Guidance for German

[PMtranslator]

Last update: August 30, 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 German, but you should also consider the guidance for all languages.

1. Capitalization

• Capitalize all nouns incl. proper nouns (names of people, products or of places).
• Capitalize the first letter of a sentence.
• Always apply the your language conventions rather than adhering to the English source.

Capitalize

• Proper names
  Proton Mail
  Proton VPN
  NetShield
• Command/Folder names and keywords (first word only)
  Öffnen, Schließen, Speichern unter
• First word of a sentence, title or subtitle
  Die Vorteile von Proton VPN
• Words after a colon when followed by a complete sentence or on a separate line
  Zeitlich begrenztes Angebot: Spare mit unseren Angeboten bis zu 50 %!
• In bulleted lists consisting of complete sentences
  Deine Vorteile mit ProtonVPN :
  • Schütze deinen E-Mail-Verkehr.
  • Greife auf internationales Streaming zu.

Do not capitalize

• Words following en-dashes (exception: nouns)
  Das Wichtigste für uns – die Privatsphäre unserer Nutzer.
• After salutation in an Email
  Hallo xxx, vielen Dank für deine E-Mail.
• Words after a colon when in the same line and not a complete sentence
  Das Wichtigste für uns: die Privatsphäre unserer Nutzer.
• Words in a list introduced by a sentence and followed by incomplete sentences
  Merkmale von Proton VPN:
  • starke Protokolle
  • vollständige Verschlüsselung

2. Gender

• We want to be as inclusive as possible, so we try to be neutral, but we use gender-specific nouns and verbs if remaining neutral goes against the writing best practices for a specific language.
• Basic principles: when possible, avoid the use of masculine singular form to refer to someone whose gender is not known.

English	We avoid	We prefer
If you are a Proton Mail user, you get:	Als ProtonMail-Benutzer erhältst du:	Wenn du Proton Mail nutzt, erhältst du:
Our employees are constantly developing new features.	Unsere Mitarbeiter entwickeln fortlaufend neue Funktionen.	Unsere Angestellten entwickeln fortlaufend neue Funktionen.

• 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 only when an inclusive gender is intended, but cannot be expressed otherwise.

The gender and number of the acronym are determined by the gender and number of the translation for the governing noun of the extended form. Example VPN (Virtual Personal Network) is neuter because the translation of “network” (“Netzwerk”) is neuter.

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 readibility. 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.

General criteria for shortening words:

• Omit at least two letters
• Use commonly used abbreviations if one exists
• Place a period at the end of abbreviations
  Abk.
  Empf.

Days abbreviations:

English	Translation	Abbreviation
Monday	Montag	Mo.
Tuesday	Dienstag	Di.
Wednesday	Mittwoch	Mi.
Thursday	Donnerstag	Do.
Friday	Freitag	Fr.
Saturday	Samstag	Sa.
Sunday	Sonntag	So.

Months abbreviations:

English	Translation	Abbreviation
January	Januar	Jan.
February	Februar	Feb.
March	März	Mrz.
April	April	Apr.
May	Mai	Mai
June	Juni	Jun.
July	Juli	Jul.
August	August	Aug.
September	September	Sep.
October	Oktober	Okt.
November	November	Nov.
December	Dezember	Dez.

4. Acronyms

• Common examples are VPN (Virtual Personal Network), DNS (Domain Name Server), HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), etc.
• 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 usually feminine because the translation of “interface” (“Schnittstelle”) is feminine.
• You can use the translation of the defining noun of the acronym in front of it when the exact meaning of the governing noun of the acronym is known.
  The API Die API-Schnittstelle
• Globally used acronyms do not need explanations (DVD, LED, TV…).
• When an acronym is repeated several times in the same section, include its extended form in parentheses only for its first occurrence.

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 possible.

6. Gerunds (“ing” ending)

• Gerunds are used in English, such as in “Creating a report”.
• When paragraph and chapter heads begin in English with a gerund, as a general rule, please use a noun, translating it as the equivalent of “Creation of a report”.

