German Xp Terminology Discussion

Discussions held about a year ago on wiki page GermanXpCommunity moved here just for historical reasons:

DoTheSimplestTranslationThatCouldPossiblyWork in german of DoTheSimplestThingThatCouldPossiblyWork is really hard stuff. (...) old version dumped ... better version see below --MarkusGaelli

What about LoeseEsSoEinfachWieMoeglich? ? Refactoring = Rearrangieren (I know it's not really a german word, or is it? And Umbauen sounds to much like adding functionality) ? --PeterGassmann

What about SmallIsBeautiful? It is not a german phrase, but well known. --HelmutLeitner

Instead of Rearrangieren for refactoring I suggest: vereinfachen. (=simplify which sounds like unify). -- MarkusGaelli

For refactoring I suggest: Neugestaltung oder Umgestaltung. -- HelmutLeitner

I use Quelltextpflege for Refactoring. -- AdrianKuhn?

Surely there is a German mathematical phrase for "factor", as in "factor this algebraic expression" (I'm afraid you are going to say, "faktorieren"). Then you can put "um-" on the front (and I'm hoping you won't end up with "umfaktorieren"). --AlistairCockburn

Back in school we were said to "Vereinfache den Term", when we were asked to put subterms in front of some parentheses to avoid redundancies in our algebraic expressions. Doesn't simplifying sound positive to you and maybe your manager? And, isn't simplifying the main goal of refactoring i.e. simplify code for future readers and users ? Bringing a system to its simplest "normalform" to do the current job? --MarkusGaelli

Well, actually you end up with "umfaktorisieren". "to factor" is translated to "faktorisieren". --MichaelSchuerig

I'd suggest to use "kürzen" - so wie man es bei einem Bruch tut und wir es alle mal in der Schule gelernt haben. -- HansMichaelStahl

In the XP workshop I did with ChrisWege we used "refaktorisieren" and were quite happy with this Fremdwort. In general I don't like germifications. There is nothing wrong with English terms since the programming languages and frameworks we use are full of English terms anyway. DoTheSimplestThingThatCouldPossiblyWork means don't translate. It doesn't help you. English terms are not the problem.

From my uni time I remember a prof translating the word "run queue" (the queue where the Unix scheduler keeps processes which are ready to run) to "Rennschlange". Seriously. -- FrankGerhardt

I cannot understand why using your mother tongue should have a "Nazi smell". The problem with using all these english terms is that nobody understands them really and everbody pretends he understands because it would be a personal shame to admit that you do not understand these terms (which often also in English are as stupid as "Gegenschräger" is in German). So it's easy to imagine with what kind of discussion we finally end up... it would be the usual marketing blurb. -- HansMichaelStahl

Why not enriching the english language with some german words? :) Seriously, I think that finding (an existing) name for the same subject in different languages reveals some aspects about that subject, you didn't see before. In the long run, the better name should win, if there is one.

(Bad luck for german though, cause it tends to be the language for "longtalkers" ... I've heard that the people from Microsoft always give another 33% space for their widgets, as the german localization of the widget-labels will need it) (and it looks like french is even worse than german ! --PeterGassmann) If there is no better name, why not using a translation, you and most people around you are used to? --MarkusGaelli

Ich gönne Euch die zwei Wörter 'gönne' und 'schweigen'. Auf englisch können wir nicht ausdrucken, was die mutter den bösen Kindern sagte, "Kinder, warum schweigen wir nicht ueber ein anderes Thema?" ... und Sophie schweigt lauter (thanks, Jutta). All languages have words the others don't. In one of Heinlein's books, the heroine, who knew all languages, knew that the knot she was tied up in was called, in some language, "The knot which comes untied when you pull it like so." I make use of the German to remember which side of the moon shows during waxing and waning - See HintfulPhrasesInSpecificLanguages--AlistairCockburn

p.s. 'historical revisionism' seems to be the English of "Geschichtsfälschung". The wiki nature encourages revisions, so, for example, I can erase my former, blundering append, and after I delete this p.s., later readers won't even know it existed. handy, eh?

