Portuguese (Brazil) 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 ...................................................................................................... 8
Country/Region Standards ........................................................................................................... 8
Characters ................................................................................................................................ 8
Date .......................................................................................................................................... 9
Time ........................................................................................................................................ 10
Numbers ................................................................................................................................. 13
Sorting ..................................................................................................................................... 17
Geopolitical Concerns ................................................................................................................ 22
Grammar, Syntax & Orthographic Conventions ......................................................................... 23
Adjectives ................................................................................................................................ 23
Color names............................................................................................................................ 23
Articles .................................................................................................................................... 24
Capitalization .......................................................................................................................... 24
Capitalization of headings and topic titles .............................................................................. 26
Compounds............................................................................................................................. 26
Gender .................................................................................................................................... 26
Genitive ................................................................................................................................... 26
Modifiers ................................................................................................................................. 26
Nouns ...................................................................................................................................... 26
Prepositions ............................................................................................................................ 27
Pronouns ................................................................................................................................. 27
Punctuation ............................................................................................................................. 28
Singular & Plural ..................................................................................................................... 29
Split Infinitive ........................................................................................................................... 29
Subjunctive ............................................................................................................................. 29
Non-Breaking Spaces ............................................................................................................. 29
Syntax ..................................................................................................................................... 30
Verbs ....................................................................................................................................... 30
Word Order ............................................................................................................................. 31
Parallelism .............................................................................................................................. 31
Spelling Reform ...................................................................................................................... 32
Style and Tone Considerations .................................................................................................. 34
Audience ................................................................................................................................. 34
Style ........................................................................................................................................ 34
Tone ........................................................................................................................................ 34
Voice ....................................................................................................................................... 34
Localization Guidelines .................................................................................................................. 35
General Considerations ............................................................................................................. 35
Abbreviations .......................................................................................................................... 35
Accessibility ............................................................................................................................ 36
Acronyms ................................................................................................................................ 36
Applications, Products, and Features ..................................................................................... 38
Frequent Errors ....................................................................................................................... 38
Glossaries ............................................................................................................................... 40
Fictitious Information ............................................................................................................... 40
Recurring Patterns .................................................................................................................. 41
Standardized Translations ...................................................................................................... 43
Unlocalized Items.................................................................................................................... 43
Using the Word Microsoft ....................................................................................................... 45
Variables ................................................................................................................................. 45
Software Considerations ............................................................................................................ 46
User Interface ......................................................................................................................... 46
Messages ................................................................................................................................ 51
Keys ........................................................................................................................................ 56
Document Translation Considerations ....................................................................................... 62
Titles ....................................................................................................................................... 62
Copyright ................................................................................................................................. 63
What's New?
Last Updated: May 2011
New Topics
The following topics were added:



Language Specific Conventions section: Country/Region Standards topics; Geopolitical Concerns;
Grammar, Syntax and Orthographic Conventions subtopics (Adjectives; Color names; Articles; Gender;
Prepositions; Pronouns; Punctuation; Subjunctive; Non-Breaking Spaces; Syntax; Verbs; Word order)
Style and Tone Considerations section
Localization Guidelines section: Accessibility; Frequent Errors; Fictitious Information; Unlocalized Items;
Using the Word Microsoft; Variables; Copyright
Updated Topics
The overall Style Guide content was fully updated in February 2011 as part of major Style Guide update project
performed for all languages.
4
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 Portuguese (Brazil)
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 of the reasoning behind the conventions. The present Style Guide is a revision of our previous Style
Guide version with the intention of making it more standardized, more structured, and easier to use as a
reference.
The guidelines and conventions presented in this Style Guide are intended to help you localize Microsoft products
and materials. We welcome your feedback, questions and concerns regarding the Style Guide. You can send us
your feedback via the Microsoft Language Portal feedback page.
Scope of This Document
This Style Guide is intended for the localization professional working on Microsoft products. It is not intended to
be a comprehensive coverage of all localization practices, but to highlight areas where Microsoft has preference
or deviates from standard practices for Portuguese (Brazil) localization.
Style Guide Conventions
In this document, a plus sign (+) before a translation example means that this is the recommended correct
translation. A minus sign (-) is used for incorrect translation examples.
In Microsoft localization context, the word term is used in a slightly untraditional sense, meaning the same as e.g.
a segment in Trados. The distinguishing feature of a term here is that it is translated as one unit; it may be a
traditional term (as used in terminology), a phrase, a sentence, or a paragraph.
References to interface elements really only refer to translatable texts associated with those interface elements.
Example translations in this document are only intended to illustrate the point in question. They are not a source
of approved terminology. Always check for approved translation in the Microsoft terminology database.
5
Sample Text
Apresentação
A Coordenadoria de Comunicação (CoordCOM) da UFRJ é um órgão de direção e serviço diretamente
subordinado ao Gabinete do Reitor da UFRJ, atuando como mecanismo comunicacional integrador da
universidade com as suas unidades acadêmicas e com a sociedade em geral. Sua principal atribuição é propor e
executar as diretrizes de uma política global de Comunicação Social para a instituição, além de coordenar os
serviços ligados a essa área. Criada em abril de 2006, a CoordCOM substitui a antiga Assessoria de Imprensa
do Gabinete do Reitor.
Influenciada pela consciência de que do espaço acadêmico deve-se esperar não somente produção de
conhecimento, mas, também, ações e práticas democratizantes, a CoordCOM, como se acredita que deve ser,
utiliza-se dos meios de comunicação de massa e dirigida para implementar um processo comunicacional
comprometido com a construção de uma sociedade mais crítica, plural e democrática. A CoordCOM, assim,
pretende responder, de maneira integrada, e até mesmo contra hegemônica, aos desafios contemporâneos da
Comunicação Social.
Sem os meios que tornem públicos os acervos da criação humana nos campos da Ciência, da Arte, da
Tecnologia e das práticas culturais, o cidadão não tem condições de se inscrever na História. Para esse fim
maior, a UFRJ deve contar com um complexo de serviços que dão visibilidade à produção intelectual e de
conhecimento que se gera no Ensino, na Pesquisa e na Extensão.
Além de divulgarem as informações originais, os veículos da CoordCOM criam oportunas mediações na
comunidade interna e sugerem o diálogo direto ou indireto, com as comunidades externas.
Como objetivo culminante, as ações comunicativas visam não apenas consensos como também respostas
criativas diante dos grandes dilemas das sociedades contemporâneas. O conjunto dos veículos de comunicação
da CoordCOM busca investir no aprofundamento dos temas emergentes e desenvolve grande esforço para
descobrir e aproximar o cidadão comum do cientista ou pesquisador, para que ambos possam construir novas
éticas. Dessa forma, um dos papéis da Comunicação Social Institucional da UFRJ é buscar interagir com os
públicos com um trabalho que vá além do tradicional.
Contato
Secretaria da CoordCOM:
Marta Andrade
[email protected]
Endereço:
Av. Pedro Calmon, nº 550 - Prédio da Reitoria, 1º andar
Cidade Universitária - Rio de Janeiro - RJ
CEP 21941-901
Telefones: 21 2598-1621/ 1622 / 9608 / 1894
Fax: 21 2598-1605
Source: UFRJ Website (http://www.ufrj.br/coordcom/index.html; http://www.ufrj.br/coordcom/contato.html
http://www.abnt.org.br/m3.asp?cod_pagina=1098)
Created on February 24, 2011 at 11:48 AM in Portuguese (Brazil)
6
Recommended Reference Material
Use the Portuguese (Brazil) language and terminology as described and used in the following publications.
