Guidance for Italian

[PMtranslator]

Last update: February 9, 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 Italian, but you should also consider the guidance for all languages.

1. Capitalization

• Capitalize only the first letter of a sentence and the names of people, products or places.
• Always apply 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)
  Apri
  Chiudi
  Salva con nome
• First word of a sentence, title or subtitle
  Come eliminare un conto
• In UI items made up of 2 alternative commands separated by a slash, both are capitalized
  Importa/Esporta file
• In bulleted lists introduced by a sentence and ending with a colon
  Programma deve avere queste caratteristiche:
  • Nome del programma
  • Comando d’avviamento programma
  • Pausa dopo l’uscita
• In bulleted lists, where sentences end with a period. Example:
  • Il comando find ricerca caratteri specifici nei file e negli output dei comandi.
  • Il comando sort riordina alfabeticamente file e output di comandi.

Do not capitalize

• In a list introduced by a sentence and ending with a semicolon or a comma
  È possibile adottare una particolare forma di scrittura nella quale vengono scritte con iniziale maiuscola:
  • la prima parola della denominazione;
  • tutte le parole che sono nomi, aggettivi, pronomi; verbi o avverbi;
  • l’ultima parola della denominazione.
• Words after colon when in the same line
  Nota: devi essere un amministratore per eliminare il conto.
• Nationalities and languages.
  cittadinanza italiana
  scritto in inglese
• Names of days, months and seasons.
  lunedì
  gennaio
  inverno
• After salutation in an e-mail
  Gentile xxx, grazie per la risposta…

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 unknown.
  • Don’t suggest the reader’s gender using a specific grammatical forms. If you cannot use forms that are gender-free, use the neutral indirect form
    è possibile…
    è consigliabile…

English	We avoid	We prefer
I am happy to help you.	Sono lieto di aiutarti.	Sono felice di aiutarti.
If you are interested in Proton Mail…	Se sei interessato a…	Se ti interessa…
I am not used to this tool.	Non sono abituato/a a questo strumento.	Questo strumento non mi è familiare

• 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.
• Choose the plural form if you are unable to find a gender-neutral way to translate a string.

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. Here is an example: VPN (Virtual Personal Network) is feminine because the translation of “network” (“rete”) 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.

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:
  • Abbreviazione Abbreviaz.
  • Visualizzazione Visualizz.

Days abbreviations:

English	Translation	Abbreviation
Monday	lunedì	lun.
Tuesday	martedì	mar.
Wednesday	mercoledì	mer.
Thursday	giovedì	gio.
Friday	venerdì	ven.
Saturday	sabato	sab.
Sunday	domenica	dom.

Months abbreviations:

English	Translation	Abbreviation
January	gennaio	gen.
February	febbraio	feb.
March	marzo	mar.
April	aprile	apr.
May	maggio	mag.
June	giugno	giu.
July	luglio	lug.
August	agosto	ago.
September	settembre	set.
October	ottobre	ott.
November	novembre	nov.
December	dicembre	dic.

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 feminine because the translation of “interface” (“interfaccia”) is feminine.
• To choose the appropriate article to use in front of an acronym, consider the gender and the euphonic effect.
  The API L’API
• 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 L’interfaccia API
• 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 in 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.
  Make sure to save your edits once you’re done Assicurati di salvare le modifiche al termine dell’operazione.
• Omit pronoun subjects such as “we” and “you".
• The final form of the translated text should reflect the current structure for your language.

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, you should translate it into the noun equivalent.
• Creating a report Translated as “Creation of a report”

English	We avoid	We prefer
Generating keys	Generare chiavi	Generazione chiavi

7. Punctuation

The general rule is to follow your language standard grammar rules. If you need help, consult the resources below:

• Grammatica italiana.eu
• Modern Italian Grammar

7.1 Period

• For the period at the end of a sentence (subject + verb), 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).
• Include a period 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 periods at the end of titles, links, buttons and checkboxes.

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…	Tema reimpostato! Reindirizzamento…	Tema reimpostato. Reindirizzamento…
Importing contacts complete!	Importazione dei contatti completata!	Importazione dei contatti completata.

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 its ending period is put outside the closing parenthesis.
• However, a sentence in parentheses providing additional information separated from the context may start in upper case and have its ending period before the closing parenthesis.

English	We avoid	We prefer
Please choose a display name to finish setting up your account. (Other people will see this.)	Scegli un nome da visualizzare per completare la configurazione del tuo account. (Altre persone ti vedranno così.)	Scegli un nome da visualizzare per completare la configurazione del tuo account (altre persone ti vedranno così).
We also support importing vCard. (UTF-8 encoding)	Supportiamo anche l’importazione delle vCard. (encoding UTF-8).	Supportiamo anche l’importazione delle vCard (encoding UTF-8).

