Thanks Gonzalo. Thanks Chris. I think I understood the mechanism: In the i18n file, the "key" string will be "%(hour)d %(min).2d remaining". The translation needs to be done, with the understanding that the tokens "%(hour)d", "%(min).2d" and "remaining" might be inter-located, however the information needs to be conveyed that argument-formatter tokens should not be translated, only the string tokens. That information should be conveyed by the "TRANS" label, which gets copied "as-it-is" in the i18n file. Thanks. Just one more question, can the "TRANS" label string span multiple lines? That is, is something like :: # TRANS: first line text # second line text # third line text correct? or it needs to be :: # TRANS: first line text second line text third line text Looking forward to a reply. Regards, Ajay <div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 7:23 PM, Chris Leonard <<a href="mailto:cjlhomeaddress@gmail.com">cjlhomeaddress@gmail.com</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"> <div class="im">On Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 8:31 AM, Gonzalo Odiard <<a href="mailto:gonzalo@laptop.org">gonzalo@laptop.org</a>> wrote: > The problem is the substitution of a single string to translate here: > > secondary_text = _('%(hour)d:%(min).2d remaining') % \ > {'hour': remaining_hourpart, 'min': > remaining_minpart} > > by a concatenation here: > > time_value = '%(hour)d:%(min).2d ' % \ > {'hour': remaining_hourpart, 'min': > remaining_minpart} > secondary_text = time_value + _('remaining') > > The string to translate should be one, the the translator can reorder as > needed. </div>I agree with Gonzalo, any concatenation is very bad i18n practice. A complete phrase can be properly translated to conform to the syntax of any language. I do not believe there is a need to change the string itself, I would leave it as is. <div class="im"> > > But the bug say "This string could use a developers comment clarifying what > gets translated. > It is often done incorrectly in our Pootle instance." > > I think he refer to add a line as: > > # TRANS: Remaining battery time. </div>I would probably suggest # TRANS: do not translate %(hour)d:%(min).2d it is a variable, only translate the word "remaining" What I commonly see is the local words for hour and minute inserted in the variable, causing a printf error, whcih will break a software build. <div><div></div><div class="h5"> > > This comment will be used by gettext and displayed in the pootle server to > help the translators > > You can see one example here: > <a href="http://git.sugarlabs.org/sugar/mainline/blobs/master/extensions/cpsection/updater/view.py#line381" target="_blank">http://git.sugarlabs.org/sugar/mainline/blobs/master/extensions/cpsection/updater/view.py#line381</a> > > I am copying to Chris to confirm if this was the intention of the bug > filled. > > Gonzalo </div></div></blockquote></div>