Italian localization guide¶
Use these rules with the localization principles,
Qt interface rules and Italian language guide.
Examples tagged FB, G3, FF, Qt, AI or MS are quoted from Font Book, Glyphs 3,
FontForge, Qt's qtbase_it catalog, Adobe Illustrator's help or Microsoft's
Italian style guide. Untagged examples are constructed.
Locale and register¶
- Italian for Italy, Qt locale
it_IT. - Address the reader as tu, omitting the pronoun and the possessive: Controlla la selezione e riprova (FB, "Check your selection and try again"). Never Lei, voi, Si prega di or an impersonal infinitive (Selezionare un master).
- Drop per favore, exclamation marks and the product's first person: "Please try again" is Riprova. (FB).
- Do not assign the reader a gender: Confermi di voler…? (FB), not Sei sicuro…?; Ti diamo il benvenuto (MS), not Benvenuto.
Grammar of interface strings¶
| String | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Command, button, step | Imperative, tu form | Salva con nome… (FF, MS, "Save As…") |
| Checkbox, option | Imperative or noun phrase | Centra sempre il glifo attivo (G3, "Always center active glyph") |
| Panel or dialog title | Noun phrase, no article | Zone di allineamento (G3, "Alignment Zones") |
| Status, in progress | Action noun and in corso… | Convalida in corso… (FB, "Validation in progress…") |
| Success | Noun and agreeing participle | Esportazione completata (G3, "Export Finished") |
| Failed attempt | Impossibile and infinitive, or noun and non riuscito/a | Impossibile rimuovere il font (FB, "Cannot Remove Font") |
| Present limitation | Non è possibile and infinitive | Non è possibile eliminarli né disattivarli. (FB, "These fonts cannot be deleted or deactivated.") |
| Confirmation | Vuoi…?, Confermi di voler…? | Vuoi disattivare i font? (FB, "Do You Want to Deactivate Fonts?") |
| Tooltip | Third-person present | Aggiunge un nuovo elemento. (G3, "Adds a new item.") |
- A command is the second-person singular imperative, as on macOS, Windows, Adobe and Qt: Apri, Chiudi, Scegli, Aggiungi. Never the infinitive (Aggiungere Asse, G3) or voi.
- A negative command is Non and the infinitive: Non salvare (Qt).
- Sentence case in every label, as Apple, Microsoft, Adobe and Qt do: Incolla sopra (AI), not Alternative Contestuali (G3).
- Standard commands take the words of Qt's catalog: Annulla (both Undo and Cancel), Ripristina (Redo), Taglia, Copia, Incolla, Elimina (Delete), Seleziona tutto, Esci, Ripristina (Reset), Preferenze. Save As is Salva con nome…, as on Windows and at Adobe. The canonical core follows macOS and Adobe with Ripristina for Redo. Reset also uses Ripristina, with its object or valori predefiniti when needed to distinguish the action. Do not reintroduce Rifai from older Qt text. Remove is Rimuovi, Clear Cancella.
Compact labels¶
- Drop the article before the object of a short command: Aggiungi ancora (G3), Esporta font (FB). Keep it after tutti and in full sentences: Seleziona tutti i livelli (G3), Impossibile aprire il file.
- Keep prepositions and fuse them with the article: Allinea a sinistra, Mostra nel Finder (G3), Opzioni di esportazione. Only nome, tipo, formato and numero may take a bare noun, as on macOS: Nome famiglia, Numero glifi (FB).
- An abbreviation ends in a consonant and a period: Impostaz. (MS). Unit symbols take no period: pt, mm.
- Never abbreviate a glossary term, a command verb or a name, and never drop an accent or a preposition to save space.
Plurals and placeholders¶
Qt gives Italian two numerus forms: singular for 1 only, plural for 0
and for 2 and more (the English rule in numerus.cpp).
