One of the most crucial steps in translating Exercism is determining the right terms to consistently use throughout. Generally these are technical terms, or Exercism’s own vocabulary (track, mentoring, iteration and so on). This is a thread, intended to go on forever, where we can highlight incorrect terms and agree correct variants.
That file is always the live version: we update it as soon as we agree a change here, so check it before relying on anything quoted further down this thread. The decisions behind it, and who made them, are in glossary-notes.md beside it.
When something is wrong, quote the row here (copy the term and what we render it as) and tell us what it should be instead. That way we know exactly which decision you are giving feedback on.
Please use this thread to discuss any changes or additions you think should be made. Please do NOT use LLMs to generate suggestions and only use your own personal knowledge.
“variable = μεταβλητή” is correct
“equal sign = σύμβολο ίσον” is also correct (in a colloquial context, you’d just say “ίσον”, but for the website the whole phrase is more appropriate)
“value = τιμή” correct
“for loop = βρόχος for” (not “for βρόχος”)
“while loop = βρόχος while” (not “while βρόχος”)
“versus”, if I have correctly understood which context you mean, would translate into “έναντι”. I mean, “The Superman versus Spiderman fight” is “εναντίον”, but “when to choose Ruby versus Python” is “έναντι”.
“record” (as in “data record”) would more appropriately translate to “εγγραφή” rather than “καταγραφή”
hue, saturation, lightness: all correct
“ράβδος” is a good translation for “bar” as in “bar graph”, but in other contexts one might use “στήλη” or even “μπάρα” (which is straight-up borrowed from the English word “bar”)
“code” as in coding is translated as “κώδικας”, “code” as in password is translated as “κωδικός”, I don’t see why this particular term should stay in English
Thank you @VaiaPatta1985, this is really helpful. Here is what we changed in the glossary:
Confirmed as correct, with no change to the wording: variable (μεταβλητή), equal sign (σύμβολο ίσον), value (τιμή), hue (απόχρωση), saturation (κορεσμός), lightness (φωτεινότητα) and bar (ράβδος). The equal sign row now says to write the full phrase on the site, and the bar row now says it covers a bar in a chart or drawing only.
for loop is now “βρόχος for” and while loop is now “βρόχος while”, with the Greek noun first.
“versus” is now “έναντι” when two options are compared, and “εναντίον” is kept for a contest or fight. You understood the context correctly: nearly every “versus” on Exercism is a comparison, such as a heading like “Arrays vs Lists”.
We added a row for code: “κώδικας” in prose, kept distinct from “κωδικός” (a password or an identifying code). The “Code” in the “Keep in English” table was only meant for a literal label written in Latin script, and the row now says so. The translations already use κώδικας in prose.
The glossary applies to everything we translate from now on. Pages that were already translated keep their current wording for now.
Two questions:
On “record”: the glossary has “καταγραφή”, which @astyanax chose for a sentence like “keep a record of whether we’re traveling left or right”, meaning keeping a note of something. Most of our content uses “record” for the data structure: records in Elm, F# and Gleam, a database record, or a record (line) of input in AWK. Is “εγγραφή” right for that data-structure sense, while “καταγραφή” stays for keeping a note? The website already uses “εγγραφή” for signing up (“Η εγγραφή σου ολοκληρώθηκε”). Does that clash when both appear near each other? We would value your view too, astyanax.
On “bar”: ράβδος is right for a bar in a chart. For a progress bar on the website, which would you use: “γραμμή προόδου”, “μπάρα προόδου”, or something else?
Yes. There is some overlap between the uses of those two words, but a database record would definitely be “εγγραφή”, while taking notes is “καταγραφή”.
People usually refer to this sort of bar as “μπάρα προόδου”.
We will use “μπάρα προόδου” for the progress bar on the website and add it to the glossary.
On “record”, the glossary row for it was chosen earlier by @astyanax, so we are keeping it as it is until we have heard from them. Your distinction (εγγραφή for a database or data-structure record, καταγραφή for taking notes) is recorded in the decision log next to that row. @astyanax, whenever you have a moment, do you agree that “εγγραφή” suits a data record?