Normative References
These normative sources must be adhered to. Any deviation from them automatically fails a string in most cases.
When more than one solution is allowed in these sources, look for the recommended one in other parts of the
Style Guide. Please always consult the latest editions.
1. ACADEMIA BRASILEIRA DE LETRAS. Vocabulário Ortográfico da Língua Portuguesa, quinta edição,
2009, created by Academia Brasileira de Letras in conformance with 2009 Spelling Agreement
(printout version or online).
2. AULETE, Caldas. Aulete Digital - Dicionário Contemporâneo da Língua Portuguesa. Lexikon Editora
Digital 2007.
3. CUNHA, Celso e CINTRA, Lindley. Nova Gramática do Português Contemporâneo. Rio de Janeiro:
Editora Nova Fronteira.
4. FERREIRA, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda. Novo Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa. Rio de Janeiro:
Editora Positivo; 5ª edição.
5. INSTITUTO ANTÔNIO HOUAISS. Dicionário Houaiss da Língua Portuguesa. Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva,
2009.
6. LIMA, Carlos Henrique da Rocha. Gramática Normativa da Língua Portuguesa. Rio de Janeiro: Livraria
José Olympio Editora S.A.
Informative References
These sources are meant to provide supplementary information, background, comparison, etc.
1. ANTAS, Luis Mendes. Dicionário Técnico Científico. São Paulo: Traço Editora Ltda.
2. DOWNES, John e GOLDMAN, Jordan Elliot. Dicionário de Termos Financeiros e de Investimento.
São Paulo: Editora Nobel.
3. F. DE SÃO PAULO. Manual da Redação. São Paulo: Publifolha; 14ª edição.
4. KANO, N. (1995). Developing International Software. MSPress.
4. MIGLIAVACCA, Paulo Norberto. Dicionário de Termos de Negócios. São Paulo: Editora Edicta 3.
5. O ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO. Manual de Redação e Estilo. Eduardo Martins. São Paulo:
Editora Moderna.
7
Language Specific Conventions
This part of the style guide contains information about standards specific to Portuguese (Brazil). The topics that
follow are intended to supply answers to some of the most often asked questions. More topics will be added,
modified or deleted as needed.
Country/Region Standards
Characters
Country/region
Brazil
Lower-case characters
Pre-spelling reform: a, á, à, ã, â, b, c, ç, d, e, é, ê, f, g, h, i, í, j, k, l, m, n, o, ó, õ,
ô, p, q, r, s, t, u, ú, ü, v, w, x, y, z
Post-spelling reform: a, á, à, ã, â, b, c, ç, d, e, é, ê, f, g, h, i, í, j, k, l, m, n, o, ó, õ,
ô, p, q, r, s, t, u, ú, v, w, x, y, z
Upper-case characters
Characters in caseless
scripts
Extended Latin characters
Note on alphabetical order
Total number of characters
Unicode codes
Pre-spelling reform: A, Á, À, Ã, Â, B, C, Ç, D, E, É, Ê, F, G, H, I, Í, J, K, L, M, N,
O, Ó, Õ, Ô, P, Q, R, S, T, U, Ú, Ü, V, W, X, Y, Z
Post-spelling reform: A, Á, À, Ã, Â, B, C, Ç, D, E, É, Ê, F, G, H, I, Í, J, K, L, M, N,
O, Ó, Õ, Ô, P, Q, R, S, T, U, Ú, V, W, X, Y, Z
n/a
Pre-spelling reform: á, Á, à, À, ã, Ã, â, Â, ç, Ç, é, É, ê, Ê, í, Í, ó, Ó, õ, Õ, ô, Ô, ú,
Ú, ü, Ü
Post-spelling reform: á, Á, à, À, ã, Ã, â, Â, ç, Ç, é, É, ê, Ê, í, Í, ó, Ó, õ, Õ, ô, Ô, ú,
Ú
Alphabetical order is not necessarily indicative of sorting order.
Pre-spelling reform: 39
Post-spelling reform: 38 (character ü/Ü is removed)
á
U+00E1
Á
U+00C1
à
U+00E0
À
U+00C0
ã
U+00E3
Ã
U+00C3
â
U+00E2
Â
U+00C2
ç
U+00E7
Ç
U+00C7
é
U+00E9
É
U+00C9
ê
U+00EA
Ê
U+00CA
8
Country/region
Notes
Brazil
í
U+00ED
Í
U+00CD
ó
U+00F3
Ó
U+00D3
õ
U+00F5
Õ
U+00D5
ô
U+00F4
Ô
U+00D4
ú
U+00FA
Ú
U+00DA
n/a
Date
Country/region
Brazil
Calendar/Era
Gregorian/Christian
First Day of the Week
Sunday
First Week of the Year
Week number one contains the first Thursday of January.
Separator
Default: slash (/)
Options: hyphen (-); period (.)
Default Short Date
Format
d/M/yy
Example
17/3/11
Default Long Date Format dddd, d de MMMM de yyyy
Example
quarta-feira, 17 de março de 2011
Additional Short Date
Format 1
dd/MM/yy
Example
17/03/11
Additional Short Date
Format 2
dd/M/yy
Example
17/3/11
Additional Long Date
Format 1
d de MMMM de yyyy
Example
17 de março de 2011
Additional Long Date
Format 2
dd de MMMM de yyyy
9
Country/region
Brazil
Example
17 de março de 2011
Leading Zero in Day Field
for Short Date Format
No
Leading Zero in Month
Field for Short Date
Format
No
No. of digits for century
for Short Day Format
2
Leading Zero in Day Field
for Long Date Format
No
Leading Zero in Month
Field for Long Date
Format
No
Number of digits for year
for Long Day Format
4
Date Format for
Correspondence
<City name>, d de MMMM de yyyy
Example
Rio de Janeiro, 17 de março de 2011

Notes


The number of the first day of a month in Portuguese is ordinal (first), not
cardinal (one). Therefore its representation has a special format: 1º, not 1.
The year number is written without a thousand separator.
The usual date format in Portuguese starts with the name of a city, not with
the weekday name.
d is for day, number of d's indicates the format (d = digits without leading zero, dd =
digits with leading zero, ddd = the abbreviated day name, dddd = full day name)
Abbreviations in Format
Codes
M is for month, number of M's gives number of digits. (M = digits without leading
zero, MM = digits with leading zero, MMM = the abbreviated name, MMMM = full
name)
y is for year, number of y's gives number of digits (yy = two digits, yyyy = four digits)
Time
Country/region
Brazil
24 hour format
Yes
Standard time format
H:mm:ss
10
Country/region
Brazil
Standard time format
example
23:43:12
Time separator
Colon (:)
Time separator examples
3:24:12
Hours leading zero
No
Hours leading zero example
n/a
String for AM designator
n/a
String for PM designator
n/a
Notes
The abbreviation for hour and hours is h, for minute and minutes is min, and for
second and seconds is s. Avoid using leading zeros before hours. The
abbreviation for minutes is required only when seconds are indicated as well:
7h04min35s
7h04
Days
Country/region: Brazil
Day
Normal Form
Abbreviation
Monday
segunda-feira
seg.
Tuesday
terça-feira
ter.
Wednesday
quarta-feira
qua.
Thursday
quinta-feira
qui.
Friday
sexta-feira
sex.
Saturday
sábado
sáb.
Sunday
domingo
dom.
First Day of Week: Sunday
Is first letter capitalized?: No
Notes: The names of weekdays in Portuguese are a combination of two words linked by a hyphen. It is
recommended to use their full spelled-out format, but their short format is also accepted when there is not enough
space available.