- Keep
%nin both forms: %n file selezionato, %n file selezionati (so 0 file selezionati). - Agree noun, adjective, participle and verb in each form: È stato rilevato %n problema minore, Sono stati rilevati %n problemi minori (after FB). A loan noun stays unchanged while its participle agrees: %n font rimosso, %n font rimossi.
- A count in
%1gets no plural choice. Use label and value: Glifi: %1.
A placeholder for a noun hides its gender, number and first sound, so articles, elisions, participles and pronouns can fail.
- When the class is known, name it and agree with it: Il file “%1” è bloccato (after G3).
- Otherwise use a form that does not agree: Impossibile eliminare %1, Installazione di %1 non riuscita (after MS), Eliminazione completata: %1.
- Put a simple preposition before a placeholder, never an article or a fused form: Aggiungi font a %1… (after FB), not al %1, dell’%1. Never write il/la or eliminato/a.
- A one-word value agrees with a noun the string does not show: Nuovo font, Nuova lingua (FF); Nessuno or Nessuna. Find the noun from the control.
Numbers, punctuation and spacing¶
- Decimal comma; period for thousands from five digits (CLDR):
1234,5,12.345,6. Qt formats%L1. Versions, code and font data keep their source form. - Percent without a space:
25%. A unit takes a no-break space:12 pt. - Quotation marks are “…” around names and values, as on macOS: Contiene “%1” (after FB). «…» belongs to editorial prose; straight quotes to code.
- The apostrophe is ’: l’ancora, un po’. It never replaces an accent.
- Accents: grave in è, cioè, à, ì, ò, ù; acute in perché, né, sé. Capitals keep them: È disponibile, never E’.
- Ellipsis is the single character
…, with no space before it, wherever the source has one. - No space before
: ; ? !. Lowercase after a colon. Final punctuation follows the source.
Mnemonics and key names¶
- Put
&before a letter of the Italian word, as Qt does: &Salva, &Apri, &Chiudi, Ann&ulla, &Taglia. No trailing (&H) as in FontForge. - Never mark à è é ì ò ù. Prefer the first letter, then another consonant; avoid g j p q y. One letter per menu or dialog.
- Key names in text are Adobe's Italian names on both platforms: Maiusc,
Ctrl, Alt, Invio (Enter and Return), Canc, Backspace, Esc,
Tab, barra spaziatrice, freccia su, freccia giù, freccia
sinistra, freccia destra; on macOS Comando, Opzione, Control.
Join keys with
+: Maiusc+Ctrl+Z. Not Shift, Enter, Delete, Option or MAIUSC. Never change a shortcut.
Names and loans¶
- Keep unchanged: product, company and format names (OpenType, UFO, VFJ), OpenType tags and table names, glyph names, code.
- Embed a name after a class noun, without hyphen or ending: file VFJ,
font OpenType, la tabella
kern. The article agrees with the class noun. An application takes no article: in FontLab, Esci da FontLab. - A loan keeps its English spelling, takes an Italian gender and never a plural s: il font, i font, i file, i master, la password. Glyphs 3 slips into Tags, Presets, hints.
- The article follows the next sound: l’ancora, un’istanza (not un istanza, G3), dell’asse; lo, gli, uno before s and consonant or z: lo spessore, gli stili, uno script, lo zoom; silent h: l’hint, gli hint.
- The term table decides which loans exist. Adobe, Glyphs 3 and FontForge keep font and file but say livello for layer.
- Do not coin verbs from English: modificare, not editare; fare clic, not cliccare (both G3); impostare, not settare.
