Last update: March 27, 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 Hindi, but you should also consider the guidance for all languages.
1. Capitalization
The topic of capitalization is irrelevant to Devanagari. You need not worry about it.
Ensure that the translation is capitalized exactly as the source string in situations where the English words are retained in Latin alphabets.
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 best writing practices for Hindi.
- Basic principles: don’t suggest the reader’s gender using a specific grammatical forms. If you cannot use forms that are gender-free, rephrase the sentence.
| English | We avoid | We prefer |
|---|---|---|
| If you are interested in Proton Mail… | अगर आप Proton Mail में रुचि रखती हैं… | Proton Mail में अगर रुचि हैं… |
| Do you want to continue? | क्या आप जारी रखना चाहते हैं? | जारी रखें? |
- 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.
- Rephrase when you are unable to find a gender-neutral way.
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).
Write out English abbreviations (such as “Fw”) in full in Hindi.
General criteria for shortening words:
- Omit at least two letters
- Truncate a word so that it ends with a consonant and place a period after it
- When a word contains a double consonant, truncate it at the second one and place a period after it
- Examples:
- Example
उदा. - Doctor डॉ.
- Example
Days abbreviations (in calendars, agendas, timetables… the names of days are written without a period for visual purposes):
| English | Translation | Abbreviation |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | सोमवार | सोम |
| Tuesday | मंगलवार | मंगल |
| Wednesday | बुधवार | बुध |
| Thursday | गुरुवार | गुरु |
| Friday | शुक्रवार | शुक्र |
| Saturday | शनिवार | शनि |
| Sunday | रविवार | रवि |
Months abbreviations (in calendars, agendas, timetables… the names of months are written without a period for visual purposes):
| English | Translation | Abbreviation |
|---|---|---|
| January | जनवरी | जन |
| February | फरवरी | फर |
| March | मार्च | मार्च |
| April | अप्रैल | अप्रैल |
| May | मई | मई |
| June | जून | जून |
| July | जुलाई | जुलाई |
| August | अगस्त | अगस्त |
| September | सितंबर | सित |
| October | अक्टूबर | अक्टू |
| November | नवंबर | नव |
| December | दिसंबर | दिस |
4. Acronyms
- Common examples are VPN (Virtual Personal Network), DNS (Domain Name Server), HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), et cetera.
- Transliterate an English acronym, or use an equivalent Hindi word, if it is not used in a product or brand name and will not cause confusion among the readers.
- The most common acronyms and their translations are included in the glossary. Always refer to the glossary when localizing acronyms.
- Commonly used acronyms do not need explanations (DVD, LED, TV, etc.).
- 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 Hindi.
- 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.
6. Punctuation
6.1 Purnviram (।)
- Use purnviram at the end of sentences.
- Include a purnviram at the end of each extended sentence in a bullet list if this sentence has a full meaning by itself.
- Unless the item includes more than one sentence, do not place any purnviram at the end of titles, links, buttons and checkboxes.
6.2 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 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… | थीम रीसेट हो गया! रीडाइरेक्ट कर रहें… | थीम रीसेट हो गया। रीडाइरेक्ट कर रहें… |
| Importing contacts complete! | संपर्क आयात खत्म! | संपर्क आयात खत्म। |
6.3 Parentheses
- Parentheses are used to clarify statements or provide additional information.
- Let’s avoid parentheses as much as possible and adapt to the context.
| English | We avoid | We prefer |
|---|---|---|
| Please choose a display name to finish setting up your account. (Other people will see this.) | खाता सेटअप खत्म करने के लिए डिस्पले नाम चुनें। (दूसरे लोग ये देखेंगे।) | खाता सेटअप खत्म करने के लिए डिस्पले नाम चुनें जिसे दूसरे लोग देखेंगे। |
| We also support importing vCard. (UTF-8 Encoding) | हम वीकार्ड भी आयात कर सकते हैं। (यूटीएफ-8 एन्कोडिंग) | हम यूटीएफ-8 एन्कोडिंग के साथ विकार्ड भी आयात कर सकते हैं। |
6.4 Comma
Do not place a comma before “और” and “या” when the conjunction is used to link two related terms.
| English | We avoid | We prefer |
|---|---|---|
| You can also add, delete, and edit them by clicking… | उनको जोड़े, मिटाएं और बदलें क्लिक करके… | उनको जोड़े, मिटाएं, और बदलें क्लिक करके… |
| Assign permissions to users, or groups | यूज़र या ग्रुप को अनुमति दे | यूज़र, या ग्रुप, को अनुमति दे |
6.5 Colon and semicolon
- Colons and semicolons are all preceded by a non-breaking space.
Date: Old to new तारीख: पुराने से नया
6.6 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.
- It is often more appropriate to use a comma, a full stop or parenthesis instead.
- Also, the Em dash is not used for date ranges, therefore you should use “से” instead.
