Guidance for Lithuanian

[Povilas.i]

Last update: February 13th, 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 Lithuanian, 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)
  Atidaryti
  Uždaryti
  Įrašyti kaip
• First word of a sentence, title or subtitle
  Kaip pašalinti paskyrą
• In UI items made up of 2 alternative commands separated by a slash, only the first is capitalized
  Importuoti / eksportuoti failą
• If items of a bulleted list are full sentences, each item should begin with a capital letter and end with a full stop
  Jungiantis prie viešojo tinklo rekomenduojama laikytis šių atsargumo priemonių:
  • Prieš prisijungdami prie veišojo tinklo, įjunkite „Proton VPN“ programą.
  • Pasirinkite šalį, prie kurios serverio norite prisijungti.
  • Pasirinkite norimą serverį ir spustelėkite Prisijungti.

Do not capitalize

• Bulleted items that make part of a sentence start with lower-case and end with a semicolon (;). The last item of this enumeration type ends with a full stop.
  Būtinai:
  • prisijunkite prie VPN;
  • išvalykite naršymo duomenis;
  • pasirinkite privačiojo naršymo režimą.
• Words after colon when in the same line
  Pastaba: tinklas gali būti nepasiekiamas.
• Nationalities and languages.
  lietuvių pilietybės asmuo
  anglų kalbos vadovėlis
• Names of days, months and seasons.
  pirmadienis
  sausis
  žiema
• After salutation in an e-mail (even when the message body starts on a new line)
  Gerb. xxx,
  ačiū, kad kreipėtės…

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 your language.
• Basic principles:
  • In the passive voice, when the object is not indicated, use the participles of the neutral gender.
    Prisijungta.
    Modifikuota.
  • Generally, adjectives and participles have to be used in the masculine. Note that titles of dialog boxes are not grammatically connected to the options that follow afterwards. Therefore even if the title name is a feminine noun, the adjectives in the options should be masculine. When possible, choose such form of a pronoun or adjective, which could refer to both masculine and feminine

English	We avoid	We prefer
Save all	Įrašyti visus (-as)	Įrašyti viską
I am not used to this tool.	Aš nepratęs (-usi) prie šio įrankio.	Šis įrankis man neįprastas.

• 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 to the predicate following the compound subject of mixed gender.
• 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 masculine because the translation of “network” (“tinklas”) is masculine.

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.

Be consistent in shortening: do not shorten the same terms in different ways.

If you need to shorten the words themselves, there are 3 rules that regulate it:

• Write the first syllable of the word (in rarer occasions – two syllables) and then all the consonants of the next syllable until the vowel, with the full stop at the end.
  al. for alėja, apskr. for apskritis, doc. for docentas etc.
• Write one or several (sometimes – not sequential) consonants of a word or the first vowel and put a full stop.
  a. for aikštė, a. s. for atsiskaitomoji sąskaita, pr. Kr. for prieš Kristų, pvz. for pavyzdys, etc.
• Write the first letter of the word, put a hyphen and then write the last syllable of the word.
  f-ja for funkcija, b-ka for biblioteka, b-vė for bendrovė, etc.
  Rules and list of common abbreviations can be found here.

Days abbreviations:

English	Translation	Abbreviation
Monday	pirmadienis	P
Tuesday	antradienis	A
Wednesday	trečiadienis	T
Thursday	ketvirtadienis	K
Friday	penkatdienis	Pn
Saturday	šeštadienis	Š
Sunday	sekmadienis	S

Months abbreviations:

English	Translation	Abbreviation
January	sausis	saus.
February	vasaris	vas.
March	kovas	kov.
April	balandis	bal.
May	gegužė	geg.
June	birželis	birž.
July	liepa	liep.
August	rugpjūtis	rugpj.
September	rugsėjis	rugs.
October	spalis	spal.
November	lapkritis	lapkr.
December	gruodis	gruod.

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” (“sąsaja”) is feminine.
• 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

• The use of possessive pronouns is much less frequent than in English, thus if they do not carry any particular meaning, omit them.
  Connect your device → Prijunkite įrenginį
• Always use the 2nd person plural (jūs) to address the user. Normally, the pronoun “jūs” itself will not be needed, but if used, write it in the lower case.
• When translating technical and complex strings, ensure users can associate pronouns to the noun they refer to.