English	We avoid	We prefer
Generating keys	Schlüssel erstellen	Erstellung von Schlüsseln

7. Punctuation

• The general rule is to follow your language standard grammar rules.
• As a main reference, the Duden should be consulted: Duden Rechtschreibregeln

7.1 Period

• For the period at the end of a sentence, adapt the source to your language usage: when the English source does not put a period at the end of the sentence but you should in your language, add it in your translation. In this case, make sure that the text you are translating is not a part of a longer sentence (this is usually specified in the context).
• Unless the item includes more than one sentence, do not place any periods at the end of titles, links, buttons and checkboxes.
• Include a period at the end of each extended sentence in a bullet list if this sentence has a full meaning by itself.

7.2 Exclamation mark

• Exclamation marks are used to give emphasis.
• As their use is less common than in English, you should use them sparingly: change an exclamation mark into a period if it is more natural, but please don’t change a period into an exclamation mark.

English	We avoid	We prefer
Theme reset! Redirecting…	Neues Farbschema geladen! Die Seite wird neu geladen.	Neues Farbschema geladen. Die Seite wird neu geladen.
Importing contacts complete!	Kontaktimport abgeschlossen!	Kontaktimport abgeschlossen.

7.3 Parentheses

• Parentheses are used to clarify statements or provide additional information.
• If a sentence in parentheses clarifies the context, it usually starts in lower case and does not require an ending period.

English	We avoid	We prefer
We also support importing vCard. (UTF-8 encoding)	Wir unterstützen auch den Import von vCard. (UTF-8-Codierung.)	Wir unterstützen auch den Import von vCard (UTF-8-Codierung).

However, a complete sentence in parentheses providing additional information separated from the context may, but does not need to, start in upper case and have its own ending period:

English	Translation
Please choose a display name to finish setting up your account. (Other people will see this.)	Bitte gib einen Anzeigenamen ein, um die Einrichtung deines Kontos abzuschließen. (Dieser ist für andere sichtbar.) OR Bitte gib einen Anzeigenamen ein, um die Einrichtung deines Kontos abzuschließen (dieser ist für andere sichtbar).

7.4 Comma

Do not place commas before “und” and “oder” when the conjunction is used to link two related terms:

English	We avoid	We prefer
You can also add, delete, and edit them by…	Diese können auch hinzugefügt, gelöscht, und bearbeitet werden, indem …	Diese können auch hinzugefügt, gelöscht und bearbeitet werden, indem …

When connecting main clauses, the comma is optional to aid readability:

English	Translation
No one can access files you have stored on Proton Drive (except you) and encryption and decryption occur on your device only.	Niemand (außer dir) kann auf Dateien, die du auf Proton Drive gespeichert hast, zugreifen[,] und die Ver- und Entschlüsselung erfolgt nur auf deinem Gerät.

7.5 Colon and semicolon

• Colons and semicolons come immediately after the preceding word, with no space in between.
• Capitalization of the following word should follow your language rules.
  Date: Old to new Datum: von alt nach neu

7.6 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.
• Use an en dash:
  • to separate sentence parts
    Die Vorteile von ProtonVPN – jetzt noch günstiger
  • to express “to” in ranges
    8–17 Uhr
• Use a hyphen:
  • to separate words at line breaks
  • to connect nouns that are not spelled as one word
    API-Schnittstelle”
• Do not use the Em dash.

7.7 Quotation marks

• Use curved quotation marks with lower-upper alignment
  „Beispiel“

7.8 Apostrophes

• The only usage case for an apostrophe that might arise in the context of this project is the genitive form of names ending in an -s sound. Use a curved apostrophe in these cases.
• Do not use the apostrophe to show letters omitted in spoken language.

English	Wrong	Correct
Max’s email	Maxs E-Mail	Max’ E-Mail
How are you?	Wie geht’s?	Wie geht es dir?

7.9 Ampersand (&)

Generally speaking, replace “&” with “and” unless it is part of a company/product name or a registered trademark.