False friends and traps¶
Reject the office-suite sense of a type term; the term table rules.
| Word | Use |
|---|---|
| carattere | A character only. macOS carattere tipografico (typeface) and Qt Carattere (font) are office senses: a font is font, a glyph glifo. |
| tipo | Kind: Tipo di asse (FF). Never typeface or type. |
| grassetto, corsivo | The Bold and Italic styles. Weight is peso, thickness spessore; cursive joining is not corsivo. |
| maiuscole/minuscole | Letter case, never caso. A stroke cap is not maiuscole (G3). |
| suggerimento | A tip, never a hint (FF Auto Suggerimento Font, "Auto Hinting Font"). |
Machine translation copies English title case and word order (Left-to-right varianti, G3), puts infinitives in commands, repeats tuo, writes E’ and perchè, renders "actually" as attualmente (currently) and "is saving" as sta salvando for Salvataggio in corso….
Review¶
Check in this order, and report only checks performed:
- Placeholders, markup and both
%nforms, read with 0, 1 and 2. - Tu imperative in commands; no infinitive, voi or Lei.
- Status, success, failure against limitation.
- Gender, number and elision, above all around placeholders.
- Sentence case; accents (È, perché); apostrophe ’.
- Mnemonics: unique per menu, on unaccented letters.
- Type terms against the term table; carattere, font, glifo.
- Numbers, percent, quotation marks, key names.
FontLab terminology and compact labels¶
Preserve deliberately uppercase source labels using the language’s case rules. Keep numeric controls compact with UPM, PPM and LSB/RSB (French AG/AD); explain the full terms in help. The Family Dimensions “Units Per eM:” label is an intentional expanded exception.
Use the current core memory and its approval status. OpenType lookup defaults to the translation of procedure, with a different term only when strong OpenType-specific evidence supports it. Explicit choices are German Lookup, French lookup, Polish procedura and Russian процедура. Ordinary searches, individual rules and OpenType features are separate concepts. Preserve literal code keywords and identifiers.
Translate Fusion with the fallback Welder. Use the core's phonetic FontAudit transliteration in non-Latin scripts, including Chinese; preserve FontAudit in code. Proposed spellings remain proposed. Before rebuilding a QPH, recover team edits and import their terms and notes into the core memory.
Compare mnemonic-split terms with unmarked labels. Keep labels compact, aiming for 120% of the English length in Dimensions and Glyph Window preferences without losing meaning. Omit redundant font, color or command wording when context supplies it. TTH labels can omit “use” and abbreviate TrueType hinting; help can explain more. A full harmonization requires three complete catalog reviews, then reconciliation of help with the final UI and verification of generated resources.
Current terminology¶
The Italian term table, generated from localization/it-core.tmx, is the
terminology authority. Use its definitions to select the right concept and its notes for grammar and
usage. Check each entry’s status: team-approved decisions and proposed translations are distinct.
A proposed term still stays consistent across the interface and help; consistency does not confer approval.
For a missing term, translate the fallback original term and record the proposal with its reason.
The terms that other strings are built from:
| English | Italian |
|---|---|
| glyph | glifo |
| character | carattere |
| family dimensions | dimensioni della famiglia |
| master | master |
| instance | istanza |
| interpolation | interpolazione |
| axis | asse |
| variable font | font variabile |
| kerning | crenatura |
| kerning pair | coppia di crenatura |
| kerning class | classe di crenatura |
| tracking | avvicinamento |
| metrics | metriche |
| sidebearing | spalla |
| left sidebearing | spalla sinistra |
| right sidebearing | spalla destra |
| advance width | avanzamento |
| UPM | unità per em |
| font unit | unità del font |
| baseline | linea di base |
| x-height | altezza della x |
| cap height | altezza delle maiuscole |
| ascender | ascendente |
| descender | discendente |
| overshoot | overshoot |
| stem | asta |
| counter | controforma |
| serif | grazia |
| terminal | terminazione |
| contour | contorno |
| node | nodo |
| handle | maniglia |
| segment | segmento |
| extremum | estremo |
| element | elemento |
| component | componente |
| reference | riferimento |
| layer | livello |
| anchor | ancora |
| guide | guida |
| hint | hint |
| hinting | hinting |
| autohinting | hinting automatico |
| feature | funzione |
| lookup | lookup |
| OpenType class | classe OpenType |
| mark | diacritico |
| ligature | legatura |
| smart | furbo |
| Smart Corner | angolo furbo |
| Power Brush | superpennello |
| Power Guide | superguida |
| Power Nudge | superspinta |
| Power Stroke | supertratto |
| Nudge | spintarella |
| Servant node | nodo inseguitore |
| Genius node | nodo genio |
| Tunni line | linea di Tunni |
| cousins | cugini |
| Sketchboard | blocco schizzi |
| Skin | buccia |
| Matchmaker | Cupido |
| match | abbina |
| True Fill | Nero su bianco |
| Dream Up | inventa |
| Remove Overlap | rimuovi sovrapposizione |
| decompose | scomponi |
| panel | pannello |
| property bar | barra delle proprietà |
Rapid tool and Quick Help references¶
The tool name is Rapid. Use Disegno con Rapid for Rapid draw and Modifica con Rapid for Rapid edit. Keep the name distinct from ordinary descriptions of speed and from the Vertical rapid and Horizontal rapid contrast classifications. Do not use Rapidograph as the tool name.
