Discover and learn

This style guide offers rules and preferences for translating with Gengo.  

The “rules” section contains rules that must be followed in all written Hindi texts. When reviewing translations, if we spot a segment that does not adhere to a particular point outlined in this section, we will mark this segment as an error. This will affect the score for that job and thus affect the translator’s overall score.

The “preferences” section contains our preferred choices for certain elements of writing where two or more equally grammatically-correct options exist. If a translation is found not to follow the guidelines in this section, we will make note of it in your review, but we will not mark this as an error, meaning that it will not affect your score.

To have the best translator experience, we suggest you review all of the rules and preferences included here and do your best to integrate them into your writing.

General Style

General rules:

• Understand the source text and accurately and completely convey its information into the translated text.
• Use simple and clear sentences.
• Be straightforward and concise.
• If a sentence is too long, create two shorter sentences.
• Use the active form instead of the passive form.
• Terminology has to reflect currently-used terminology.
• The translation should follow correct grammatical, syntactical, orthographic and stylistic rules.
• Avoid awkward or unprofessional wording.

The translation must sound as if it was originally written in Hindi. Use terms that are commonly used and easy to understand. However, if some terms are better understood in their English form, transliterate them.

The text should be:

• Clear & simple
• Friendly & polite
• Professional
• Correct & fluent

Addressing the User

The main goal of the translator is to aim for the most natural-sounding translation.

The general style should be clear, friendly and concise. However, being friendly does not mean using overly colloquial language; always maintain a professional tone. In order to appeal to the intended audience, use contemporary, up-to-date style and terminology, close to what people say in everyday settings rather than the formal, technical language that is often used for technical and commercial content.

Address the user in an informal but polite and professional way.

The subject “you” should be informal. In Hindi, the use of ‘तुम’ for “you” is not preferred. Use “आप” instead.

Active vs. Passive Voice

Try to use active voice for constructing sentences.

Avoid passive voice—it is difficult to read and understand. Translators should use their best understanding to apply this rule while forming sentences.

Gender

All the nouns in Hindi are divided into one of two grammatical types called genders. These genders are masculine—पुल्लिंग　and feminine—स्त्रीलिंग. Nouns often modify other words in the sentence according to their gender.

All male living beings are masculine. All female living beings are feminine. In the case of names of inanimate things and abstract, collective and material nouns, gender is determined mainly by usage.

Word Order

English has a rather fixed word order. Trying to “copy” this word order in the target language will sound unnatural and forced. Such as “successfully” may sound natural to the sentence above but सफलतापूर्वक sounds odd in Hindi. Therefore, we either transcreate or form the sentence in such a way that this word can be avoided.

We come across this sentence so often “Your password has been saved successfully” but how odd आपका पासवर्ड सफलतापूर्वक सहेज लिया गया है sounds.

The best translation for this would be आपका पासवर्ड सेव हो गया है.

In Hindi, word order is not fixed. The verb-noun sequence of English sentences is usually reversed to noun-verb. However, Hindi is flexible in places where creative liberty should be taken (for example, marketing texts). The only requirement in such cases is that the sentence be user-friendly.

Pronouns

In Hindi, pronouns are called “सर्वनाम”.

There are five types of pronouns in Hindi:

1. Personal Pronouns. In Hindi: पुरुषवाचक सर्वनाम
2. Demonstrative Pronoun. In Hindi: निश्चयवाचक सर्वनाम
3. Indefinite Pronoun. In Hindi: अनिश्चयवाचक सर्वनाम
4. Relative Pronoun. In In Hindi: संबंधवाचक सर्वनाम
5. Interrogative Pronoun. In Hindi: प्रश्नवाचक सर्वनाम

Possessive pronouns are often used in English. Hindi also uses possessive pronouns and they are an important part of the sentence’s syntax. In an informal tone, however, pronouns can be omitted in Hindi.

Pronouns can lend a conversational and friendly voice to the text. The honorific pronoun आप is to be used for Gengo translations (do not use तुम for “you”. Use “आप” instead).

Always follow Hindi’s punctuation rules in your translation. Commas in Hindi and English are used differently within a sentence. While an English sentence may use comma before “and” or “or”, it is prohibited in Hindi, unless some emphasis is placed on the part of sentence after the comma. For formatting – always follow the source text and maintain the source text formatting. However, please STRICTLY USE FULL STOP at the end instead of poorna virama as it causes confusion with matras while rendering. DO NOT USE POORNA VIRAAM.

Lists

Bulleted lists

If a bullet point is a complete sentence, it can end with a period, question mark or exclamation mark as needed. In Hindi, the punctuation of bulleted lists is the same as in English.

Other lists

The formatting of numbered lists stays the same as in the English source.　

Brackets

Brackets will remain the same as in English. Hindi translations follow the source and maintain the placement of brackets the same as in the source text.

Dashes and Hyphens

The em-dash (—) represents a pause in thought, a parenthetical statement, or — more casually — an afterthought. In a web page, a web developer can include　—　to represent the character. When typing, you can input the character by holding ALT and typing 0151 on the numpad. A space should be inserted on both sides of an em-dash.