11
Short format:
Monday segunda
Tuesday terça
Wednesday quarta
Thursday quinta
Friday sexta
Saturday sábado
Sunday domingo
To abbreviate days of the week in software, add a period after their three first letters. If the software strings allow
only three-character abbreviations, the names of the days should be abbreviated without period.
In calendars, the first letter of the name should be used:
D
S
T
Q
Q
S
S
Months
Country/region: Brazil
Month
Full Form
Abbreviated Form
Long Date Form
January
janeiro
jan
Same as full form
February
fevereiro
fev
Same as full form
March
março
mar
Same as full form
April
abril
abr
Same as full form
May
maio
mai
Same as full form
June
junho
jun
Same as full form
July
julho
jul
Same as full form
August
agosto
ago
Same as full form
September
setembro
set
Same as full form
October
outubro
out
Same as full form
12
Month
Full Form
Abbreviated Form
Long Date Form
November
novembro
nov
Same as full form
December
dezembro
dez
Same as full form
Is first letter capitalized?: No
Notes: Months are not capitalized in Portuguese, except when they are the first word in a sentence or appear by
themselves in a list. They should also be capitalized in calendar headings. To abbreviate months in software, add
a period after their three first letters. Note that the month of May preferably should not be abbreviated in
Portuguese, since it‟s a short word consisting of only four characters. If the software strings allow only threecharacter abbreviations, the names of the months should be abbreviated as above.
Numbers
Country/region: Brazil
Phone Numbers
Country/
region
International
Dialing
Code
Area Codes
Used?
Number of
Digits – Area
Codes
Separator
Number of
Digits –
Domestic
Digit Groupings –
Domestic
Brazil
55
Yes
2
Space; dash
9; 10
1. ##-####-####;
2. ##-##-##-####;
3. ## ## ##-####;
4. ## ## ## ####;
5. ##-###-####;
6. ## ### ####;
7.(##)####-####;
8. (##)## ##-####;
9. (##)## ## ####;
10.(##)###-####;
11. (##)### ####
Country/
region
Number of
Digits –
Local
Digit
Groupings –
Local
Number of
Digits –
Mobile
Digit
Groupings –
Mobile
Number of
Digits –
International
Digit Groupings –
International
Brazil
7; 8
1. ########;
8
1. ########;
11; 12
1. +55 ##-########;
2. ###-####;
2. ####
2. +55 ##-##-##13
3. ####
####;
####;
####;
4. ### ####;
3. ## ######;
3. +55 ## ## ######;
5. ## ######;
4. ##-######;
4. +55 ## ## ##
####;
6. ##-######;
5.#######;
5. +55 ##-###-####;
6.########
6. +55 ## ### ####;
7.#######;
8.########
7. +55 ## ## ##
####
Notes: n/a
Addresses
Country/region: Brazil
Disclaimer: Please note that the information in this entry should under no circumstances be used in examples as
fictitious information.
Address Format:
[CompanyName]
[Title] FirstName [MiddleName] Surname
Address line 1
Address line 2
City - State
[Country]
Zip code
Example Address:
Microsoft Brasil
Ilmo. Sr. Bonifácio Jesus de Souza
Rua Bento Frias, 1560
Butantã
São Paulo - SP
Brasil
05423-060
Local Postal Code Format: Eight digit postal code, with a separator (dash): XXXXX-XXX
14
Notes:








[Title] can be the honorific title (Sr., Sra., Exmo. Sr., Exma. Sra., etc.), the academic title (Dr., Dra., Eng.,
Arq., etc.), or a sequence of both (Exmo. Sr. Dr., etc.). It is optional and can be replaced by the Company
Name.
Address line 1: usually contains the street name followed by the door and floor numbers.
Address line 2: additional info like a smaller village/area within the larger town/city.
City: name of the city followed by hyphen.
State: state acronym, must be in capital letters.
Eight digit postal code, with a separator (dash): XXXXX-XXX
If mail is sent within Brazil, the country is optional.
Zip code usage: the term "CEP" may precede the zip code in the address, although this is not the official
address format. Example: CEP: 05423-060. The first five digits (prefix) must be separated by a dash from
the last three digits (suffix), and the digits cannot have spaces, dots, or be underlined.
Currency
Country/region
Brazil
Currency Name
Real
Currency Symbol
R$
Currency Symbol Position
General format is R$ followed by a space and the numeral
Positive Currency Format
R$ 123,45
Negative Sign Symbol
- (no spaces between the negative sign and the currency symbol)
Negative Currency Format
-R$ 123,45
Decimal Symbol
Comma
Number of Digits after Decimal
2
Digit Grouping Symbol
Period
Number of Digits in Digit
Grouping
3
Positive Currency Example
R$ 123.456.789,00
Negative Currency Example
-R$ 123.456.789,00
ISO Currency Code
BRL
Currency Subunit Name
Centavo
Currency Subunit Symbol
n/a
Currency Subunit Example
R$ 0,01
15
Digit Groups
Country/region: Brazil
Decimal Separator: ,
Decimal Separator Description: Comma
Decimal Separator Example: 1,23
Thousand Separator: .
Thousand Separator Description: Period
Thousand Separator Example: 1.234.567
Notes: n/a
Measurement Units
Country/Region: Brazil
Metric System Commonly Used?: Yes
Temperature: Celsius
Category
English
Translation
Abbreviation
Linear Measure
Kilometer
Quilômetro
km
Meter
Metro
m
Decimeter
Decímetro
dm
Centimeter
Centímetro
cm
Millimeter
Milímetro
mm
Hectoliter
Hectolitro
hl
Liter
Litro
l
Deciliter
Decilitro
dl
Centiliter
Centilitro
cl
Milliliter
Mililitro
ml
Ton
Tonelada
t
Kilogram
Quilograma
kg
Pound
Libra
lb
Gram
Grama
g
Decigram
Decigrama
dg
Capacity
Mass
16
Category
English Units of
Measurement
English
Translation
Abbreviation
Centigram
Centigrama
cg
Milligram
Miligrama
mg
Inch
Polegada
in
Feet
Pé
ft
Mile
Milha
mi
Gallon
Galão
gal
Notes: Paper measurements in inches need to be converted to millimeters (or centimeters, in the case of
photographic paper) for the Brazilian products. However, if there is a need to indicate special US formats in
inches, the symbol in (or the equivalent symbol ") should be used in the Portuguese translation. Use the spelledout word polegada or the abbreviation pol. to translate the word inch, in general.
Letter 8 ½ x 11 in => Carta 216 x 279 mm
Legal 9 ½ x 15 in => Ofício 241 x 381 mm
Percentages
Percentage symbol (%) must follow the amount without any spaces (e.g. 100%).
Sorting
Sorting rules
-
Capital letters and lowercase letters are equal. No distinction is made between them.
Letters modified by accents are equal with non-accented characters, i.e., á ê ó and a e
o are equal.
Non-alphabetical characters (i.e. symbols like @ ! #) sort before the letters of the
alphabet.
Digits sort after the non-alphabetical characters and before the letters of the alphabet.
The ordinal number follows the cardinal number of the same value.
Non-alphabetical signs and symbols are ignored in the sort order, passing to the
number or letter that follows.
A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J -K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V- W - X - Y - Z.
Character
sorting order
Unicode
UTF-8
code point
Character (postspelling reform)
U+0041
A
65
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A
U+0042
B
66
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER B
U+0043
C
67
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C
(dec.)