6. Gerunds (“ing” ending)

• Gerunds are used in English, such as in “Creating a report”.
• In Lithuanian, verbal phrases are more common and more natural than nominal phrases. So where possible, try to use verbal phrases instead of nominal ones. Continuous operations should be translated into Lithuanian as passive voice (present tense) participle of neutral gender.

English	We avoid	We prefer
Installing	Įdiegimas	Diegiama

• When paragraph and chapter heads begin in English with a gerund, you should translate it in Lithuanian into the verbal equivalent.

English	We avoid	We prefer
Creating a report	Ataskaitos kūrimas	Kaip sukurti ataskaitą

7. Punctuation

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

• Lietuvių kalbos skyryba
• VLKK lietuvių kalbos skyrybos taisyklės

7.1 Period

• Unless the item includes more than one sentence, do not place any periods at the end of titles, links, and buttons.
• Irrespective of the punctuation of option buttons and radio buttons in English, option buttons and radio buttons in Lithuanian never end with a period.
• When table items are complete sentences, each of them starts with a capital letter and ends with a period.
• Periods are used at the end of sentences in status bar messages, if they are full sentences.
• Lithuanian error messages (except questions) always finish with the period.
• Irrespective of the punctuation of tool tips in English, those in Lithuanian never end with a period.
• When the English source does not put a period at the end of the sentence but you should in Lithuanian, 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).

7.2 Exclamation mark

• Exclamation marks are used in Lithuanian 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.
• Only use one exclamation mark, also if the source text uses more exclamation marks.

English	We avoid	We prefer
Warning!!!	Įspėjimas!!!	Įspėjimas!
Importing contacts complete!	Kontaktai importuoti!	Kontaktai importuoti.

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.)	Kad užbaigtumėte kurti paskyrą, pasirinkite rodomą vardą. (Jis bus matomas kitiems.)	Kad užbaigtumėte kurti paskyrą, pasirinkite rodomą vardą (jis bus matomas kitiems).
We also support importing vCard. (UTF-8 encoding)	Galime importuoti ir „vCard“ failus. (UTF-8 koduotė)	Galime importuoti ir „vCard“ failus (UTF-8 koduotė).

7.4 Comma

No commas should be placed before the Lithuanian “ir”, “ar” and “ar (arba)” when the conjunction is used to link two related terms.

English	We avoid	We prefer
You can also add, delete, and edit…	Taip pat galite pridėti, ištrinti, ir redaguoti…	Taip pat galite pridėti, ištrinti ir redaguoti…
Assign permissions to users, or groups	Paskirkite leidimus vartotojams, arba grupėms	Paskirkite leidimus vartotojams arba grupėms

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: nuo seniausio iki naujausio
• Try to avoid use of the semicolon in complex phrases. Often such phrases can be split up in two smaller sentences (ending with a full stop), which are easier to read.

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

• In Lithuanian only two different dash characters are used: en dash (–) and hyphen (-).

Hyphen

• The hyphen is used between two words to create one word compound. Also, hyphen is used for date, last names, etc.
  2015-09-01
  Vardenė Pavardytė-Pavardenė

En dash

• The en dash is used as a minus sign, with spaces before and after.
  – 50 %

• The en dash is also used as a negative number sign, without a space after it and a number.
  –30 °C

• The en dash is used in number ranges, such as those specifying page numbers. No spaces are used around the en dash in this case.
  700–800 EUR

• The en dash is used to emphasize or separate a phrase or clause within a sentence. There is always a space before and after the en dash:
  Spustelėkite mygtuką Nuostatos, tada – Eiti į nuostatas

7.7 Quotation marks

• Use double curly quotes when referring to non-translatable items, citations, chapters, documents, etc.
  „example“
• In US source strings, you may find software references surrounded by English quotation marks. In Lithuanian quotation marks („x“) are not used around the names of software items.