In the part of Germany where I come from you would translate the word 'factor' with 'schaffen' which would lead to some translation of 'refactor' to 'nochmal was dran schaffen'. I would have recommended the term 'Umarbeiten' though for me it sounds like changing something bad into something normal (like 'runderneuerte Reifen'). But I think refactoring is often like turning something good into something better. And if I speak about 'refactoring' in a German context there is a positive flavour with this word. So maybe we could not find a specific German term for 'refactoring' because of the already associated additional meanings. -- HansJoachimMatheus


Current discussions of GermanXpTerminology, apart from those that took place on the XpForumAtEgroupsDotCom:

This list is great. However, I don't like the translation for "PlanningGame". I would prefer "Planungsspiel", although it refers to game (Spiel), which might be associated to something that should not be taken seriously.

The other point is: I hope they do not translate "Extreme Programming" as "Extreme Programmierung". This would be pretty close to translating "motherboard" into "Mutterbrett" ;-). -- ManfredLange Genau, es heißt richtig "Flachbaugrupppe"! ;-) --FalkBruegmann

I would suggest Extremprogrammierung (sounding like Extremsport or Extremklettern). -- HelmutLeitner

What does "Planungsrunde" mean then? (He says hoping for new inspiration in English!) -- RichardDrake

I understand "Planungsrunde" more as how the meeting is organized or set up, e.g. who is invited, how do people sit in the conference room. "Planungsspiel" refers more to the activity. And from my perspective the activity is more important than the environment/wrapper.

There is another aspect: "Planungsrunde" sounds to me like a boring, potentially endless meeting; "Planungsspiel" sounds more like fun.

-- ManfredLange

Unfortunately, neither Dutch nor German make a distinction between the English "game" and "play". English "game" indicates that there are rules, while "play" indicates that it is fun. Both concepts become "Spiel" in German or "spel" in Dutch. So a perfect translation of PlanningGame might not be possible. -- StephanHouben

I think Assume Simplicity would be better translated as 'Einfachheit annehmen' -- AndrewQueisser (Andreas Queisser)

Most of the German terms are very appropriate, thank you! However, a few terms in the list at the top appear still a bit holprig. So here's my two Pfennig...

-- KlausMarquardt?

Habe grade 'Vereinheitlichen' als neuen Übersetzungsvorschlag für 'Refactoring' angebracht, das Thema lässt mich einfach nicht los... :) --MarkusGaelli

Nah, that doesn't sound right. If you would talk about it in a PhD you would probably had to call it something like 'funktionserhaltender Umbau', but luckily we are not in that situation. --MarkoSchulz

In a nutshell: Vereinheitlichen is too wischi-waschi. :) -- JuergenHermann P.S.: I want Latin-1 WikiNames!

No, I don't think 'Vereinheitlichen' is to vague. I just cannot see why this term fits the meaning. Of course a refactoring might unify something. But this isn't the essence of refactorings, or is it? 'Umbau' or 'Umgestaltung' are vague too, still they catch the spirit of the game much better. --MarkoSchulz

While trying to write a german article I wondered how to translate "User Story". "Benutzergeschichte" sounds like a tale of mystery the user wants to tell. Story is used as synonym for "fairy tale" and in more objective ways as well. Maybe it is an intended ambiguity, but I wouldn't translate to "Benutzergeschichte".. "Benutzeranforderung" seems more reasonable, but is maybe too formal. Any Hints? --MarkusBarchfeld?

Anwendungsfall, Anwenderproblem, Benutzerproblem, ...

Refactoring = Restrukturierung oder Wiederaufbereitung alten codes; Martin Hartling


Fantastic, ThankYou for putting these up on Wiki. And if you asked a German speaker who knows English well, but not XP, to translate them back into English, I wonder what you would get!


Why didn´t you use the german Umlaute? Are there Problems with Unix / Windows ?

It can be used in the text (äöüÄÖÜß) as was done above, but you cannot use them in a WikiLink, since they are not recognized by the LinkPattern: UnmöglicherLink.


Are there already 'official' translations for the following?


ReverseIndex: CategoryGerman


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