Keep Rapid in Latin letters; inflect the surrounding tool or action wording.
For Quick Help, match tool, panel, option and command references to the current
TS catalog in the same control context. Keep inflection natural in sentences.
If a core entry differs, reconcile it with the catalog before regenerating
phrasebooks. A compact UI label and its full prose explanation can differ.
Check the current English conditions and consequences: disabling Cloud also
disables mark/mkmk generation, and mark generation requires Cloud. Preserve
mark and mkmk as literal OpenType feature tags.
Quick Help controls and explanatory terms¶
Use Avanzamento for the advance-width control. The core explicitly allows larghezza di avanzamento in explanatory prose; do not replace it merely because the compact label is shorter. Width of outlines, a frame or a bounding box remains larghezza. When English Advance width and Width identify the same metric, use a single Avanzamento heading rather than duplicate aliases.
The Glyph panel uses Spazia automaticamente, while Bar_Metrics uses Spaziatura automatica. Set Width uses Regola spalla sinistra / destra; do not invent Regola LSB/RSB labels. ActionSetMetrics populates its menu at runtime with Automatico + regola, Diminuisci di and Imposta uguale a; the static designer text can differ. Keep expanded UPM explanations in help.
Preserve control context: Bar_SingleNode uses Rifletti in orizzontale / verticale, while Bar_Shape uses Rifletti orizzontalmente / verticalmente. ShapesPanel uses Ribaltamento orizzontale / verticale in tempo reale. Bar_Shape's anchored-component switch is Componente ancorato. The current Stem tool is Asta; older help that names the Thickness tool must follow it. Bar_SingleNode's position-or-offset label uses spostamento, while Bar_Delta and ActionOverlay use Scostamento X/Y.
Apply lowercase after a colon to ordinary explanatory sentences. Quick Help's
formatted shortcut tokens such as SHIFT, ALT and CTRL stay intact; the
prose key-name guidance does not require changing those shared literals.
Match Finestra del glifo, Finestra del font, Intervallo di progetto
and Coordinate di progetto, with natural articles in running sentences.
A definition of one element filter remains singular. Its command references use Espandi filtro dell’elemento and Rimuovi filtro dell’elemento in ShapesPanel, and Espandi filtri / Rimuovi filtro in the Element menu. The text bar's Rimuovi testo removes the active text element; it does not remove a stroke. Clearing nonspacing restores elements to metric calculations, rather than changing a glyph's advance-width value directly.
The transform bar uses Riduci / Ingrandisci. Avoid the old help's blanket claim about the result at 100%: the current up-handler has a special-case boundary there that needs the coordinated source/runtime audit. Zero leaves the dimension unchanged.