Name
17
U+0044
D
68
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D
U+0045
E
69
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E
U+0046
F
70
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER F
U+0047
G
71
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER G
U+0048
H
72
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER H
U+0049
I
73
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I
U+004A
J
74
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER J
U+004B
K
75
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER K
U+004C
L
76
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER L
U+004D
M
77
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER M
U+004E
N
78
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER N
U+004F
O
79
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O
U+0050
P
80
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER P
U+0051
Q
81
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Q
U+0052
R
82
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER R
U+0053
S
83
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER S
U+0054
T
84
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER T
U+0055
U
85
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U
U+0056
V
86
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER V
U+0057
W
87
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER W
U+0058
X
88
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER X
U+0059
Y
89
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Y
U+005A
Z
90
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Z
U+0061
a
97
LATIN SMALL LETTER A
U+0062
b
98
LATIN SMALL LETTER B
U+0063
c
99
LATIN SMALL LETTER C
U+0064
d
100
LATIN SMALL LETTER D
U+0065
e
101
LATIN SMALL LETTER E
U+0066
f
102
LATIN SMALL LETTER F
U+0067
g
103
LATIN SMALL LETTER G
U+0068
h
104
LATIN SMALL LETTER H
U+0069
i
105
LATIN SMALL LETTER I
U+006A
j
106
LATIN SMALL LETTER J
U+006B
k
107
LATIN SMALL LETTER K
U+006C
l
108
LATIN SMALL LETTER L
U+006D
m
109
LATIN SMALL LETTER M
U+006E
n
110
LATIN SMALL LETTER N
U+006F
o
111
LATIN SMALL LETTER O
U+0070
p
112
LATIN SMALL LETTER P
U+0071
q
113
LATIN SMALL LETTER Q
18
U+0072
r
114
LATIN SMALL LETTER R
U+0073
s
115
LATIN SMALL LETTER S
U+0074
t
116
LATIN SMALL LETTER T
U+0075
u
117
LATIN SMALL LETTER U
U+0076
v
118
LATIN SMALL LETTER V
U+0077
w
119
LATIN SMALL LETTER W
U+0078
x
120
LATIN SMALL LETTER X
U+0079
y
121
LATIN SMALL LETTER Y
U+007A
z
122
U+00C0
À
195 128
U+00C1
Á
195 129
U+00C2
Â
195 130
U+00C3
Ã
195 131
U+00C7
Ç
195 135
U+00C9
É
195 137
U+00CA
Ê
195 138
U+00CD
Í
195 141
U+00D3
Ó
195 147
U+00D4
Ô
195 148
U+00D5
Õ
195 149
U+00DA
Ú
195 154
U+00E0
à
195 160
U+00E1
á
195 161
U+00E2
â
195 162
U+00E3
ã
195 163
U+00E7
ç
195 167
U+00E9
é
195 169
U+00EA
ê
195 170
U+00ED
í
195 173
LATIN SMALL LETTER Z
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH
GRAVE
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH
ACUTE
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH
CIRCUMFLEX
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH
TILDE
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C WITH
CEDILLA
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E WITH
ACUTE
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E WITH
CIRCUMFLEX
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I WITH
ACUTE
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH
ACUTE
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH
CIRCUMFLEX
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH
TILDE
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U WITH
ACUTE
LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH
GRAVE
LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH
ACUTE
LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH
CIRCUMFLEX
LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH
TILDE
LATIN SMALL LETTER C WITH
CEDILLA
LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH
ACUTE
LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH
CIRCUMFLEX
LATIN SMALL LETTER I WITH
19
ACUTE
U+00F3
ó
195 179
U+00F4
ô
195 180
U+00F5
õ
195 181
U+00FA
ú
195 186
LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH
ACUTE
LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH
CIRCUMFLEX
LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH
TILDE
LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH
ACUTE
Source: http://www.utf8-chartable.de/unicode-utf8-table.pl?utf8=dec
1
@
Aaron
andere
ändere
chaque
chemin
cote
coté
côte
côté
čučēt
Czech
Examples of
sorted words
hiša
irdisch
lävi
lie
lire
llama
lõug
Löwen
lòza
Lübeck
luč
luck
lye
Männer
20
màšta
mîr
möchten
myndig
piña
pint
pylon
sämtlich
šàran
savoir
Šerbūra
Sietla
ślub
subtle
symbol
väga
verkehrt
vox
waffle
wood
yen
yuan
yucca
ţal
ţena
Ţenēva
zoo
Zürich
Zviedrija
zysk
zzlj
zzlz
zznj
zznz3
21
Geopolitical Concerns
Part of the cultural adaptation of the US-product to a specific market is the resolving of geopolitical issues. While
the US-product should have been designed and developed with neutrality and a global audience in mind, the
localized product should respond to the particular situation that applies within the target country/region.
Sensitive issues or issues that might potentially be offensive to the users in the target country/region may occur in
any of the following:





Maps
Flags
Country/region, city and language names
Art and graphics
Cultural content, such as encyclopedia content and other text where historical or political references may
occur
Some of these issues are relatively easy to verify and resolve: the objective should be for the localizer to always
have the most current information available. Maps and other graphic representations of countries/regions and
regions should be checked for accuracy and existing political restrictions. Country/region, city and language
names change on a regular basis and need to be checked, even if previously approved.
A thorough understanding of the culture of the target market is required for checking the appropriateness of
cultural content, clip art and other visual representations of religious symbols, body and hand gestures.
22
Grammar, Syntax & Orthographic Conventions
This section includes information on how to apply the general rules of the Portuguese (Brazil) language to
Microsoft products and documentation.
Adjectives
In Portuguese (Brazil) language, adjectives can be postposed or preposed to the noun, but it is important to stress
that the direct order, noun followed by adjective, is more frequent. As in English the predominant order is
adjective followed by noun, when translating into Portuguese (Brazil), give preference to the Portuguese direct
order, unless the postposition plays a stylistic role in the text.
Example:
English
Translation
Create impressive panoramic photos.
Crie fotos panorâmicas fantásticas.
Possessive adjectives
The frequent use of possessives is a feature of English language. However, in Portuguese (Brazil), possessive
adjectives are not used as frequently. Do not transfer to the localized version the extensive use in English of
possessive adjectives.
Example:
English
Translation
Arrange your desktop icons.
Organize os ícones da área de trabalho.
The keys on your keyboard can be divided into
several groups based on function
As teclas no teclado podem ser divididas em diversos
grupos de acordo com a função.
Color names
The inflection of color names has caused some difficulties to translators. Although the guidelines that follow are
not different from the rules found in grammar books, this topic aims at providing a summary of the main rules to
aid translators during the localization of Microsoft products.


Adjectives indicating colors are variable: livro amarelo, sapatos marrons, bolsa vermelha. Color names
“borrowed” from nouns (such as laranja, vinho, gelo, rosa, cinza) are invariable, whether the term “cor” is
implicit or explicit: camisetas (cor de) laranja, vestidos (cor de) vinho, blusas violeta, camisas rosa, ternos
cinza, cortinas gelo.
The terms claro and escuro, when designating color tones, are linked to its antecedent by means of
hyphen, forming compound adjectives: vestido azul-claro, vestido azul-escuro. The plural is formed per
the general rule for compound adjectives: only the last element goes to the plural. Therefore: olhos azulclaros, olhos azul-escuros.
Note: Nouns are used to designate color tones, forming invariable compound adjectives, such as: olhos azulturquesa, camisas verde-bandeira, sandálias amarelo-ouro.
23
Articles
Unlocalized Feature Names
Microsoft product names and non-translated feature names are treated as proper nouns in Portuguese (Brazil).
Unlocalized feature/product names should be preceded by an article, for fluency.