7.4 Comma

No commas should be placed before “e” and “o” 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…	Puoi anche aggiungerle, eliminarle, e modificarle cliccando	Puoi anche aggiungerle, eliminarle e modificarle cliccando…
Assign permissions to users, or groups	Assegna autorizzazioni a utenti, o gruppi	Assegna autorizzazioni a utenti o gruppi

7.5 Colon and semicolon

• Colons and semicolons come immediately after the preceding word, with no space in between, and the following word should not be capitalized.
  Date: Old to new Data: da vecchio a nuovo

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.
• It is often more appropriate to use a full stop or parenthesis instead.
• Also, the Em dash is not used for date ranges, therefore you should use a hyphen instead. However, you can use the Em dash when there is a start date but not an end date.
  September 10 - 20 10 - 20 settembre
  September 10 ⎯ 10 settembre ⎯

7.7 Quotation marks

• Use double straight quotes “example”
• Place the period or any brackets outside the closing quotation mark.
  Manuale “Guida introduttiva”
  Fare riferimento alla sezione “Virgolette doppie”

7.8 Apostrophes

Use straight apostrophes l’alimento consente una perfetta…

7.9 Ampersand (&)

Generally speaking, replace “&” with “e” 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, numbers, dates, etc.
• When using currency symbols or units of measurement, include a non-breaking space between number and sign
  10 €, 2 m, etc.
• 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.

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, anno 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 alle 21:25
  • The date format is “dd/mm/yy”.
    01-31-22 (mm/dd/yy) 31/01/22

10 Ordinal numbers

Ordinal numbers may be written in with numerals and letter suffixes, where the suffix acts as an ordinal indicator.

English	Singular M	Singular F	Plural M	Plural F
1st	1º	1ª	primi	prime
2nd	2º	2ª	secondi	seconde
3rd	3º	3ª	terzi	terze
4th	4º	4ª	quarto	quarte
5th	5º	5ª	quinti	quinte
6th	6º	6ª	sesti	seste
7th	7º	7ª	settimi	settime
8th	8º	8ª	ottavi	ottave
9th	9º	9ª	noni	none
10th	10º	10ª	decimi	decime

Note: actual graphical rendition of the suffix depends on the font, some fonts have a little dash below the suffix, some do not.

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 Una somma di 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	Chilometro Metro Centimetro Millimetro	km m cm mm
MASS	ton kilogram pound	Tonnellata Chilogrammo Libbra	t kg lb
IMPERIAL	inch feet mile gallon	Pollice Piede Miglia Gallone	in ft mi gal
COMPUTING	Byte (B) Megabyte (MB) Gigabyte (GB) Terabyte (TB)	Byte* Megabyte* Gigabyte* Terabyte*	B MB GB TB

Note for computing*: without “s” for plural 1 byte, 2 byte… 1 megabyte, 2 megabyte…

13 Form of address

• Use the informal second-person singular (“tu”) form of address. Once accepted mostly in colloquial, familiar style, it is now common in online communication.
  Open navigation Apri navigazione

14 English “please”

• In English, it is very common to use the word “please” to introduce an instruction. For example: “Please fill out the field Name in the form”. The translation usually does not contain the equivalent to “please”.
  Please try again later Riprovare più tardi.

15 Foreign words

• The decision about the use of foreign words (keeping it in English) instead of the equivalent terms 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. 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 source language. Where necessary, add an explanation in the target language.
• Avoid using too many anglicisms.

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) Inserire il nome visualizzato (es. Maria Rossi)
• Do not localize real persons’ names.
  Bart Butler is a senior engineer at Proton Mail Bart Butler è un senior engineer presso 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@ utente@
• Translate the domain name
  yourdomain.com tuodominio.it
• Use your target country code at the end
  .com .it

English	Translation
Proton Mail allows you to keep your business email address (you@yourcompany.com)	Proton Mail ti permette di mantenere il tuo indirizzo email aziendale (tu@tuaazienda.it)
Receive all email sent to addresses in your domain that do not exist (e.g., Mistake@yourdomain.com)	Ricevi tutte le email inviate agli indirizzi del tuo dominio che non esistono (ad es. errore@tuodominio.it)

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 resettare la password della tua casella email, utilizza la versione web di ProtonMail su proton.me

18 Localizing CTA buttons

To translate call-to-actions, use the imperative form.

English	Translation
Sign in	Accedi
Create a free account	Crea un account gratuito