Dialog labels and units¶
Match the command in its own context: DlgFontGlyphsDelete uses Pulisci, DlgFontGlyphsReplace uses Accoda, and DlgNewLayer uses Aggiungi master. DlgLinkMetrics uses Collega LSB / RSB, unlike Set Width's full sidebearing labels. In DlgFindOutline, TROVA / SOSTITUISCI name sections. Keep the Personalizzati mode name unchanged inside a sentence, using quotation marks when necessary. Duplicate-glyph confirmation uses OK.
The Quick Help editor uses Trova, Descrizione comando and Compila QuickHelp. Use guida rapida in ordinary prose. Browsing selects the JSON destination; compilation generates the file from the YAML sources. The Layer Properties section chooses properties to copy; it does not describe only the Lock checkbox. Blocco can name a state without becoming the imperative Blocca. A bilateral kerning class is both first/left and second/right.
Text-shape size is in font units. PPM counts pixels per em; UPM counts font
units per em, so their numeric values need not be equal. Keep pixel per em
when it explains the unit. In DlgExpand, Angolo vivo names the miter join;
its limit is a factor relative to stroke width, not a distance in font units.
The kerning adjustment menu displays unità and %; percentuale is
valid explanatory prose.
Use Collega for the current Attach command. An About dialog reports version and license information; it does not confirm a generic operation. Verify axis-map behavior against the active controls: hidden legacy controls and a logarithmic curve do not justify claims about separate X/Y maps or a universal slow-to-fast progression.
Panels, runtime values and font naming¶
Keep Vista for the View panel and Visualizza for the menu. Match Modifica su più livelli for Edit Across, Stato della superspinta in Glyph Window preferences, and Aste for the View panel's stem toggle. Use Tag in DlgTags and FontWindow, while DlgNewClass uses Etichetta del glifo. Match each control rather than replacing all occurrences globally.
FontInfoPanel populates weight and slope choices at runtime with literal names such as Regular, Plain, Italic and Oblique. These take precedence over translated designer samples. Explain that an italic font is style-linked to another font; the old source can imply assigning Italic to arbitrary fonts. Keep complete units-per-em explanations where they help.
Font naming commands change metadata in the selected fonts. Describe which family, style and style-group names they derive; do not describe only visual regrouping or promise CSS compatibility. Raggruppamento corsivo retains the Regular/Italic distinction. Separa stili assigns Regular style linking and uses the full font name for the style group. The font list button opens a chooser; the Fonts panel menu offers file location and sorting.
FontWindow uses Nascondi glifi esclusi dal filtro, Col. and Sincronizza con didascalia della cella. Caption position is In alto / In basso; cell proportions use singular Stretta, Normale, Ampia and Molto ampia. Preserve formatted shortcut literals when correcting nearby labels. Coordinate Preview Rounding's condition with the application: when Round Coordinates is on, the preview option has no separate effect.
Glyph widgets and font information¶
GlyphWindow uses Imposta sistema di scrittura del testo and Imposta lingua del testo; GW_Features uses per il testo in those labels. Keep script names supplied by ICU, such as Latin, unchanged. The Glyph-window choices Automatico and Predefinito are translated, and the language selector also uses Predefinito. Fit that exact label into the sentence rather than changing it to Predefinita.
GW_Guide's measurement button is Misurazione. Bar_Guideline and InspectorGuide use Indicatori di misura for the related feature. GW_Nodes and GW_Transform use Scala proporzionale; GW_Transform uses Rifletti orizzontalmente / verticalmente. Keep Asta for the current Stem tool in stroke-panel instructions. The History command is Avanza velocemente and describes interpolation between recorded states.
In Info_Dimensions, the UPM field is Unità per em, and the safe limits are Limite superiore sicuro / Limite inferiore sicuro. Keep the difference between the font's unit count and its displayed point size. Info_Glyph's advance-width label is Avanzamento; its bounding-box width is Larghezza. Do not infer that all Width fields in one panel share a meaning.