English	We avoid	We prefer
Click button “Connect”	Spustelėkite mygtuką „Prisijungti“	Spustelėkite mygtuką Prisijungti

7.8 Apostrophes

In Lithuanian language the apostrophe is not used.

7.9 Ampersand (&)

Generally speaking, replace “&” with “ir” 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 (except for slash, hyphen or en dash).
• 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, 50 %, 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 non-breaking space for thousand separators.
  1,500 => 1 500
• Time and date:
  • Hours and minutes are separated by a period (sometimes by a colon). Please use the 24-hour format to specify A.M. and P.M.
    9:25 P.M. => 21.25 or 21:25
  • The Lithuanian short date format is “yy-mm-dd” or “yy mm dd”.
    01/31/22 (mm/dd/yy) => 22-01-31 or 22 01 31

10 Ordinal numbers

Abbreviated ordinal numbers are written with a hyphen after the Arabic numerals and before the ending of ordinal numbers.
1-as
2-as
3-ias
1-asis
1-oji
1980-ieji

• Roman numerals are never suffixed.

English	We avoid	We prefer
Chapter III	III-oji dalis	III dalis

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.

English	We avoid	We prefer
Amount of €30	€30 suma	30 € suma or 30 EUR suma

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	kilometras metras centimetras milimetras	km m cm mm
MASS	ton kilogram pound	tona kilogramas svaras	t kg lb
IMPERIAL	inch feet mile gallon	colis pėda mylia galonas	in ft mi gal
COMPUTING	Byte (B) Megabyte (MB) Gigabyte (GB) Terabyte (TB)	baitas megabaitas gigabaitas terabaitas	B MB GB TB

13 Form of address

• Use the second-person plural (“jūs”) form of address. Normally, the pronoun “jūs” itself will not be needed, but if used, write it in the lower case. In Lithuanian, the use of possessive pronouns is much less frequent than in English, thus if they do not carry any particular meaning, omit them.

Open the app => Atidarykite programą

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 Lithuanian translation usually does not contain the equivalent to “please”.
  Please try again later => Bandykite dar kartą vėliau.

15 Foreign words

• The decision about the use of foreign words (keeping it in English) instead of the equivalent Lithuanian terms 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 translated Lithuanian word 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.
• Foreign words might be accompanied by quotation marks or italics.
• When foreign words are common and well understood, they can be left in the target 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.
  Please enter your display name (e.g. Julia Smith) => Įveskite rodomą vardą (pvz., Jonas Jonaitis)
• Do not localize real persons’ names.
  Bart Butler is a senior engineer at Proton Mail => Bartas Butleris yra „Proton Mail“ vyriausiasis inžinierius.

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@ => vartotojas@
• Translate the domain name
  yourdomain.com => jūsųdomenas.lt
• Use your target country code at the end
  .com => .lt

English	Translation
Proton Mail allows you to keep your business email address (you@yourcompany.com)	„Proton Mail“ leidžia naudoti jūsų įmonės el. pašto adresą (jūs@jūsųįmonė.lt)
Receive all email sent to addresses in your domain that do not exist (e.g., Mistake@yourdomain.com)	Gaukite visus el. laiškus, siųstus neegzistuojančiu adresu su jūsų domenu (pvz., klaida@jūsųdomenas.lt)

However, do not localize any real email addresses or domain names.

English	Translation
To reset your mailbox password, please use the web version of Proton Mail at proton.me	Norėdami iš naujo nustatyti pašto dėžutės slaptažodį, naudokite „Proton Mail“ žiniatinklio versiją adresu proton.me

18 Localizing CTA buttons

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

English	Translation
Sign in	Prisijungti
Create a free account	Susikurti nemokamą paskyrą
Learn more	Sužinoti daugiau

19 References

Please use the appropriate glossaries and other sources in your translation, such as:

• Term bank of Lithuanian Republic (Terminų bankas)
• Language Commission’s website where you can find descriptions and examples of various language rules and/or common mistakes (http://www.vlkk.lt/).
• English–Lithuanian Dictionary of Computing (Anglų–lietuvių k. kompiuterijos žodynas)
• Microsoft Language Portal (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/language/search)
• EU’s terminology database (https://iate.europa.eu/search/standard)