Finnish translation style guide

Guidelines

Tervetuloa!

Before you start, take a look these instructions we have gathered here for you to help on your translation journey.

Word order

Consider translating the same thing with the easiest Finnish possible. It’s not mandatory to follow the English text word by word, as long as the message is clear.

Eg.

  • Click the button below to create the organization and register your account. -> Luo organisaatio ja rekisteröi tilisi napsauttamalla alla olevaa painiketta.

  • Sent! Your message is outside your current narrow. -> Lähetetty! Viesti on nykyisen näkymäsi ulkopuolella.

Grammatical case (Sijamuodot)

Translate using the UI to be sure what is the correct grammatical case. Basic form of a word might not always be suitable for the purpose.

Eg.

  • Topics marked as resolved -> Ratkaistut aiheet (versus Aiheet, jotka on merkitty ratkaistuiksi)

  • View Shortcuts -> Katselun pikanäppäimet

Loan word (Lainasanat)

Even though it’s common to use words formed directly from English, try to consider also users without IT background, people that don’t speak English and accessibility. User interface should contain these with minimum amount, but for technical error messages could be preferred. There are some amount of software related words that are widely used as loan words.

See section Terms for more details.

Please, in error messages

As it might appeal to use correspondence Ole hyvä ja, it’s not commonly used in Finnish. We are strict and used to more direct messaging. Let’s not translate please and use instruction format only. No Finn is going to be offended by this.

Eg.

  • Please enter at most 10 emails. -> Lisää korkeintaan 10 sähköpostia.

But

  • Yes, please! -> Kyllä, kiitos!

Zulip word inflection

  • in/from Zulip - Zulipissa / Zulipista / Zulipin

  • Zulip organization - Zulip-organisaatio

  • Zulip app - Zulip-sovellus

Your -expression

Finnish language has form of ownership so there shouldn’t be need to thanslate your as sinun but rather use si ending. It might be considered to leave out as well.

Eg.

  • Your organization -> Organisaatiosi

  • Your account -> Tilisi

But

  • You do have active accounts in the following organization(s). -> Sinulla ei ole aktiivista tiliä seuraavissa organisaatio(i)ssa.

Comma

Use commas in whole sentences where it is required. You can use these instructions as help. Kotimaisten kielten keskus - pilkku.

Terms

  • Administrator - Järjestelmänvalvoja

  • App - Sovellus

  • Authorization - Valtuus

  • Avatar - Avatar

  • Beta - Beta

  • Change - Muuta

  • Cheat sheet - Lunttilappu

  • Click - Napsauta

  • Configure - Määritä

  • Deactivate - Poista käytöstä

  • Domain - Verkkotunnus

  • Export - Poiminta

  • Filter - Suodata

  • Full member - Täysivaltainen jäsen

  • Host - Isäntä

  • Help Center - Tukikeskus

  • ID - Tunnus

  • Integraatio - Integraatio

  • Interactive - Interaktiivinen

  • Invalid - Virheellinen

  • Moderator - Moderaattori

  • Mute - Mykistää

  • Narrow - Rajaa hakua

  • Notification - Ilmoitus

  • Topic - Aihe

  • Organization - Organisaatio

  • Permission - Lupa

  • Pin - Kiinnitä

  • Picker - Valitsin

  • Plan - Tilaus

  • PM (private messages) - YV (yksityisviesti) - Short version is needed in mobile.

  • Reset - Nollata

  • Save - Tallenna

  • Stream - Kanava

  • Subscriber - Tilaaja

  • Subscription - Tilaus

  • Subscribe a stream - Tilaa kanava

  • Subdomain - Aliverkkotunnus

  • Shortcuts - Pikanäppäimet

  • Unsubscribe - Peru tilaus

  • Unsupported - Ei-tuettu

  • Unresolve - Merkitse ratkaisemattomaksi

  • Webhook - Webhook

  • Whoops - Hupsista

  • Widget - Widgetti

Other

Some translations can be tricky, so please don’t hesitate to ask the community or to contribute to this guide! Thanks for your effort!