Names, Masters and Instances populate their style menus at runtime. Preserve Regular, Italic, Bold, Bold Italic and the separate slope values Plain / Italic / Oblique where they name actual choices. Keep a source recommendation such as “should” distinct from a requirement, except when quoting the exact existing interface label.
Inspector controls and main-menu help¶
Use Blocca testo for a text-frame lock and Blocca contenuto for an element-content lock. Ingrandisci maximizes or restores a frame; it does not lock its size. Glyph-position pins use glyph coordinates and expressions. Check legacy handlers before promising a coordinate edit or a separate dialog.
Keep the Lookups panel Regole distinct from each lookup it contains: Aggiungi lookup does not add a feature. Match feature commands such as Aggiorna funzioni… and Compila e aggiorna funzioni selezionate…. Use Abbina spostamenti and Abbina modifiche for their separate modes.
Match command and dialog names separately: Trova contorno opens Ricerca contorno, and Importa metriche opens Importazione metriche. The Actions category is Base, and the Workspaces menu is Aree di lavoro. Sketchboard export uses Esporta cornice. Text wrapping uses Testo › A capo › Auto and the preference Ritorno a capo automatico a.
Retain larghezza di avanzamento in explanatory prose when it clarifies the metric. Preserve formatted shortcut tokens. Use Aste for the actual View-panel toggle; do not substitute the expanded measurement description.
Quick Help: preferences, previews and repeated controls¶
Use Manuale d’uso, Guida rapida and Scripting in their current contexts. Preserve exact legacy labels when necessary to identify a control, but verify its action: the Pairs button labeled Font aperti imports a pairs or sample-text file. The Metrics panel edits advance width and sidebearings. Its preview toggle does not make it a kerning editor.
Riavvolgi and Avanza velocemente adjust interpolation between stored states. They do not step through recorded snapshots. Crea riferimento shares contour data for ordinary contour elements; other element types are cloned. Keep Scostamento di duplicazione for the duplicate-offset setting.
Aidus calls Smart Filters filtri furbi. Font-window Data di modifica is the modification date, not the Unicode introduction version. Caption sizes are populated at runtime as auto / piccolo / medio / grande; the designer sample piccola does not override those choices. Almeno una finestra del font controls opening and closing behavior, not a simple visibility toggle.
Use font units for pointer and ruler coordinates. Retain complete pixel-per-em and advance-width explanations in prose. Suggestion timing choices are Subito, A mouse fermo and Con un breve ritardo. Spacing choices are Ottica, Neurale, Stretta and Personalizzata. Naming choices are Leggibili, Di produzione and Alternativi in preferences; dialog labels may use singular forms.
PreviewPanel uses Crenatura in anteprima, Avvicinamento in anteprima, Master dell’anteprima, Istanza dell’anteprima and Interpolazione dell’anteprima. Its transforms use Inclinazione, Allungamento and Peso; the fill and blur controls are Riempi anteprima and Sfoca anteprima. Use Cascata di testo / Cascata di glifi and the panel-specific Imposta il sistema di scrittura del testo / Imposta la lingua del testo.
Match Mantieni collegamenti ai vecchi nomi for TTH stems and singular Mantieni collegamento ai vecchi nomi for zones. Stroke controls use Giunzione ad angolo and Limite di giunzione ad angolo; cap and dash help must describe the verified stroke behavior, even where old source help was copied from color controls. The Scissors sub-tool is Cappio.
Repeated English help may describe controls with different Italian names. Keep Angolo in Bar_SingleNode and Angolare in InspectorNode; describe the node type as angolare in prose. Keep WidgetBrush Pennello gomma and Bar_Brush Pennello per cancellare. Their shared Stem tool reference is Asta. Info_Creator’s Vendor Name is Nome fornitore.
DlgFeaturesSelector uses Predefinito for its default language and ICU script names such as Latin. The layer tree uses Reticolo for its wireframe state. Corner and curve tension references use Tensione dell’angolo and Tensione della curva. A stroke’s miter limit is a factor of stroke width, not a length in font units.