Abbreviations end with a dot.

Days abbreviations (in calendars, agendas, timetables… the names of days are written without a period for visual purposes):

English	Translation	Abbreviation
Monday	dilluns	dl.
Tuesday	dimarts	dt.
Wednesday	dimecres	dc.
Thursday	dijous	dj.
Friday	divendres	dv.
Saturday	dissabte	ds.
Sunday	diumenge	dg.

Months abbreviations (in calendars, agendas, timetables… the names of months are written without a period for visual purposes):

English	Translation	Abbreviation
January	gener	gen.
February	febrer	febr.
March	març	març
April	abril	abr.
May	maig	maig
June	juny	juny
July	juliol	jul.
August	agost	ag.
September	setembre	set.
October	octubre	oct.
November	novembre	nov.
December	desembre	des.

Other common abbreviations:

English	Translation	Abbreviation
maximum	màxim	màx.
minimum	mínim	mín.
number	número	núm.
page	pàgina	pàg.
telephone	telèfon	tel.

4. Acronyms

• Acronyms are written with capital letters and without dots. They have no plural form.
• Common examples are VPN (Virtual Personal Network), DNS (Domain Name Server), HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), etc.
• When available, use the Catalan forms normalized by TERMCAT.
• The most common acronyms and their translations are included in the glossary. Always refer to the glossary when localizing acronyms.
• The gender and number of the acronym are determined by the gender and number of the translation for the main noun of the extended form.
  API (Application Programming Interface) is feminine because the translation of “interface” (“interfície”) is feminine.
• To choose the appropriate form of articles and prepositions to use in front of an acronym, consider the way it is read and apply the general apostrophe rules.
  The API L’API.
• When an acronym is repeated several times in the same section, include its extended form in parentheses only for its first occurrence. Commonly used acronyms do not need explanations (DVD, LED, TV, etc.).

5. Pronouns

• English, especially technical English, is more redundant than some other languages.
• When translating, you often need to reduce the redundancy of the source text using pronouns. This may otherwise affect the text readability. However, this must not affect accuracy.
• When translating technical and complex strings, ensure users can associate pronouns to the noun they refer to.
• Avoid the use of possessive pronouns when it is clear who the owner is.
• Omit pronoun subjects such as “we” and “you".

English	We avoid	We prefer
Add your first item	Afegiu el vostre primer element	Afegiu el primer element
Are you sure you want to clear the trash? All your trashed items will be deleted permanently	Segur que voleu netejar la paperera? Tots els vostres elements de la paperera s’eliminaran permanentment	Segur que voleu netejar la paperera? Tots els elements de la paperera s’eliminaran permanentment

6. Gerunds (“ing” ending)

• Gerunds are often used in English to indicate an action in progress, such as in “Creating a report”. In Catalan, you should use complete sentences with the verb “estar” + gerund.
• Depending on the context, the expression “en + infinitive” can also be used.
• In Catalan, gerunds are only used for simultaneous actions. They also cannot introduce a relative clause.

English	We avoid	We prefer
Creating a report	Creant un informe	S’està creant un informe
This toolbar is visible when reading a message.	Aquesta barra d’eines és visible quan llegint un missatge.	Aquesta barra d’eines és visible quan s’està llegint un missatge.
This toolbar is visible when reading a message.	Aquesta barra d’eines és visible quan llegint un missatge.	Aquesta barra d’eines és visible en llegir un missatge.
A message describing the process	Un missatge descrivint el procés	Un missatge que descriu el procés

7. Punctuation

7.1 Exclamation mark

• Exclamation marks are used to give emphasis.
• As their use is less common than in English, you should use them sparingly: feel free to omit or change an exclamation mark into a period if it is more natural.

English	We avoid	We prefer
The PIN codes must match!	Els codis PIN han de coincidir!	Els codis PIN han de coincidir.
Can’t create a SRP verifier!	Impossible crear un verificador SRP!	No és possible crear un verificador SRP
Theme reset! Redirecting…	Tema restablert! S’està redirigint…	Tema restablert. S’està redirigint…

7.2 Comma

Do not place a comma before “i” and “o” when the conjunction is used to link two or more related terms.

English	We avoid	We prefer
You can also add, delete, and edit by clicking…	També podeu afegir, eliminar, i editar clicant…	També podeu afegir, eliminar i editar clicant…
Assign permissions to users, or groups	Assigneu permisos a usuaris, o grups	Assigneu permisos a usuaris o grups

7.3 Colon and semicolon

There is no capital letter starting the word that follows the semicolon unless it is a citation, warning, etc.