Note: When a placeholder replaces a product name in a string, please make sure that the placeholder is
preceded by a definite article and a space (see last example in the table).
Please refer to the Gender topic below for information on the article gender to be adopted.
Example:
English
Translation
The only phone that lets you play games with Xbox
LIVE.
O único telefone que permite que você jogue com o Xbox
Live.
Microsoft Outlook 2010 provides an integrated
solution to help you better manage your time and
information, connect across boundaries, and remain
safer and in control.
O Microsoft Outlook 2010 fornece uma solução
integrada para ajudá-lo a gerenciar seu tempo e suas
informações de forma mais eficiente, conectar-se sem
fronteiras, sem perder a segurança e o controle.
Insert a removable drive to use BitLocker To Go.
Insira uma unidade removível para usar o BitLocker To
Go.
<a> will automatically save the subdocuments to new O <a> salvará automaticamente os subdocumentos em
files in the same file format as the master document. novos arquivos no mesmo formato do documento mestre.
Localized Feature Names
Translated feature names should be treated as regular proper names, preceded by definite/indefinite articles.
Example:
English
Translation
Increase the visibility of Accessibility Checker
violations.
Aumentar a visibilidade de violações do Verificador de
Acessibilidade
Capitalization
The English language tends to do extensive use of capitalization. When localizing Microsoft products, the
standard capitalization rules for Portuguese (Brazil) language should be followed except for software strings.
Capitalization of software strings
The source (English) capitalization should be followed. In some cases, this may sound unnatural for the
Portuguese language, but the text in the user interface follows a different nature, as it is composed of strings,
which often times have to be translated decontextualized. This rule is adopted for localization simplicity.
24
Example:
Occasionally, capitalization is overused in English, such as using title case capitalization in error messages. We
recommend that localizers use their own judgment to apply a sentence case capitalization in these cases.
Example:
English
Translation
Failed to Report Event.
Falha ao relatar evento.
The Logon Attempt Failed.
Falha na tentativa de logon.
References to UI elements
Capitalization of UI elements should follow the source text capitalization in software, UA, and Web files.
When the English UI term is composed of one single word and the translation has more than one word, all words
should be capitalized, (except for the words from the following grammatical : articles, prepositions, conjunctions,
adjective pronouns, relative pronouns, and unstressed personal pronouns).
Example:
English
Translation
Inbox
Caixa de Entrada
Add a Person to the Call
Adicionar uma Pessoa à Chamada
25
English
Translation
Adults Only
Somente para Adultos
Capitalization of headings and topic titles
Only the first letter of the first word in the sentence should be capitalized, unless there are references in the
headings/topic titles to items such as UI elements, product names, feature names, and so on.
Compounds
No applicable rules in this section
Gender
When faced with an English loan word in Microsoft products, consider the following options:



Motivation: Does the English word have any formally motivated features that would allow a
straightforward integration into the noun class system of Portuguese language?
Analogy: Is there an equivalent Portuguese (Brazil) term whose article could be used?
Frequency: Is the term used in other technical documentation? If so, what article is used most often?
The Internet may be a helpful reference here.
Example:
English
Translation
home page
[a/uma] home page
Web site
[o/um] site
gadget
[o/um] gadget
Genitive
This section does not apply to Portuguese (Brazil).
Modifiers
No applicable rules in this section.
Nouns
No applicable rules in this section.
26
Prepositions
Special attention should be dedicated to prepositions, as English prepositions tend to cause difficulties for
translators. Portuguese has far fewer prepositions, and there is no simple correspondence between those that do
exist and their English equivalents.
Influenced by the English language, when translating noun phrases, many translators do not contract the
preposition “de” with the respective definite article when the determinant is not generic. The reverse situation is
also recurrent: translators contract the preposition “de” with the definite article when dealing with a generic
reference. In order to avoid this type of error, it is very important to pay attention to the surrounding context.
Another common error is to omit the preposition.
Example:
English
Translation
Correction
Publisher Object Model Reference
(-) Referência do Modelo do Objeto
do Publisher
(+) Referência do Modelo de
Objetos do Publisher, ( the context
refers to several Publisher objects
and not a specific one.)
When the Project application
creates the first project, the result is
a Microsoft Project dialog box
with the message You created the
Project2 project.
(-) Quando o aplicativo Project criar
o primeiro projeto, o resultado será
uma caixa de diálogo Microsoft
Project com a mensagem Você
criou o projeto Projeto2.
(+) Quando o aplicativo Project criar
o primeiro projeto, o resultado será
uma caixa de diálogo do Microsoft
Project com a mensagem Você
criou o projeto Projeto2. (Without the
preposition, the translation is
misleading, as it may give the
impression that the dialog box title is
“Microsoft Project”.)
Pronouns
The English language uses demonstrative pronouns more frequently than in Portuguese (Brazil). A large number
of demonstrative and possessive pronouns can and should be replaced by articles in the translated text,
especially when dealing with error messages.
Example:
English
Translation
This disk cannot be unformatted.
A formatação do disco não pode ser cancelada.
Cannot complete this operation.
Não é possível concluir a operação.
27
Punctuation
General punctuation rules available in the recommended Portuguese (Brazil) Grammar books apply. To promote
a consistent style within Microsoft products, we recommend that translator adhere to the guidelines that follow.
In software, it is safer to follow the source text use of final periods, as we cannot foresee how the strings will
combine at run-time.
Colon
Do not capitalize common words after a colon.
Example:
English
Translation
Error: Unable to resolve email name.
Erro: não é possível resolver nome de email.
Note: The Tools menu appears on the main Outlook
window.
Observação: o menu Ferramentas aparece na janela
principal do Outlook.
Period
Do not use two spaces after a period, even if this occurs in the source text.
Dashes and Hyphens
Three different dash characters are used in English:
1. Hyphen
The standard hyphenation rules for word formation presented in Portuguese recommended grammar books
should be followed. Please note that there are several changes in the hyphenation rules due to the 2009
spelling reform (see Spelling Reform for more information).
2. En Dash
The en dash is used as a minus sign, usually with spaces before and after. The en dash is also used in
number ranges, such as those specifying page numbers.
Note: When you type a space and one or two hyphens between text, Microsoft Office Word automatically
inserts an en dash ( – ).
Example: If you type Consulte as seções A - E, Word converts it to Consulte as seções A – E
3. Em Dash
The em dash should only be used in dialogs, a scenario unlikely to occur in Microsoft products.
Quotation Marks
In US source strings, you may find software references surrounded by English quotation marks. When translating
the text into Portuguese (Brazil), please follow the source text.
28
Example:
English
Translation
... see “Special Characters” in chapter 4,
“Programming Fundamentals”
... consulte “Caracteres especiais” no capítulo
4, “Noções básicas de programação”
Note: In English, curly quotation marks are usually the norm.
Singular & Plural
No applicable rules in this section.
Note: Please see Color names for information on the plural formation of compound color names.
Split Infinitive
This section does not apply to Portuguese (Brazil).
Subjunctive
Generic information on the Subjunctive usage can be found in the recommended Portuguese grammar books and
publications.
Don’t overuse the Subjunctive mode
In sentences with the verbs assegurar-se and certificar-se, it is not unusual to find inconsistencies in relation to
the verb form used. With such verbs, please use the Indicative mode, as in the examples that follow.
Best practice: These translations can be replaced with “verificar” for a more fluent translation!
Example:
English
Translation
Better
Ensure words are spelled correctly.
Certifique-se de que as palavras
estão escritas corretamente.
Verifique se as palavras estão
escritas corretamente.
Make sure that all interfaces have
addresses.
