I’ve searched the forums for what “due” means exactly, and it seems like it’s not always consistent.
Should I decide on a translation and then use this exact translation everywhere throughout?
Or should I make a different translation for every situation where “due” appears in the UI? Because “set due date” means “set date of review”, right? But then just “Due” as in the number of cards that are due could be translated as “Up”, like e.g. I’m standing in a queue and all the people in front of me have cleared away and now I’m “up”, “it’s my turn”.
So basically my question is: should I make custom translation for every situation in order to keep it clear for the user or should I keep it consistent like it is in English, with the same phrase for every situation?
That depends on the language. Some languages do have words corresponding closely to “due”, so the same translation can be used everywhere. If that’s not the case for your language, use the translation that makes most sense depending on the context. You don’t have to follow the English terminology closely.
You can see how this term has been translated into other languages similar to yours.
Our language isn’t always translated the same way either.
The exact meaning, which even native speakers sometimes don’t know, can be found here: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/
But there are always specific translations for your country.
And there’s another complication: if you choose one term, it should be understandable to everyone in your language and consistent throughout the program’s documentation.
This is easier for me because I’m just now creating program documentation and occasionally swap out both the program itself and the help file to ensure consistency.
It definitely depends on the usage – for instance whether “due date” has the same translation as “that are due for …” or as simply “due” [I can tell you those are all distinct things in Turkish!]. And it doesn’t help that different translations for the same usage have probably been added over the years.
Consistently using the same translation for the same usage is key for user understanding, so you can also make use of the search bar in the translation site. The word “due” appears in over 2 dozen strings: Pontoon .
