Hours count from daybreak, not midnight: the first hour is six a.m., one in the morning is seven a.m. 12 daytime plus 12 nighttime hours. The 24-hour format is military only.
a.m. and p.m. do not fit. People speak of daytime and nighttime hours.
Day divisions by begin time: 01:00ኼዴቄት; 04:00ኌጋት; 06:00ጟት; 09:00ሧፉዴ; 12:00ኡእሇሿኑ; 13:00ኤሯትሊ; 16:00ኼዯሚታ; 18:00ሴዯግዏ; 20:00ሜሼት; 24:00ኡእሇላሉት
The Ethiopian calendar has a thirteenth month between August and September, five or six days long. All other months are 30 days. Long form ጲጉማኑ, short form ጲጉማ.
The Unicode set is an expanded alphabet with characters unused in Amharic, so its sort order varies from Amharic dictionaries.
The Ethiopic set is syllabic: one root character plus six phonetic variants. Sort on the root letter, with the variants subsumed under the root in sequence.
With the Unicode sequence as the basis, non-alphabetic characters and numerals come after the alphabetic characters.
No uppercase or lowercase, so case is not relevant in sorting.
Non-Ethiopic characters such as Arabic numerals and hyphens affect sort order.
Character sorting order follows the Unicode order of the character set above, ሀ (4608) through ፴ (4988).
Check for sensitive or offensive content in maps, flags, country, city and language names, art and graphics, and cultural content with historical or political references.
Check maps for accuracy and existing political restrictions.
Re-check country, city, and language names each release, even when previously approved. Use the most up-to-date Amharic list.
Check cultural content, clip art, religious symbols, body and hand gestures against the target culture.
Adjective noun complex: the adjective precedes the noun, the verb comes last. ኜዱሴፓርግሪሜ 'a new program'; ኜዱሴፓርግሪሜሯሪ (lit. a new program he-built) 'he built a new program'.
Possessive adjectives take the prefix yä: የሂሲቜ 'account' (lit. 'From the city'); የሂሲቜ 'Accounting' (lit. 'of Accounting').
A relative perfectum or imperfectum works as an adjective with the same yä prefix: የተሺሺሇ 'improved, upgraded'; የቅየ 'old'; የሙኤተሌ 'following' (from ይኤተሊሌ 'to follow'); የሙታይ ኌ 'visible'.
Nouns can be masculine or feminine. The old feminine suffix -ት is no longer productive and is limited to certain patterns and isolated nouns.
Nouns and adjectives ending in -ኜኾ usually take -ት for the feminine: ኞትዮጴያኾ 'Ethiopian (m.)' vs ኞትዮጴያኾት 'Ethiopian (f.)'; ሯሚያኾ 'heavenly (m.)' vs ሯሚያኾት 'heavenly (f.)'.
Specifiers for people and animals: ኼኑዴ masculine, ሳት feminine. ኼኑዴ ሌጅ 'boy', ሳት ሌጅ 'girl'.
Use masculine gender for user-to-computer strings: ሯሬዏ ሗሌሴ
Use the plural or polite form for computer-to-user strings: ፉይለ ኡኑዱሯሧዏ ይፆሌጋለ ኜሁኑ ኤየኌሗሧቘ ጋሬ ተገኙተሌ
Use the plural or polite gender for all strings with unclear context: የዴሬ ጢያ ኜዴሪሺ ኼዯ Microsoft ይሊኧሌ ሯኌደ ኡጅግ ትሌቄ ኌ
Translate verbs in error messages consistently. If omitting the predicate "be" is grammatical, omit it, but do so consistently across all error messages. Be concise without changing meaning.
The document is too large. / Document too large. -> ሯኌደ ኡጅግ ትሌቄ ኌፚ Be consistent with the verb "to be".
Access was denied. / Access denied. -> ሗዲሧሺ ፆቂዴ ተኩሌኩሎሌፚ In complete sentences use verbs and the source tense.
The file '%s' is an unknown graphics format. -> ፉይሌ '%s' የሚይታኼቄ የግሪፈኩሴ ቄሬጷት ኌፚ Rephrase "is" with "have" if needed.
The application may attempt to convert the graphic. -> ትግሪ ግሪፈእኑ ሉሇኼጤ ይምኩሬ ይሆሌፚ may + verb can become verb + possibly.
A problem occurred while trying to connect to the network share '%1!s!'. -> '%1!s!'የጋሪ ኜታሧ ሗሧቜ ጋሬ ሇሗገኔት መኤሪ ሙዯሧግት ጊዎ ችግሬ ኜጋጤሞሌፚ Shorten to A problem occurred while connecting to the network share '%1!s!'.
The following error occurred: '%1!s!' (error #%2!lx!) -> የሙኤተሇ ችግሬ ኜጋጤሞሌ '%1!s!' (ሴሔተት #%2!lx!) Shorten to Error: '%1!s!' (error #%2!lx!).