Assegure-se de que todas as
interfaces têm endereços.
Verifique se todas as interfaces têm
endereços.
Non-Breaking Spaces
Use non-breaking spaces (Ctrl+Shift+Spacebar) between words that should not separate onto different lines. If
two words are connected by a non-breaking space, Word will keep them together, even if subsequent editing
causes line breaks to change. On your screen, a non-breaking space looks like a degree symbol ( ° ), but it will
print like a space.
Use non-breaking spaces in the following instances:
-
Between capítulo or apêndice and its number or letter.
Between a unit of measure or currency and the number that goes with it.
29
-
Between any items that should not be divided onto separate lines (For example, Microsoft Office,
Microsoft).
Syntax
Syntax and register differ between Portuguese (Brazil) and English in several ways. Some differences which may
lead to mistakes of negative transfer are:
1. Personal pronouns are often omitted in Portuguese (Brazil), whereas in English, they are always present in
the sentence. Avoid too many repetitions of personal pronouns within the translated text.
Example:
English
Translation
What you need to set up a home network
O que é necessário para configurar uma rede
doméstica
The variety of options for home networking can make
buying decisions difficult. Before you decide what
hardware to get, you should decide what type of
network technology (the way computers in a network
connect to or communicate with one another) to use.
A variedade de opções para rede doméstica pode
dificultar as decisões de compra. Antes de escolher
que tipo de equipamento adquirir, é preciso decidir
que tipo de tecnologia de rede (o modo como os
computadores em uma rede conectam-se ou
comunicam-se uns com os outros) será usado.
2. Possessives are used more extensively in English than in Portuguese. Please consider avoiding possessives,
whenever they are not essential to the meaning of the text, in the translated text.
Example:
English
Translation
When choosing a network technology, consider the
location of your computers and the desired speed of
your network.
Ao escolher uma tecnologia de rede, leve em conta a
localização física de seus computadores e a
velocidade desejada para a rede.
Verbs
When translating Microsoft products, please follow the source verb form: use gerund when translating
sentences/strings that start with the gerund form and use the infinitive when translating sentences/strings that
start with the infinitive form.
Example:
English
Translation
Managing hardware and software
Gerenciando hardware e software
Change text font
Alterar fonte do texto
30
Procedural verbs
It is important to use the right verbs in procedures. Some of these verbs have specific meanings in Microsoft
products, indicating a certain way of acting on an object.
Many of these verbs will correspond directly to English verbs used in Microsoft products, but some do not.
The following are some commonly used procedural verbs:



Selecionar highlights text or an object before carrying out an action on it. The user also selects
options within dialog boxes, but merely selecting an object does not execute a process.
Marcar and desmarcar apply to check boxes. Selecionar is also admitted, but marcar is preferred
to make the contrast select/unselect (marcar/desmarcar).
Clicar implies that a mouse must be used.
Example:
English
Translation
On the File menu, click Open
No menu Arquivo, clique em Abrir.
Select the Bold check box
Marque a caixa de seleção Negrito.
Select the word Blue.
Selecione a palavra Azul.
Clear the Bold check box
Desmarque a caixa de seleção Negrito.
Word Order
Standard rules of the Portuguese language apply. English and Portuguese can be described as SVO languages,
or languages in which the normal order of an affirmative sentence is that of Subject +Verb + Object. However, as
Portuguese has a clearly inflected verbal system, Portuguese word order is a little more flexible than that of
English. Please bear in mind that, in Portuguese, the subject of the sentence can often only be present in the
inflection of the verb, and the resulting structure could be described as a V+O order.
Parallelism
Parallelism requires that words and phrases that have the same function have the same form.
When to use:


Use parallel language whenever you express ideas of equal weight.
Use parallel language for UI elements that are parallel in function, such as drop-down lists and radio
buttons in a dialog box.
Make all items use the same part of speech. For example, make them all begin with the same verb form or make
them all utilize the same sentence structure.
31
Spelling Reform
The new spelling rules are effective since January 01, 2009. The transition period, in which both spelling systems
are accepted, goes from January 1st, 2009 to December 31, 2012.
The complete text of the Portuguese Spelling Agreement is available free of charge in several Web sites. In CPLP
(Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa) Web site, the full text of the Agreement as well as the two
protocols with modifications to the Agreement is available for download.
th
Important The 5 edition of Vocabulário Ortográfico da Língua Portuguesa (VOLP) was published on March 19,
2009. The VOLP is a very important reference source, as it clarifies some points that were obscure and
controversial in the official text of the Agreement ABL official explanatory note provides valuable information on
th
the methodological procedures followed in VOLP 5 edition.
Summary of the main spelling changes (pt-br)
It is estimated that 0.5% of Portuguese (Brazil) lexicon is affected by the new spelling rules. Below you will find a
summary of the changes for Portuguese (Brazil).
Note: These are overall guidelines to the Spelling Reform, please be aware that some rules described below
have exceptions.
1. Diaeresis (trema) will no longer be used on the letter "u" to indicate when the vowel "u" is pronounced in words
with gue, gui, que, qui. Examples: frequente, tranquilo, bilíngue, linguiça.
2. Paroxitone words with the open diphthongs éi and ói will no longer have accent. Examples: alcateia, celuloide,
Coreia
3. Paroxitone words with a diphthong followed by the tonic vowels i or u will no longer have accent. Examples:
baiuca, feiura
4. Words that end by êem or ôo(s) will no longer have accent. Examples: abençoo, creem, deem, doo, perdoo,
veem.
5. The words that follow no longer have differential accent: pára/para, péla(s)/pela(s), pêlo(s)/pelo(s),
pólo(s)/polo(s), pêra(s)/pera(s).
Examples:
- Ele para o carro.
- Ele joga polo.
6. Hyphen in compound words: Hyphen should not be used in compound words that no longer carry the notion
of composition. Examples: girassol, madressilva, mandachuva, paraquedas, paraquedista, pontapé.
th
Note: Per VOIP 5 edition, this rule should only be applied to the 6 compound words above, which are the ones
explicitly mentioned in the Spelling Agreement document.
7. Use of hyphen with prefixes and pseudo-prefixes
7.1 Basic rule: When the second element starts by “h”, the prefix should always be followed by hyphen.
Examples: anti-higiênico, super-homem.
7.2 When the prefix ends by a vowel:
- No hyphen when prefix is followed by a different vowel. Examples: autoescola, antiaéreo
- No hyphen when prefix is followed by a consonant different from “r” and “s.” Examples: anteprojeto,
32
semicírculo
Exception: The prefixes circum- and pan- should be followed by a hyphen when they are followed by a
vowel, “m” or “n”: circum-navegação, pan-americano
- No hyphen when prefix is followed by “r” and “s" and the letters “r” and “s” are doubled. Examples:
antirracismo, ultrassom
- With hyphen when prefix is followed by the same vowel. Examples: contra-ataque, micro-ondas.
Exception: With the prefix “co-“, no hyphen is used when the prefix "co-" is followed by the same vowel.
Examples: cooperar, coorganizar. Same applies to prefixes "pre-" and "pro-" when NOT tonic. Examples:
preencher, proótico
VOIP Update
th
1. Per VOIP 5 edition, the prefix "co-" should NOT be followed by hyphen when followed by a word
starting with "h." Therefore, "co-herdeiro" should now be spelled as "coerdeiro."
2. The prefix "re-" is also an exceptional case: no hyphen should be used when the prefix "re-" is followed
by the same vowel. Examples: reenviar, reemitir.
3. In noun phrases with "não" and "quase" functioning as a prefix, the hyphen should not be used.
Examples: não Unicode, não repúdio, quase delito.
