What form should be used when showing messages to a user on a computer screen in Italian?
Often times, computer programs in English tend to give feedback on what they are and aren't doing in an impersonal form:* Cannot locate the internet server or proxy server* Unable to unlink old file (permission denied)* Crunching the latest data, just for you. Hang tight…* Reticulating splines......or in a personal form in the person of the program itself:* Firefox could not download the search plugin from...* Office could not create the work file* Windows is unable to install to the selected locationThe latter set of wording works kind of okay in Italian, but the former doesn't and tends to be translated using periphrases such as:* *[è] Impossibile* trovare il server...* Elaborazione dei dati *in corso...*...but the literal translation alternative is even worse:* Non posso trovare il server...* [sto] Elaborando i dati...What's the preferred, least awkward way to phrase (or rather: translate) these messages?
You were right the first time! The usual way these messages are displayed in Italian computers is with periphrases. That keeps it impersonal and conveys the information. Translating your examples:
Impossibile trovare il server Internet o il proxy server
Impossibile scollegare il vecchio file (permesso negato)
Elaborazione dei dati in corso
Office non può creare il file work (or impossibile creare il file work)