An unknown error has occurred./ No error occurred. -> ያሌታኼሿ ችግሬ ኜጋጤሞሌፚ/ ሜኑሜ ችግሬ ኜሊጋጟሗሜፚ Shorten to Unknown error. / No error.
Translate English gerunds for continuous operations.
In procedural text, order interface terms top to bottom: menu, command, dialog box, dialog box controls. Keep this order unless technical reasons prevent it.
The order convention matters less in body text, which takes a more personal tone.
On the View menu, click Filter -> ወይታ ሜላ ሊይ ሚጢሩያ የሙሇኑ ይጪኍ
On the Tools menu, click Internet Options, and click the Security tab -> ሗሲሩያ ሜላ ሊይ የይኌሗሧቜ ኜሚሪጭች የሙሇኑ ይጪኍ የሗዴህኑ ትሬኑ ይጪኍ
Accessibility options make the computer usable by people with cognitive, hearing, physical, or visual disabilities, through a customizable UI, alternative input and output methods, and greater exposure of screen elements.
Some accessible products and services may not be available in Amharic-speaking markets.
Examples: WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), OLE (Object Linking and Embedding), RAM (Random Access Memory).
Many acronyms are standardized and stay untranslated. Add the English full spelling only when the acronym needs explaining. A common acronym stands alone.
Do not localize or spell out: ANSI (American National Standards Institute), ISO (International Standards Organization), ISDN, DOS, DSL, CD, DVD.
Localized acronyms: none in Amharic.
Some acronyms are already adapted to Amharic: ሪሜ, ሱዱ, ዱቡዱ
Product names are rarely translated. Feature names are sometimes trademarked: IntelliSense™. Verify a name is translatable and unprotected before translating it.
Never create your own fictitious names. Use the source names or the list of legally approved names.
Ask the product team about fictitious companies, names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, and whether localized fictitious content is required.
Translate all menus, menu items, commands, buttons, check boxes consistently.
Main menus appear at the top of the UI and typically include File, Edit, View, Insert, Format, Tools, Table, Window, Help.
Main menus are a noun or a verb (infinitive or imperative). Distinguish verbal from nominal forms.
View -> ኜሲይ (verb imperative), ትይታ (noun)
Edit -> ኜሬትወ (verb imperative), ኜሬትዉት (noun)
Insert -> ኜሴገቚ (verb imperative), ሚሴገያ (noun)
Format -> ቄሬጷት (noun), ቄሧጼ (verb imperative)
Tools -> ሗሢሬያ (noun)
Table -> ሯኑጟሧዥ (noun)
Window -> ሗሴኪት (noun)
Help -> ወገው (noun)
Commands and menu items are verbs in the imperative, second person, singular, masculine.
Save As… -> ኜሴሿሜጤ ኡኑዯ… (conjugated verb). Variants … ሴጤ and ኜሴሿሜጤ exist; use ኜሴሿሜጤ ኡኑዯ… everywhere for uniformity.
Print… -> ኜትሜ… (conjugated verb)
Select All -> ለኑ ሜሧጤ (conjugated verb)
Static text: a request is command-type, so the verb is imperative.
Print more than one copy -> ኧኑዴ ሊይ ቄጂ ኜትሜ
Select all -> ለኑ ሜሧጤ
Use consistent terminology and style across all dialog boxes and with other localized applications. Solutions adopted now are reused later, especially for identical dialog boxes across applications.
Dialog titles must match the menu item or command that calls them, so they are verbs in the imperative.
Menu item Split cells -> ህሴ ኩፆሌ; dialog title Split cells -> ህሴ ኩፆሌ
Group box titles are a noun or a conjugated verb.
Include with document -> ኤሯኌደ ጧሜሧ
Printing Options -> የኅትሗት ኜሚሪጭች
Check boxes are a noun or a conjugated verb.
Enable reminder -> ኜሴታሼ ኜኑቂ
Don't show me this dialog again. -> ይኵኑ ሗገኗ ዲግሜ ኜታሲየኙ
Always ask me first -> ላሜ ኜሴሿዴሗኵ ጟይሿኙ
Buttons are a noun or a conjugated verb.
Add -> ኜኩሌ
Cancel -> ሟሬዏ
Continue -> ሿጤሌ
Dialog box tabs are a noun or a conjugated verb.
Print -> ኡትሜ
Changes -> ሇጥች
Format -> ቄሬጷት
Use parallel language for UI elements parallel in function, such as lists and tables. Keep all items similar in form and in the same part of speech.
Where the English has a verb, end every translation with a verb in the imperative. The subject of the introductory phrase is also the subject of the main verb.
Where the user must act on a page or in a section, use the imperative verb.
Change settings for the files -> የፉይልቹኑ ቄኑጅት ሿይሬ
Outlook uses to store e-mail messages and documents. -> Outlook የኞ-ማይሌ ሗሌኡኩት ሯኌዴ ያሴሿሗጤታሌፚ