7.3. When the prefix ends by a consonant:
- With hyphen when prefix is followed by the same consonant. Examples: inter-regional, sub-bibliotecário
- No hyphen when prefix is followed by a different consonant. Examples: intermunicipal, supersônico
Exception: The prefix “sub-“ should be followed by a hyphen when the second element starts by the
1
consonant “r.” Examples: sub-região, sub-raça.
- No hyphen when prefix is followed by a vowel. Examples: interestadual, superinteressante
7.4 Prefixes always followed by hyphen: além-, aquém-, ex-, pós-, pré-, pró-, recém-, sem-, vice-, sota-,
soto-, vizo-. Examples: ex-aluno, além-mar, vice-diretor.
Note:
The Agreement contains a few other changes not included in this topic, as they involve words that are not likely to
occur in Microsoft products. In case these words appear in our products, please follow the spelling in the
th
Vocabulário Ortográfico da Língua Portuguesa (VOIP 5 edition).
Special Cases in Microsoft Terminology
English words
The new hyphenation rules should not be applied to terms adopted in English in Portuguese (Brazil) products.
Examples: Auto PC, Aero Glass, anti-phishing.
AutoCombo words
Even though AutoCombo words (camel case) contain the prefix "auto-" and are translated into Portuguese
(Brazil), these words should be handled as exceptions to the new hyphenation rules. AutoCombo words are not
genuine words from the Portuguese lexicon, but Microsoft-specifc words to designate certain features.
Examples: AutoArquivar, AutoSoma
33
Style and Tone Considerations
This section focuses on higher-level considerations for audience, style, tone, and voice.
Audience
Normally the audience or target user of software products localized into Portuguese (Brazil) is the same as for the
US product. There are products for IT users, gamers, domestic users, knowledge workers, etc. The tone used in
the localized product is directly related to the target audience.
Example: Visual Studio and SQL Server are developer products; Windows Live audience is home users. The tone
used in Windows Live is, therefore, more relaxed and informal, based on its audience.
Style
Even though the tone used in the products for the Brazilian market tends to be less colloquial than the English
tone, stylistic features used in the source text should be kept, such as gaming slang for gaming contexts,
corporate talk for advertising business applications, developer lingo for development platform advertising.
General tips
- Do not use terms that are specific to a certain region (too “local”).
- Be precise and clear.
- Do not transfer to the localized version the extensive use in English of possessive adjectives (your keyboard,
your software, etc.).
- Avoid using verbs and words with very general meaning, such as "fazer", "coisa." Be more specific.
Tone
Normally the tone used in English products is more colloquial than the tone used in Portuguese (Brazil) products.
The tone used is directly related to the target audience of the product.
Example: Windows Live products use a more colloquial tone; Windows tone is more formal.
Voice
In all Microsoft products, the user should be addressed using the pronoun "você."
Example:
English
Translation
You are now connected to the Internet.
Você está agora conectado à Internet.
34
Localization Guidelines
This section contains guidelines for localization into Portuguese (Brazil).
General Considerations
This part of the style guide contains standards followed when localizing a Microsoft product into to Portuguese
(Brazil). The goal is to provide guidelines that will promote consistency within the Portuguese (Brazil) versions of
Microsoft products.
Abbreviations
General guidelines
You might need to abbreviate some words in the UI (mainly buttons or options names) due to lack of space. This
can be done in the following ways:





Abbreviations end with a consonant, except in the following examples: ago. (agosto), dra.(doutora), profa.
(professora), sra.(senhora), etc.
Extended characters are preserved in the abbreviated form of a word (see examples in the table below).
If a sentence ends with an abbreviation, do not add a final period to the sentence.
Abbreviations may be made plural by adding an "s" to a single or compound term, except when the
abbreviation is a unit of measure or a scientific symbol.
If the space is extremely limited, the most important word should be abbreviated the least possible and
only the initials of the remaining words should be used. Space permitting, add a final period to the last
abbreviation.
The period is also eliminated when it may be misunderstood, as in abbreviations of macros and
commands: Digite cd\vendas
Example:
Expression
Acceptable Abbreviation
artigo
art.
feminino
fem.
masculino
masc.
requisição de compra atribuída
RC atrib.
século
séc.
Units of measurement
Abbreviations for units of measurement should be written in lower case (except when derived from a proper
noun), without a final period, and always in the singular. If spelled out, they should be written in lower case, even
when derived from proper nouns: ampère, newton, etc. Do not mix abbreviated and spelled-out units:
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Correct: 10 km/h or 10 quilômetros por hora
Incorrect: 10 km/hora
Example:
Unit of measurement: Spelled-out form
Unit of measurement: Abbreviated form
centímetro
cm
milímetro
mm
polegada
in/pol. See note below
paica
pi
ponto
pt
linha
lin
Fahrenheit
ºF
Celsius
ºC
Note: Inches
If there is a need to indicate special US formats in inches, the abbreviation in (or the equivalent symbol ”) should be used in the translation.
Use the spelled-out word polegada or the abbreviation pol. to translate the word inch, in general.
3.5" floppy disk => Disquete de 3,5"
2 in => 2 in (only when there is a reason for not converting to mm or cm)
Accessibility
General accessibility information can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/enable/education/
Acronyms
Acronyms are words made up of the initial letters of major parts of a compound term. Some well-known examples
are WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), OLE (Object Linking and Embedding), or RAM (Random
Access Memory). Acronyms are not as common in Portuguese (Brazil) as they are in English.
Acronyms behave like nouns: the plural is made by adding an "s" to the acronym (e.g. Você pode encontrar toda
a história do cinema em apenas dois CDs). In the case of non-Portuguese words, the gender will vary according
to usage (o PC, o MSN, a AOL).
Localized Acronyms
When the usage of the English acronym is not widespread among the Brazilian audience of the product, the
general recommendation is to use the spelled-out form instead. There are some products, however that uses
multiple acronyms and it may not be possible to replace the acronyms with the spelled-out form due to space
limitations in the user interface. Microsoft Project is a good example of this scenario.
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Please see examples of Microsoft Project localized acronyms in the table below:
English
English Spelled-out Form
Acronym
Portuguese (Brazil)
Portuguese (Brazil)
Acronym
Spelled-out Form
ACWP
Actual Cost of Work
Performed
CRTR
Custo Real do Trabalho
Realizado
BCWP
Budgeted Cost of Work
Performed
COTR
Custo Orçado do
Trabalho Realizado
BCWS
Budgeted Cost of Work
Scheduled
COTA
Custo Orçado do
Trabalho Agendado
Non-technical acronyms, such as such as UI and VCR, that are known in Brazil by the spelled-out form, should
not be included in localized products. Instead, the equivalent spelled-out form in Portuguese (Brazil) should be
used.
Example:
English
Translation
The primary user interface (UI) objects that the user
can manipulate.
Os principais objetos da interface do usuário que o
usuário pode manipular.
Please make sure your VCR is turned on.
Verifique se seu videocassete está ligado.
Unlocalized Acronyms
Technical acronyms
In general terms, technical acronyms are not translated. The localized spelled-out form should be used the first
time the acronym appears in a dialog box (space permitting) or UA file. Please note that the localized spelled-out
form should be provided in parentheses after the acronym, and not before, as a courtesy service to the user. After
that, only the acronym should be used.
