Valencian style guide¶
Use this page with the house style guide and the localization review. Valencian is a locale with its own authoritative usage and product decisions. Do not replace its forms mechanically with forms selected for another Catalan locale.
Voice, terminology and inclusion¶
Write clear, concrete Valencian that helps the reader complete the task. Lead with the action, then state the result or reason. Match the address already established by the product and keep it consistent across a flow. A short instruction such as Guarda els canvis is often stronger than a literal translation of an English nominal phrase.
Use terminology approved for the product and locale. Everyday choices can be useful when they are precise: hui, ací, faena, guardar, meua, teua and seua may suit Valencian copy, but a term base, legal text or existing UI can require another form. Do not turn a local preference into a blanket replacement rule. Check the approved term before changing labels, documentation, product names or support categories.
Keep a control name exactly as shown in the interface. Explain an English-only label on first use if that reduces uncertainty:
Selecciona Save (Guarda) per conservar els canvis.
Integrate an application or product name naturally into its sentence. Article choice depends on grammar, established usage and the noun phrase; it is not an automatic prefix for every brand. Preserve trademarks, filenames, commands, API names and placeholders exactly.
Use role nouns, collective forms and direct address where they make an unknown person clear without a generic masculine. El personal d'administració, qui gestiona el compte and les persones usuàries can be useful options. Use a real person's stated name and pronouns. Do not rewrite fixed legal roles, source quotations or recorded data merely to create a different grammatical form.
Describe disability only when it is relevant to the task. Prefer neutral, people-first wording and instructions that work with keyboard, touch, mouse and assistive technology. Selecciona or activa usually describes the required result better than a device-specific verb.
Spelling, punctuation and typography¶
Follow the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua and the product terminology policy. Keep accents in capitals and retain the middle dot in words such as col·lecció and instal·lar. Do not silently normalise a visible label, identifier or brand spelling that the product deliberately preserves.
Several Valencian forms are accepted. For example, simple and reinforced demonstratives may both be valid; servix and serveix are accepted alternatives in the relevant paradigm. Choose the form set approved for the product, then apply it consistently. Do not present one accepted option as an error solely because another option is preferred in a different style.
Apply prefix, hyphen and doubled r rules to the actual word. A prefix can yield rr, as in arrítmia and corresponsable, while lexicalised compounds, names, symbols, capitals and existing hyphenated expressions call for their own treatment. Keep code, filenames and protected UI strings unchanged; localise the surrounding explanation.
Use sentence case for headings and interface text unless a protected product string requires another style. Avoid English-style capitalisation of ordinary nouns, weekdays, months and language names. Use quotation marks according to the publication's typographic convention, while preserving literal quotes in code and data.
A non-breaking space is U+00A0. Use it only when an output convention, formatter or layout needs it. It is neither a visible degree sign nor an ordinal marker. Keep apostrophes, hyphens, dashes and ellipses distinct in the rendered output; a copied ASCII character can change meaning in a token or program string.
Grammar and register¶
Translate the intended action and consequence, not the source syntax. Keep responsibility and recovery clear:
No s'ha pogut guardar el fitxer. Comprova els permisos i torna-ho a provar.
Use an imperative for a direct instruction and an infinitive only where the interface convention supports it. Keep the negative particle close to the action. Prefer a verb that tells the reader what happens over a chain of abstract nouns.
Select articles, possessives, pronouns and prepositions from the complete sentence. A definite article can express ownership where English uses a possessive. The personal a with a direct object is contextual: check specificity, animacy and construction instead of applying a universal substitution. Treat per and per a, weak pronouns and relatives with the same care.
The simple past is a legitimate Valencian form. Choose it, a compound past or another construction for the required register, chronology and local voice. An older supplier rule that excluded the simple past is not a grammar rule.
Where the authority accepts variants such as dos and dues, choose the product's documented convention and apply it in comparable contexts. Keep vocabulary, demonstratives and verbal endings coherent within the locale; consistency is valuable, but it must not erase valid Valencian usage.
Numbers, units and identifiers¶
Let the locale and application formatter produce dates, times, currency and dynamic counts. Do not hand-type separators into a translated string when code formats the value. Preserve placeholders exactly: %d, %s, %1, {name} and {{count}} are functional data.
Keep unit symbols accurate and unchanged. Distinguish bytes from bits: MB denotes megabytes; Mbit denotes megabits. Do not use mb/s as a loose substitute for megabits per second. Confirm an inherited label against its technical meaning before carrying it into a Valencian interface.
Use abbreviations where the interface needs them and where the approved convention supports them. Ordinal forms such as 1r and 1a are conventional; a superscript is optional typography, not a reason to substitute a degree sign. Expand an unfamiliar acronym on first explanatory use when space permits, but never alter protocol names, commands or identifiers. DNS is Domain Name System, not a generic name for a server.
Treat URLs, paths, command lines, keyboard shortcuts, keys and code as protected tokens. Do not translate their syntax, change case or insert spaces. Validate shortcuts in the supported application and on the relevant physical layout:
Prem Ctrl+S per guardar el document.
Interface, messages and interaction¶
Keep actions, controls and states distinct. A button can say Guarda; a result can say S'han guardat els canvis. An error should identify the failed operation, name the affected item when useful and state the next available action.
Use the established term for recurring concepts. If no term exists, document the decision and use it consistently across screens. Preserve markup, variables, access keys and message-format syntax exactly. Test plural, gender and placeholder variants with realistic values.
Avoid vague confirmations and warnings. State a known consequence without claiming an operation has finished before it has:
Si ixes ara, es perdran els canvis que no s'hagen guardat.
For irreversible actions, identify the object and offer the available alternative or recovery path. Match references to menus, dialogs and buttons to the current product, not an old screenshot.
Accessibility and final review¶
Write descriptive headings and links. Avoid link text such as fes clic ací when the destination can be named. Make instructions work without colour, position or pointer precision. Explain a symbol in words when a screen reader or narrow layout could make it unclear.
Before approval, check the rendered product:
- compare every label, menu and shortcut with the current interface;
- inspect accents, middle dots, apostrophes, quotations and protected tokens;
- test variables, counts, truncation and error states with real data;
- confirm number, unit and date formatting in the target runtime;
- review key flows with keyboard and assistive technology where available.
Record locale-specific terminology and any unresolved variant choice for the next reviewer. A sound linguistic review does not by itself prove that a control activates the intended product behaviour.