English	We avoid	We prefer
Date: Old to new	Data: De més antic a més nou	Data: de més antic a més nou
Download paused: Low battery	S’ha pausat la descàrrega: La bateria està baixa	S’ha pausat la descàrrega: la bateria està baixa

7.4 Em dash (—), en dash (–), hyphen (-)

• In English, an em or en dash is used to demarcate an isolated element, to introduce an item that is not essential to the sentence’s meaning, to emphasize a sudden change in thought or to bring focus to a list.
• When not equivalent to a parenthesis, it should be replaced by a comma, a semicolon or a dot.

English	We avoid	We prefer
Secure access to your favorite content from other countries — Now available on Android TV.	Accés segur al vostre contingut favorit des d’altres països — Ara disponible en Android TV.	Accés segur al vostre contingut favorit des d’altres països; ara disponible en Android TV.
More than 12 hours passed since last update — ${ CALENDAR_APP_NAME } will try to update the calendar in a few hours.	Han passat més de 12 hores des de l’última actualització — ${ CALENDAR_APP_NAME } intentarà actualitzar el calendari d’aquí a unes hores.	Han passat més de 12 hores des de l’última actualització. ${ CALENDAR_APP_NAME } intentarà actualitzar el calendari d’aquí a unes hores.

7.5 Quotation marks

• Always start using the «» quotation marks.
• Only in case of nested quotations, you should then use “” and ‘’, in this order.
• Place the period outside the closing quotation mark.

English	We avoid	We prefer
The “From:” address is invalid.	L’adreça “De:” no és vàlida.	L’adreça «De:» no és vàlida.
File “${ name }” was deleted during download	S’ha eliminat el fitxer “${ name }” durant la descàrrega	S’ha eliminat el fitxer «${ name }» durant la descàrrega

7.6 Apostrophes

Use straight apostrophes.
L’activació.

7.7 Ampersand (&)

Replace “&” with “i” unless it is part of a company/product name or a registered trademark.

8 Numbers

• Replace the period that stands for the decimal point in American English with a comma in your translations.
  3.75 3,75
• For numbers smaller than 1, always put a zero before the decimal comma.
  .5 0,5
• As a thousand separator, use a dot. Never use thousand separators in years.
  15,000 and year 2015 15.000 i any 2015
• The period in app/software version numbers remains unchanged.
  Proton Mail v.3
• Time and date:
  • Hours and minutes are separated by a colon. Use the 24-hour format to specify A.M. and P.M.
    at 9:25 P.M a les 21:25 h
  • The date format is “dd/mm/yy”.
    01-31-22 (mm/dd/yy) 31/01/22
• In Catalan, “un bilió” means 10^12. For 10^9, use “mil milions” instead.
• Ordinals are abbreviated with the numeral and the last letter of its name, without a dot 1r, 10é, 30a
• To write telephone numbers, you should use spaces to separate the numbers in groups of three.

9 Ordinal Numbers

• Ordinals, in its singular form, are abbreviated with the numeral and the last letter of its name, without a dot 1r, 10é, 30a.
• In the case of plurals, we use the number and the last two letters 1rs, 10ns, 30es.
• These letters added to the numerals are always written in lower case, even in an upper-case text

10 Currencies

• Do not convert USD ($) or EUR (€) amounts to any local currency.
• Place the USD or EUR code or the symbol €, $ after the number and separate it with a space from the number.
  Amount of €30 Quantitat de 30 €

11 Units of measurement

• Use the metric system.
• Insert a space between a number and the relevant unit.
• Convert imperial units into metric units.
• 6 feet 1,83 m

Category	Measurement unit	Translation	Abbreviation
LINEAR	Kilometer	Kilòmetre	km
	Meter	Metre	m
	Centimeter	Centímetre	cm
	Millimeter	Mil·límetre	mm
MASS	Ton	Tona	T
	Kilogram	Kilogram	kg
	Pound	Lliura	lb
IMPERIAL	Inch	Polzada	in
	Feet	Peu	ft
	Mile	Milla	mi
	Gallon	Galó	gal
COMPUTING	Byte (B)	Byte	B
	Megabyte (MB)	Megabyte	MB
	Gigabyte (GB)	Gigabyte	GB
	Terabyte (TB)	Terabyte	TB

12 Form of address

• When addressing the user, use the second-person plural (“vós”) form. Nevertheless, when possible, try to avoid the explicit use of the pronoun “vós”. Bear in mind that you are addressing a single person, so adjectives should be in singular.
• When addressing the computer, use the second-person singular (“tu”) form.
• Commands should always be expressed in imperative.

