Translations

Every string the interface shows goes through i18n.T. The English text is the message’s identity, and the catalogues are generated from the code.

Add or change a string

1. Write the string where it is shown:

   i18n.T("Add to library")
   i18n.T("{count, plural, one {# song} other {# songs}}", "count", n)
   i18n.TC("keyboard key", "Home") // context: the same word, another meaning

2. Regenerate the catalogue from the repository root:

   devenv shell -- go run ./cmd/i18ntool extract

3. Commit the changed .po files. Never edit them by hand.

Follow these rules:

• The message and its context must be string literals (or literals joined with +). A variable or fmt.Sprintf result can’t reach the catalogue.
• Put the whole sentence in one message, with {name} arguments and ICU plurals. Never build a sentence from pieces: translators can’t reorder words they never see together.
• Changing an English message’s wording makes it a new message and drops its translations.
• Write sentence case.

extract -check fails, with the changes, when the catalogue is stale. check and go test ./cmd/i18ntool run it.

Add a note for translators

A comment starting with translators: directly above the call becomes a note in the catalogue:

// translators: Equaliser preset
return i18n.T("Flat")

Say what the message means where the text doesn’t: a preset, a name to keep as is, who reads it (screen readers) and what each argument is.

Check the pseudo-locale

en-XA shows each message accented, longer and in brackets ([Ĥöɱé one]). go test ./internal/ui/app builds the main pages in it and fails when a message appears in plain English, which finds text that skipped i18n.T, is cut or is built from pieces.

Use Apple’s wording

Sona adopts Apple Music’s own translations for messages that mean the same as one of Apple’s web strings. Check Apple’s wording before writing new copy. Run go run ./cmd/i18ntool match for proposals, review each in context, then apply them. Apple’s text is never committed or bundled.

Text Go shows itself

Text outside the UI packages (the tray menu, notification buttons, file chooser titles, the command line’s help and errors) lives in Go’s own catalogue, internal/i18n/l10n. Mark a message with the l10n.Message type and show it through the user’s *l10n.Printer. Services never send text to the UI: they send codes the UI words. Run the same extract command to update internal/i18n/l10n/locales/en.po.

Go further

docs/translations.md has the full rules: Apple’s mapping and its review workflow, wording and case, and Go’s catalogue.