The en-dash (–) represents a range, especially of numbers, such as $100–$150. The code for the en-dash is – in a web page and you can type it by holding ALT-0150 on the keyboard. The en-dash is a little longer than a hyphen. It is used for time/number ranges (from… to…). Do not leave a space on either side of the en-dash.

Follow the source for the usage of the em- dash and en-dash.

 Hyphen

 For terms which are transliterated into Hindi, follow the hyphenation used in English. For other general translation, standard Hindi grammar rules apply.

Exclamation Point, Question Mark

For the exclamation point and question mark, Hindi translations should follow the English source and maintain the source style.

For all symbols like &, # and @, Hindi translations should follow the English source and maintain the source style.

First row is a table header

The use of abbreviations and acronyms is generally not encouraged – use the full forms whenever possible.

Only use acronyms in case they are well established and their full form is less common – such as “CD” for “compact disc” in English.

Consistency should be maintained while dealing with Acronyms & Abbreviations. Make sure that only words with established abbreviated forms are used as abbreviation, so that there is no ambiguity in understanding the text. Be consistent – use an abbreviation the same way each time it appears throughout the text. Generally, English abbreviations will be used for all technical terms since they will keep the user connected and able to research technical terms and at the same time, be less space consuming. However, for text other than technical, there are accepted Hindi parallels for abbreviations and they should be used as appropriate. For Example:

SIM – सिम

PIN – पिन

UNESCO – युनेस्को

UN – संयुक्त राष्ट्र

Acronyms are formed from the initial letters of successive words in a phrase or compound. Acronyms are pronounced as a single word (for example, “ABAP” or “BAdI”). In initialisms, each letter is pronounced separately (for example, “PC” or “WWW”).

Avoid translating Acronyms into Hindi. (For example, “CPU”, “USB” etc.)

Addresses and Phone Numbers

Postal address

Postal Addresses are always transliterated in Hindi. However, foreign addresses are left in English.

Phone numbers

Use English numerals for phone numbers. The accepted format is a 2-5 digit city code with a 5-8 digit phone number, for a total of ten digits. Written after the country code +91, each entity is separated by a hyphen.

Example: [+91-731-4273409]

Date

Convert English date formats into the Indian date format.

Example:

January 1st, 2016 – 1 जनवरी 2016

07/25/2016 – 25/07/2016

Time

Hindi does not generally use the 24-hour time format. Instead, use the 12-hour format with the AM-PM designator. The one exception is in railway and airline timetables where the 24-hour format is used.

Numbers

Spell out numbers from one to ten in Hindi.

In standard Hindi localization, English numerals are used. Use commas to separate numbers larger than a thousand. The way numbers are separated with the comma is different between English and Hindi, as per the examples below.

Cardinal and ordinal numbers: In standard Hindi localization, equivalent Hindi numerals are used for cardinal numbers as एक, दो, तीन, चार, पांच.

In Hindi, for ordinal numbers, English format should be converted to adopt the Indian ordinal number format, as the accepted format is – पहला, दूसरा, तीसरा, चौथा, पांचवां etc.　

Currency

Do not convert currency amounts unless specifically instructed by the client.

As a general rule in Hindi, currencies are not translated. Follow this style for writing out currencies:

1. Indian rupee:

Rs. 1, 000 would be written as 1,000 रु. in Hindi.

2. Foreign currency:

$1,000 would be written as 1,000 डॉलर.

The name, abbreviation or symbol of the currency should be localized according to Hindi standards. The standard way of localizing is using the transliterated name of the currency.

Measurement Units

Measurement units for time and distance are usually translated in Hindi. Long-form or short-form can be used as per the source text. However, units of measurement such as those for temperature, current etc. are mostly used with their universally accepted symbol, so they need not be translated. Additionally, technical abbreviations, when used as measurement units, will be left in English.

Always transliterate names. This applies to all the names, whether Indian or foreign.

1. Always refer to the user as आप, never as तुम. The latter may offend users typically addressed as आप in public.
2. When translating “I”, never imply a gender. This can be accomplished in a few ways:
   1. Remove the first-person from the subject.
   2. Instead of मैं सात साल का हूँ , write मेरी उम्र सात साल है

When the gender on मैं is unavoidable through rewording, use हम instead.

e.g: हम बोलते हैं  vs. मैं बोलता हूँ  — the latter would alienate female users

Don't unnecessarily Sanskritise

Hindi is a language spectrum. There are many regional variations of Hindi. When in doubt, try to follow standard Hindi, or newsreader’s Hindi (largely based off of the Delhi NCR area Hindi).

Use borrowed English words when appropriate:

Don’t unnecessarily prefer a Sanskrit-origin word if the Urdu/Persian origin word is more popular among our target users:

Stay simple, but proper

Despite our focus on ease of readability, we do not have to make unnecessary compromises in translation quality. For example:

• Omitting the dot in अंग्रेज़ी would be understood by all, but sticking to proper spelling in this case is more acceptable for the ease of use.
• Similarly, “Hindi” should be written as हिंदी not as हिन्दी despite general acceptance for the latter

Chandra Bindu and Nukta

Use Chandra Bindu and Nukta to avoid confusion amongst our end users.

