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From: Tom Lane <[email protected]>
To: Peter Smith <[email protected]>
Cc: David Rowley <[email protected]>
Cc: PostgreSQL Developers <[email protected]>
Cc: Amit Kapila <[email protected]>
Cc: Peter Eisentraut <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Get rid of translation strings that only contain punctuation
Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2026 21:31:14 -0400
Message-ID: <[email protected]> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <CAHut+PvGk6H=B72_3YmyyZp8ZW=aYoSsoGrtiBEuMNUHHXXFmQ@mail.gmail.com>
References: <CAApHDvoFSu5zLFvx96aZ5wvL7tcB9aR2hBPCaMPs8D_f0Z7eSw@mail.gmail.com>
	<CAHut+PvGk6H=B72_3YmyyZp8ZW=aYoSsoGrtiBEuMNUHHXXFmQ@mail.gmail.com>

Peter Smith <[email protected]> writes:
> On Wed, Apr 22, 2026 at 10:30 AM David Rowley <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Should we get rid of these?

> This question overlaps with another thread of mine [1].
> There, I was told that a punctuation double-quote (")  *should* be translated.

It should be, but it *has to be translated as part of a coherent
message*.  As the examples in [1] show, several languages translate
opening and closing double-quotes differently.  So if you write _("\"")
there is zero hope of that being usefully translatable.

This all goes back to the translatability guideline about not
constructing messages out of parts [2].  If you've got a single
punctuation mark as a separate string, you are violating both the
letter and the spirit of that guideline, and that has consequences
for translatability.

			regards, tom lane

[1] https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/CAHut%2BPui7RaQ8OfJEVn2ry-ykjnGc%2B3ujsFmcHDFw9FsXw_tRw%40mail...
[2] https://www.postgresql.org/docs/devel/nls-programmer.html#NLS-GUIDELINES

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