K’iche’ Style Guide Contents What's New? .................................................................................................................................... 4 New Topics ................................................................................................................................... 4 Updated Topics ............................................................................................................................ 4 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 5 About This Style Guide ................................................................................................................ 5 Scope of This Document .............................................................................................................. 5 Style Guide Conventions .............................................................................................................. 5 Sample Text ................................................................................................................................. 6 Recommended Reference Material ............................................................................................. 7 Normative References .............................................................................................................. 7 Informative References ............................................................................................................. 7 Language Specific Conventions ...................................................................................................... 9 Country/Region Standards ........................................................................................................... 9 Characters ................................................................................................................................ 9 Date ........................................................................................................................................ 12 Time ........................................................................................................................................ 14 Numbers ................................................................................................................................. 15 Sorting ..................................................................................................................................... 19 Geopolitical Concerns ................................................................................................................ 22 Grammar, Syntax & Orthographic Conventions ......................................................................... 23 Adjectives ................................................................................................................................ 24 Articles .................................................................................................................................... 24 Capitalization .......................................................................................................................... 27 Compounds ............................................................................................................................. 28 Gender .................................................................................................................................... 29 Genitive ................................................................................................................................... 29 Modifiers ................................................................................................................................. 29 Nouns ...................................................................................................................................... 29 Prepositions ............................................................................................................................ 30 Pronouns ................................................................................................................................. 31 Punctuation ............................................................................................................................. 31 Word separation ...................................................................................................................... 34 Singular & Plural ..................................................................................................................... 35 Split Infinitive ........................................................................................................................... 35 Subjunctive ............................................................................................................................. 35 Symbols & Non-Breaking Spaces ........................................................................................... 35 Syntax ..................................................................................................................................... 36 Verbs ....................................................................................................................................... 37 Word Order ............................................................................................................................. 38 Style and Tone Considerations .................................................................................................. 38 Audience ................................................................................................................................. 38 Style ........................................................................................................................................ 38 Tone ........................................................................................................................................ 38 Voice ....................................................................................................................................... 39 Localization Guidelines .................................................................................................................. 40 General Considerations ............................................................................................................. 40 Abbreviations .......................................................................................................................... 40 Acronyms ................................................................................................................................ 40 Applications, Products, and Features ..................................................................................... 42 Frequent Errors ....................................................................................................................... 42 Glossaries ............................................................................................................................... 42 Recurring Patterns .................................................................................................................. 42 Standardized Translations ...................................................................................................... 42 Unlocalized Items.................................................................................................................... 43 Using the Word Microsoft ....................................................................................................... 43 Software Considerations ............................................................................................................ 43 User Interface ......................................................................................................................... 43 Messages ................................................................................................................................ 49 Keys ........................................................................................................................................ 53 Document Translation Considerations ....................................................................................... 59 Titles ....................................................................................................................................... 59 Copyright ................................................................................................................................. 60 What's New? Last Updated: February 2012 New Topics All content is new. n/a Updated Topics The following topics were updated: February, 2012 Keys – subsection Key Names added Introduction This Style Guide went through major revision in February 2011 in order to remove outdated and unnecessary content. About This Style Guide The purpose of this Style Guide is to provide everybody involved in the localization of Mayan K’iche’ Microsoft products with Microsoft-specific linguistic guidelines and standard conventions that differ from or are more prescriptive than those found in language reference materials. These conventions have been adopted after considering context based on various needs, but above all, they are easy to follow and applicable for all types of software to be localized. The Style Guide covers the areas of formatting and grammatical conventions. It also presents the reader with a general idea