Correct – यहाँ वहाँ माँ चाँद

Incorrect – यहां वहां मां चांद

When translating for Gengo, keep the Nukta in, for example, ज़्यादा and ज़रूरी. You can also use alternative words such as अधिक and आवश्यक to avoid having to insert the Nukta, but still keeping the translation accurate.

Transliteration

In the field of software and UI, a lot of terms are transliterated. For example:

Mobile Device – मोबाइल डिवाइस.

If you are unsure whether to transliterate a term or not, research the term online before submitting your translation.

While transliterating plural words like “Devices” “Classes” please use डिवाइसेज़ and क्लासेज़
PLEASE NEVER USE क्लासों or डिवाइसों

Be straightforward

Keep your translation simple and straightforward.

Avoid literal, word-for-word translations

Don’t try to force an English string of 3 words to be a Hindi string of 3 words. Word-for-word translation is not always possible, and not always advisable.

Speak like a local

Convey the meaning of the text in a way that’s most natural and that makes the most sense for a native speaker. Stick to common words that people use everyday — avoid traditional, academic or archaic terms.

Technical Terminology

Technical terminology such as drivers, disc, server, settings, etc. should be transliterated rather than translated to avoid confusion among users.

Contextual terms

Select terms that fit the context rather than providing a literal translation.

Buttons and commands

Use the verb form for buttons and commands

Software button labels

Button labels will typically end with the ॆं form of the verb. For example:

Placeholders and Variables

If the source text contains placeholders and variables, make sure that the variables in the target are filled in the correct order and place. At times, this may require a change in sentence structure, or moving the placeholder to accommodate Hindi syntax.

References to UI elements

UI elements and references to UI elements are always translated. The UI term used has to be from accepted glossary terms and the translator should keep the noun/verb form from the source in mind.

Use of Descriptors

The translation of descriptors always follows the source text.　

Bilingual UI Format

The user interface is translated, please use the corresponding translations.

In case a UI item is not translated, provide your translation and put the English after it in brackets.

Bilingual UI format is not followed in Hindi translation and UI terms are always localized.

Company names and most product names should not be translated, but there may be exceptions. Always check whether a product name is to be translated or not, this information is often contained in the glossary or the comments from the customer.

Trademark & Copyright Symbols: "™", "©" or "®"

The purpose of trademarks is to identify the products of one manufacturer and distinguish them from those sold and manufactured by others.

In Hindi, trademarks and copyright information should follow the source to avoid any legal issues. There is no preference for how and when these symbols should be used, and they should invariably follow the source.

This section contains our preferences for certain rules where more than one grammatically-correct option exists. If a segment in a translation does not follow the guidelines in this section, we will make note of it in the review, but we will not mark this as an error, meaning that it will not affect the translator score.

Please remember that you should still be familiar with these guidelines and work on incorporating them into your writing.

Some terms are very tricky to translate, so be sure to communicate with other Hindi speakers in the community. Follow these basic rules:

• Do use warm and friendly phrasing whenever appropriate.
• Do use Shabdkosh/Online Dictionary to research terms.
• Do look at customer instructions, style guides and job requirements for each translation request.
• Do start the translation by reading and understanding the source text.
• Do keep the translation friendly for apps and games.
• Do translate creatively in marketing texts.
• Do limit the word count of localized string to be the same as the source string if there are character limitations.
• Do ask questions to the client from the query box embedded in the project, if you are unclear about anything
• End users of Gengo’s clients are people like us, therefore please restrict yourself to the most conventionally used terminologies in everyday life. So use सिंगल instead of एकल for “SINGLE” and शेयर instead of साझा for “SHARE” and so on. Use comment box to provide alternate translation if you are unclear about something or have a context to add.
• Hi or Hello should be treated like हेलो or नमस्ते NEVER USE हाय that means ALAS!
• Do not use slang or regional terminology that could be unclear or too informal.
• Do not translate product names like Mozilla, Firefox, Facebook.
• Do not follow Google Translate.

Make use of the following resources while you translate:

• Online dictionary – Shabdkosh (www.shabdkosh.com)
• urbandictionary.com
• http://dictionary.cambridge.org/pronunciation/english/best
• http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/best

Grammar, Style and Editing/Proofreading Guides

• English-Hindi Dictionary by father Camille Bulke
• Chambers Dictionary – Physical or pdf form

English Phrasing / Word Order

Do not try to follow English syntax and sentence structure. Similarly, do not translate by reading sentences in parts, since that will again bring out the same English sentence instead of Hindi.

Wordiness

Avoid being verbose in your translations. Keep them precise and to the point.

Extended Devanagari

The Govt. of India has introduced certain new signs in Devanagari script named ‘Extended Devanagari’ to provide maximum possible exact standard pronunciation to the words taken from other languages. Ardha Chandra (अर्द्ध चंद्र) and Nukta (नुक़्ता) are a part of this category. We recommend using these extended characters in localization.