September 10 - 20 सितंबर 10 से 20
6.7 Quotation marks
- Use double quotation marks.
- Place the period outside the closing quotation mark.
6.8 Ampersand (&)
Replace “&” with “और” unless it is part of a company/product name or a registered trademark.
7. Spacing and non-breaking spaces
- Use non-breaking spaces to prevent improper division of elements such as product names, part numbers, numbers, dates, etc.
- When using currency symbols or units of measurement, include a non-breaking space between number and sign.
- To insert a non-breaking space using your keyboard:
- On Windows, hold down the “Alt” key while typing the number “255”.
- On Apple, Ctrl + Option⌥ + Space bar.
8. Numbers
- Use Arabic Numerals.
- Use the Indian Numbering System.
13,400,800 1,34,00,800 - The period in app/software version numbers remains unchanged.
Proton Mail v.3 - As a thousand separator, use a non-breaking space. Never use thousand separators in years.
15,000 and year 2015 15,000 और साल 2015 - Time and date:
- Hours and minutes are separated by a colon. Use the 24 hour format.
at 9:25 P.M 21:25 पे - The date format is “dd/mm/yy”.
01-31-22 31-01-22
- Hours and minutes are separated by a colon. Use the 24 hour format.
9. Currencies
- Do not convert USD ($) or EUR (€) amounts to any local currency.
- Place the symbol €, $ before the number and separate it with a non-breaking space from the number.
- Amount of €30 €30 का रकम
10. 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 1.82 मीटर
| Category | Measurement unit | Translation | Abbreviation |
|---|---|---|---|
| LINEAR | Kilometer Meter Centimeter Millimeter |
किलोमीटर मीटर सेंटीमीटर मिलीमीटर |
किलो मीटर सेंटी मिली |
| MASS | Ton Kilogram Pound |
टन किलोग्राम पाउंड |
टन किलो पाउंड |
| IMPERIAL | Inch Feet Mile Gallon |
इंच फीट मील गैलन |
इंच फीट मील गैलन |
| COMPUTING | Byte (B) Megabyte (MB) Gigabyte (GB) Terabyte (TB) |
बाइट मेगाबाइट गीगाबाइट टेराबाइट |
बाइट एमबी जीबी टीबी |
11. English/US terms
- Please कृपया
- Now/Current अभी
- Successfully सफलतापूर्वक
- Failed असफल
- Manage संभाले
- Data डाटा
- Detail/Information जानकारी
- More और
12. Foreign words
- The decision about the use of foreign words (Using Farsi or English words) rather than an equivalent term in your language is based on how widespread the use of the word is. An English, or Farsi, 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. However, English words that are widely accepted for use are kept as they are in the original but do not take the ending “s” in the plural case.
- When foreign words are common and well understood, they can be left in the target language after transliteration. Where necessary, add an explanation in the target language.
- Avoid using too many anglicisms.
13. 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) (उदा. तारा सिंह) - Do not localize real persons’ names.
Bart Butler is a senior engineer at Proton Mail बार्ट बटलर Proton Mail के एक सीनियर इंजीनियर हैं
14. Localizing domains and email addresses
Use latin alphabet in writing email addresses and domain names.
Localize fictitious domain names and e-mail addresses used for explanatory purposes:
- Translate the local-part of an e-mail address
user@ aap@ - Translate the domain name
yourdomain.com aapkadomain.in - Use your target country code at the end
.com .in
| English | Translation |
|---|---|
| Proton Mail allows you to keep your business email address (you**@yourcompany.com**). | Proton Mail आपको अपना बिज़नेस ईमेल पता रखने की इजाज़त देता हैं (aap@aapkacompany.in) । |
| Receive all email sent to addresses in your domain that do not exist (e.g., “mistake@yourdomain.com". | सारे ईमेल ले जो आपके डोमेन पे अमान्य पतों को भेजे गए हैं (उदा. “galti@aapkadomain.in” )। |
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
मेलबॉक्स पासवर्ड रीसेट करने के लिए Proton Mail का वेब संस्करण इस्तेमाल करें proton.me पे
15. Symbos to denote special sounds
15.1 Nuqta
- Nuqta refer to the dot used in Devanagari to denote a sound borrowed from Farsi.
- Do not use Nuqta in क़, ख़, ग़ and फ़ since these sounds have merged into the traditional Hindi sounds. Use Nuqta only in ज़.
- More ज़्यादा
- Note: dots in ड़ and ढ़ are not nuqta.
15.2 Chandrabindu
- Chandrabindu refers to the symbol used to denote nasal sounds.
- Do not use Chandrabindu. Instead replace it with a simple bindu.
- Mother मां
16. Informal
- Use informal ये, पे, ले, et cetera, instead of formal यह, पर, लीजिए, et cetera.
- Move it here यहां पे ले जाएं