8 Spacing and non-breaking spaces

• Do not insert blank spaces before punctuation.
• Only use a single space between words or after punctuation.
• Use non-breaking spaces to prevent improper division of elements such as product names, part numbers, dates, etc.
• When using currency symbols or units of measurement (incl. percent signs), include a non-breaking space between number and sign.
• You can use these keyboard shortcuts on Windows:
  • Opening quotation mark => hold down the “Alt” key while typing the number “174”
  • Close guillemet => hold down the “Alt” key while typing the number “175”
  • Unbreakable space => hold down the “Alt” key while typing the number “255”

9 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
• The period in app/software version numbers remains unchanged.
  Proton Mail v.3
• Use a period for thousand separators. Never use thousand separators in years.
  15,000 and year 2015 15.000, das Jahr 2015
• Time and date:
  • Hours and minutes are separated by a colon. Please use the 24 hour format to specify A.M. and P.M.
    at 9:25 P.M um 21:25 Uhr
  • The date format is “dd/mm/yy”.
    01-31-22 (mm/dd/yy) 31/01/22

10 Ordinal numbers

Ordinal numbers are indicated by a period. When used in a sentence, they should typically be spelled out.

English	Translation
1st prize:	1. Preis:
This marked only the 3rd time that…	Das war erst das dritte Mal, dass…

11 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 non-breaking space from the number.
  Amount of €30 Ein Betrag in Höhe von 30 EUR (30 €)

12 Units of measurement

• Use the metric system.
• Insert a non-breaking 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 Meter Centimeter Millimeter	Kilometer Meter Zentimeter Millimeter	km m cm mm
MASS	Ton Kilogram Gram	Tonne Kilogramm Gramm	t kg g
IMPERIAL	Inch Feet Mile Gallon	Zoll Fuß Meile Gallone	in ft mi gal
COMPUTING	Byte (B) Megabyte (MB) Gigabyte (GB) Terabyte (TB)	Byte Megabyte Gigabyte Terabyte	B MB GB TB

13 Form of address

• Use the informal second-person singular (“du”) form of address.
• Use the lower case spelling for pronouns (“du”, “dein”).

English	Translation
Open the navigation	Öffne die Navigation
Use your own domain name	Verwende deine eigene Domain

14 English “please”

• In English, it is very common to use the word “please” to introduce an instruction (“Please fill out the field Name in the form”). Follow the same approach.
  Please try again later Bitte versuche es später erneut.

15 Foreign words

• The decision about the use of foreign words (keeping it in English) instead of the equivalent term in your language 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 an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) check.
• Foreign words might be accompanied by quotation marks or italics when their use is not widely spread.
• Plural of English words may follow your language rules (e.g., “Babys”).
• The use of too many anglicisms should be avoided.

16 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) Gib deinen Anzeigenamen ein (z. B. Max Mustermann)
• Do not localize real persons’ names.
  Bart Butler is a senior engineer at Proton Mail Bart Butler ist Chef-Entwickler bei Proton Mail

17 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@ nutzer@
• Translate the domain name
  yourdomain.com deinedomain.de
• Use your target country code at the end
  .com .de

English	Translation
Proton Mail allows you to keep your business email address (you@yourcompany.com)	Mit Proton Mail kannst du deine geschäftliche E-Mail-Adresse behalten (ich@meinunternehmen.de)
Receive all email sent to addresses in your domain that do not exist (e.g., Mistake@yourdomain.com)	Erhalte E-Mails, die an nicht vergebene Adressen geschickt wurden (z. B. fehler@deinedomain.de)

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
Um das Passwort für deinen Posteingang zurückzusetzen, benutze bitte die Webversion unter proton.me

18 Localization of specific words

Event: we are aware that the word “Event” has many equivalents. As a decision, for all calendar-related occurrences use “Termin/Termine” and for others use “Ereignis/Ereignisse”.

19 Localizing CTA buttons

To translate call-to-actions, use infinitive.

English	Translation
Sign in	Anmelden
Create a free account	Kostenloses Konto erstellen