Abbreviation

If the space available in the translation line for a source text is insufficient for you to enter the full translation, you must enter an abbreviation instead. We recommend that you create this translation as an abbreviation in the proposal pool , and assign it to the appropriate full text. If the full translation of this source text is not yet available in the proposal pool, you are advised to create it and then assign your abbreviation to it.

You can create abbreviations for system standards or application standards , but not for exceptions . For more information, see Creating Abbreviations and Full Translations .

When you create an abbreviation in the proposal pool for a source text whose translation line is too short for you to enter the full translation, by assigning this abbreviation to the full text in the proposal pool, the system stores the full text and its abbreviation together in a monolingual table.

This has the following advantages:

• When you assign an abbreviation to a full translation in the proposal pool, this abbreviation is automatically available in all other proposal pool entries that contain the same full translation. You do not need to create this abbreviation again for other source texts that have the same translation. From a technical standpoint, the abbreviation exists just once, which reduces the amount of memory space you require in the proposal pool. This also improves the consistency of your translations.

• Languages translating from a source language that is also a target language benefit from additional information in the short text editor. The short text editor enables translators to display the full texts to which abbreviations are assigned. For more information, see Displaying Full Texts for Abbreviations . This reduces the number of comments that you need to create in the short text editor. For more information, see Translating in the Short Text Editor .

An abbreviation should be the same translation as the full translation to which it is assigned. See the table below for examples of full texts and their abbreviations:

An abbreviation that you assign to a system standard is the best proposal when the following criteria are fulfilled:

• No application standard exists for the application of the object you are currently translating.

• There is not enough space in the translation line for the system standard.

• The space available in the translation line is sufficient for the abbreviation that is assigned to the system standard.

An abbreviation that you assign to an application standard is the best proposal when the following criteria are fulfilled:

• There is not enough space in the translation line for the application standard.

• The space available in the translation line is sufficient for the abbreviation that is assigned to the application standard.

If the abbreviation is the best proposal for the source text to be translated, the system displays it in blue beneath the appropriate translation line in the short text editor. You can copy the best proposal to your translation line by double-clicking it. When you save, the translation status of the short text line changes to translated .

When you create an abbreviation, the system prompts you to assign a quality status to it. Your translator profile determines the quality statuses that you can assign. For more information, see Translator Profiles .

The Find Full Texts for Abbreviations function in the short text editor enables you to see whether a full text has been defined in the proposal pool for an abbreviation in the source text or target text. If full texts exist in the proposal pool for abbreviations used in the object you are currently translating, the system displays the icon next to the status bar, together with the number 1, 2, or 12. The number 1 means that a full text exists in the proposal pool for the text in the source text line. The number 2 means that a full text exists for the text in the target text line. 12 means that full texts exist in the proposal pool for the source and target text lines. For more information, see Displaying Full Texts for Abbreviations .

For more information on proposal pool concepts, see Proposal Pool , Proposal Pool Concepts and the subordinate documents.

For more information on creating, changing, and deleting proposals, and on accessing the entries in the proposal pool, see Proposal Pool Maintenance and the subordinate documents, as well as Transaction SLPP .