Here are some tentative propositions for the untranslated terms (bearing in mind that, whenever I speak or write, I’m not good at finding the right words):
track μάθημα (same word as the translation of "lesson"; has double meaning)
to join (a track) εγγράφομαι
exercise άσκηση
concept exercise / learning exercise άσκηση για έννοιες / άσκηση εκμάθησης
practice exercise άσκηση εξάσκησης
syllabus διδακτική ύλη
learning mode / practice mode λειτουργία εκμάθησης / λειτουργία εξάσκησης
locked / unlocked / available / in progress / completed (using the feminine, assuming it refers to "exercise") κλειδωμένη / ξεκλείδωτη / διαθέσιμη / σε εξέλιξη / ολοκληρωμένη
to unlock ξεκλειδώνω
solution λύση
to submit υποβάλλω
to publish (a solution) / published δημοσιεύω / δημοσιευμένη
community solutions λύσεις κοινότητας
to star / stars no verb, closest is "βάζω αστεράκι"; the noun is "αστεράκι" (I'm using the diminutive of "αστέρι", just what I would use)
mentor / mentoring σύμβουλος / συμβουλευτική
student (the person being mentored) μαθητής
mentoring request αίτηση για συμβουλευτική
mentoring session / discussion συμβουλευτική συνεδρία / συζήτηση
code review επισκόπηση κώδικα
mentoring queue ουρά συμβουλευτικής
testimonial (left for a mentor) μαρτυρία
supermentor υπερμέντορας
automated feedback αυτοματοποιημένη κριτική
analyzer αναλυτής
representer αντιπρόσωπος (representative; a person)
representation αντιπροσώπευση (for people), αναπαράσταση (as in, the binary representation of a number)
test runner εκτελεστής τεστ
tests passed / tests failed τα τεστ πέρασαν / τα τεστ κόπηκαν
online editor / the editor επεξεργαστής online (no one really translates "online")
the Exercism CLI το CLI του Exercism
reputation φήμη
badge μετάλλιο
trophy τρόπαιο
journey (the user's history page) literally "ταξίδι", maybe "διαδρομή" or "πορεία" would fit more
contributor / contributing συμβάλλων (feminine συμβάλλουσα) / συμβολή
maintainer συντηρητής
Insiders μυημένοι
donation / to donate / donor δωρεά / δωρίζω / δωρητής
perks προνόμια (privileges)
partner (left blank because I need context)
flair (marker beside a username) (I have to check out translations in forums that have this thing, there may be a standard term they use)
Dig Deeper (tab) εμβαθύνετε (plural imperative, to be polite; otherwise singular imperative "εμβάθυνε")
approach (to an exercise) προσέγγιση
article (on an exercise) άρθρο
deep dive (video) εμβάθυνση
challenge (community event) πρόκληση
cohort (can't think of an appropriate term - sorry, I'm not particularly good at this)
community κοινότητα
notification ειδοποίηση
favorites αγαπημένες (feminine, assuming it refers to solutions or exercises)
difficulty: easy / medium / hard δυσκολία: εύκολη / μέση / δύσκολη
handle (username) όνομα χρήστη
automation (feedback on representations) αυτοματοποίηση
If astyanax or any other Greek person disagrees with some of the above translations, they’re probably right and you should go with their version
Thank you very much, @VaiaPatta1985. This is exactly the list we needed, and it covers every product term that was still open.
We’re adopting most of it as you wrote it, including άσκηση, λύση, υποβάλλω, δημοσιεύω, μαθητής, μαρτυρία, αναλυτής, φήμη, τρόπαιο, μετάλλιο, συντηρητής, δωρεά, προνόμια, κοινότητα, όνομα χρήστη, λειτουργία εκμάθησης / λειτουργία εξάσκησης, the exercise states (κλειδωμένη, ξεκλείδωτη, …), τα τεστ πέρασαν / τα τεστ κόπηκαν and εκτελεστής τεστ. Where the live site currently uses a different word (for example σήμα for badge, or δοκιμές for tests), we’ll correct the existing pages to match. Changes reach the live site once they’ve been committed and published, so they won’t show up instantly.
A few need one more look before we write them down:
track. You suggested μάθημα. Our glossary currently uses μάθημα for “course” and ενότητα for “lesson”. “Course” is rare on Exercism, so μάθημα for track may be fine, but the live site currently says διαδρομή. Does μάθημα still read well in “track maintainer” and “across all tracks”? Would διαδρομή be acceptable?
mentor / mentoring. You suggested σύμβουλος / συμβουλευτική, and υπερμέντορας for supermentor. The live site uses μέντορας / καθοδήγηση. Exercism’s mentors are fellow programmers volunteering their time. Would μέντορας / καθοδήγηση work, so that it matches υπερμέντορας? Or do you prefer σύμβουλος throughout?
representer. This is a coined word for a tool that normalises solutions. Would you keep “representer” in English, or use αντιπρόσωπος?
Insiders. This is the name of our supporters’ programme (“Exercism Insiders”). Should the name stay in English, with μυημένοι used only when describing the members?
automated feedback. Elsewhere “feedback” is ανατροφοδότηση. Would αυτοματοποιημένη ανατροφοδότηση work, or do you prefer κριτική?
contributor / contributing. The site currently says συνεισφέρων / συνεισφορά. Is that acceptable, or is συμβάλλων / συμβολή better?
concept exercise / learning exercise. Can άσκηση εκμάθησης serve for both?
favorites. As the page title on its own, is the neuter Αγαπημένα right, with the feminine αγαπημένες only when it qualifies a noun like “solutions”?
Some context for the three you left open:
partner: a sponsoring organisation shown on the Perks page (currently συνεργάτης).
flair: the small icon beside a username that shows someone is an Insider, staff member or maintainer.
cohort: a group of people taking a time-boxed course together (currently ομάδα).
Dig Deeper. We’ll use the singular Εμβάθυνε, since the site addresses the reader as εσύ.
@astyanax, if you have a moment, we’d value your view on any of these, especially track and mentor. As Vaia said, where you see it differently, we’ll talk it through here before changing anything.