English	We avoid	We prefer
Enter user name	Introduir nom d’usuari	Introduïu el nom d’usuari
Edit	Editar	Edita
Enter password	Introduir contrasenya	Introduïu la contrasenya
You are invited to join…	Esteu convidats a unir-vos a…	Esteu convidat a unir-vos a…
Log out	Tancar la sessió	Tanca la sessió

13 English/US terms and formulations

• Words like please, sorry, simply and some onomatopoeias are very often used in English. We will not translate them to keep the sentences short and the style lighter.
• Failed should not be literally translated, as much as possible.
• You should write, as much as possible, structured complete sentences, with a logical word order even if it means moving away from the source a bit.
• In Catalan, the use of passive is not as extensive as in English. You should try to translate it as an active or pronominal passive (“passiva reflexa”) form.

English	We avoid	We prefer
Please try again later	Si us plau, torneu a provar més tard	Torneu a provar més tard
Please select at least one email	Si us plau, seleccioneu com a mínim un correu electrònic.	Seleccioneu com a mínim un correu electrònic.
If your alias is sold, leaked, or abused, simply disable it to stop receiving spam.	Si el vostre àlies és venut, filtrat o abusat, simplement desactiveu-lo i deixeu de rebre correu brossa.	Si el vostre àlies és venut, filtrat o abusat, desactiveu-lo i deixeu de rebre correu brossa.
Event failed to decrypt.	El desxiframent de l’esdeveniment ha fallat	No s’ha pogut desxifrar l’esdeveniment.
Participation status updated	Estat de participació actualitzat	S’ha actualitzat l’estat de participació
Error updating event	Error actualitzant esdeveniment	S’ha produït un error en actualitzar l’esdeveniment
Contact saved	Contacte desat	S’ha desat el contacte.
Some calendars couldn’t be imported.	Alguns calendaris no han pogut ser importats	No s’han pogut importar alguns calendaris.

14 Foreign words

• In general, you should try to use the accepted equivalent forms of the words in Catalan, avoiding an unnecessary use of foreign words.
• The decision about the use of foreign words is based on how widespread the use of the word is. An English term might be recommended when its use has become very common.
• To find out how common a word is, you can use internet search engines. Search for the English word and for the corresponding translation in your language on your preferred search engine. The number of occurrences in each case will be an indication of how popular the use of each word is. If in doubt for an important term, ask Proton Localization team to make a SEO (Search Engine Optimization) check.
• Foreign words might be accompanied by quotation marks or italics when their use is not widely spread. However, English words that are widely accepted for use are kept as they are in the original. Where necessary, add an explanation in the target language.

15 Localizing person names

• Localize fictitious person names used for explanatory purposes, choosing a name that is generic but not stereotypical.
  Please enter your display name (e.g., Julia Smith) Introduïu el nom que voleu mostrar (p.ex., Júlia Roig)
• Do not localize real persons’ names.

16 Localizing domains and email addresses

Localize fictitious domain names and e-mail addresses used for explanatory purposes:

• Translate the local-part of an e-mail address
  user@ usuari@
• Translate the domain name
  yourdomain.com elvostredomini.cat
• Use your target country code at the end
  .com .cat

English	Translation
Proton Mail allows you to keep your business email address (you**@yourcompany.com**).	Proton Mail permet mantenir l’adreça electrònica del vostre negoci (elvostreusuari**@lavostraempresa.cat**).
Receive all email sent to addresses in your domain that do not exist (e.g., “mistake@yourdomain.com”).	Reveu tots els correus electrònics que s’envien a adreces del vostre domini que no existeixen, com ara «error@elvostredomini.cat».

However, do not localize any real email addresses or domain names .
To reset your mailbox password, please use the web version of Proton Mail at proton.me Per restablir la contrasenya de la vostra bústia de correu, utilitzeu la versió web de Proton Mail a proton.me

17 References

In the following links, you can find more information about Catalan grammar and terminology norms and conventions:

• https://www.softcatala.org/
• TERMCAT | Official body in charge of Catalan language terminology
• https://www.iec.cat/