Example:
English
Translation
EFI Boot Manager
Gerenciador de Inicialização de EFI
*(followed by the localized spelled-
out form the first time it appears)
Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) header
cabeçalho GRE
*(followed by spelled-out form the first time it appears)
Note: Specifically for UI material, there is usually not enough space for the two terms (acromym, translation in
parentheses); only in wizards, the acronym can be easily spelled out on first mention. If there are space
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constraints or there is no 'first' occurrence, it is up to the localizers to judge to the best of their knowledge if the
acronym's translated spelled-out form should be mentioned as well.
Protocol names and file formats
Protocol names and file formats do not follow the rules described above, since the English acronyms are widely
known and recognized in the Brazilian market. Additionally, the spelled-out form is rarely used and, when it is
used, it is not translated.
Example:
English
Translation
Graphics Interchange Format (.gif)
formato GIF
JPEG File Interchange Format (.jpg or .jpeg)
formato JPEG
RTF (Rich Text Format)
formato RTF
In the case of a well-established English acronym in Brazil, there is no need to provide a spelled-out form.
Example:
English
Translation
CD-ROM
CD-ROM
iSCSI
iSCSI
ISO
ISO
The localizer's judgment should also take into account that users of distinct products will also have different levels
of knowledge: while for a Windows Server user identifying "ACL" won't pose any serious problems, the average
Office user may experience difficulties in understanding "ACL" and prefer "lista de controle de acesso". Please be
consistent within a product.
Applications, Products, and Features
Application/product names are often trademarked or may be trademarked in the future and are therefore rarely
translated. Occasionally, feature names are trademarked, too (e.g. IntelliSense™). Before translating any
application, product, or feature name, please verify that it is in fact translatable and not protected in any way.
Frequent Errors
To localize a product means to adapt a product to the local market. Microsoft products localized into Portuguese
(Brazil) should have the look and feel of a local product, using idiomatic syntax and terminology, while maintaining
terminological consistency.
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Fluency, readability and intelligibility also impact the user experience. Literal translation should be avoided at all
costs, as it impacts readability and the user experience. In descriptive texts, do not blindly stick to terminology if
there is a more idiomatic and fluent way to convey the meaning of the source text. Use the Portuguese word order
instead of translating word by word.
Please see below some examples of frequent errors or required improvements caused by literal translation:
English
Translation
Correction and comment
The installed version of the dll may
not be current enough to support
UIA in Outlook.
(-) A versão instalada da dll pode
não ser suficientemente atual para
dar suporte a UIA no Outlook.
Literal translation text is translating
word by word, jeopardizing
readability.
(+) A versão instalada da dll pode
não estar atualizada para dar
suporte a UIA no Outlook.
This comprehensive information
and time manager helps you
organize and instantly search for
the information you need.
(-) Essas informações
abrangentes e o gerenciador de
tempo ajudam a organizar e
pesquisar instantaneamente as
informações necessárias.
Mistranslation: Text is translated
without paying attention to the
meaning and surrounding context.
Pieces of information provided by
the context should not be ignored. In
this case, the verb is in the singular,
therefore, the subject should be in
the singular as well.
(+) Esse gerenciador de tempo e
de informações abrangente o
ajuda a organizar e pesquisar
instantaneamente as informações
necessárias.
Microsoft Outlook 2010 provides an
integrated solution to help you
better manage your time and
information, connect across
boundaries, and remain safer and
in control.
(-) O Microsoft Outlook 2010 fornece
uma solução integrada para ajudar
você a obter um melhor
gerenciamento de tempo e
informações, conectar-se entre
limites e permanecer mais seguro
e no controle.
Literal translation: Translator
should focus on conveying the
correct meaning and avoid word by
word translation.
(+) O Microsoft Outlook 2010
fornece uma solução integrada para
ajudá-lo a gerenciar seu tempo e
suas informações de forma mais
eficiente, conectar-se sem
fronteiras, sem perder a
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English
Translation
Correction and comment
segurança e o controle.
Respect link
(-) Link de respeito
In short strings, without surrounding
context, it may not be always easy
to determine, in structures like this, if
the string is a noun phrase or a
sentence. Information that can be
helpful: other occurrences of each
word in the file; resource ID;
surrounding strings; the meaning of
the string itself.
(+) Respeitar link
Errors in the workflow prevent it
from functioning correctly.
(-) Os erros no fluxo de trabalho
impedem que ele funcione
corretamente
This is a reference to errors in
general, and not specific errors.
String should therefore be translated
generically (no definite article).
(+) Erros no fluxo de trabalho
impedem que ele funcione
corretamente
Glossaries
Consistent use of Microsoft approved terminology in all localized products is one of the major factors in achieving
the required quality of the localized product.
Microsoft Terminology and Microsoft glossaries for release products are available at:
1. Terminology search tool (Terminology database and UI strings from Microsoft released products: Microsoft
Language Portal
2. Terminology Collection is available for download at Microsoft Language Portal download section:
http://www.microsoft.com/Language/en-US/Terminology.aspx
3. UI Translations for Microsoft products and services are available for download for subscribers to the Microsoft
Developer Network (MSDN) or to Microsoft TechNet. For more information, please visit
http://www.microsoft.com/Language/en-US/Translations.aspx
Fictitious Information
Fictitious content is legally sensitive material and as such cannot be handled as a pure terminology or localization
issue. Below is some basic information and contact points when dealing with fictitious content:
Vendors and Localizers are not allowed to create their own fictitious names. You must either use the source
names or use the list of legally approved names.
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[email protected]
The email address [email protected], used as example, should be localized as [email protected] in all
Brazilian products.
Recurring Patterns
And then
The expression and then is generally used when enumerating two or several procedures in a single sentence,
with the last element linked by and then, preceded by a coma. This expression can be omitted in the translated
text, to make the translated text more natural.
Example:
English
Translation
Quit some programs to increase available memory,
and then try again.
Encerre alguns programas para aumentar a memória
disponível e tente novamente.
Type a keyword, and then click Add.
Digite uma palavra-chave e clique em Adicionar.
From
Use the expression a partir de to translate from when this word is used in relation to time. When in relation to
space, limit the use of a partir de to the infrequent cases where ambiguity in the translated text is an issue.
Otherwise use de or em, plus the necessary contractions.
Example:
English
Translation
Receiving information from server...
Recebendo informações do servidor...
Choose Send from the Print menu.
Escolha Enviar no menu Arquivo.
Illegal
Illegal should be translated as ilegal in a legal context, meaning "non-authorized". When it means "invalid", it
should be translated as inválido.
Example:
English
Translation
If your product key is not being accepted, they you
might have an illegal copy of Windows.
Se a chave do produto não for aceita, talvez você tenha
uma cópia ilegal do Windows.
The source path is illegal.
O caminho de origem é inválido.
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Important; Attention; Caution; Warning; Alert; Notice; Note
These are recurring words that may appear in any part of the product. Please use the following standard
translations:
English
Translation
Important
Importante
Attention
Atenção
Caution
Cuidado
Warning
Aviso
Alert
Alerta
Notice
Aviso
Note
Observação
Please; Sorry
As a general rule, these words, so common in the English text, should not be used in our translations.
Example:
English
Translation
Please verify the following information before
proceeding.
Verifique as informações a seguir antes de continuar.
Sorry, % cannot be loaded.
Não é possível carregar %.
Success; Successful; Successfully
These are recurring words that may appear in all product parts. Please use the following standard translations:
Example:
English
Translation
Success
Êxito
The number of queries that produce successful
searches.
O número de consultas que produzem pesquisas bemsucedidas.
File system notifications were not initialized
successfully.
As notificações do sistema de arquivo não foram
inicializadas com êxito.
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Type; Enter; Insert
These are recurring verbs that may appear in any part of the product. Please use the following standard
translations:
English
Translation
type, to
digitar
enter, to
inserir or digitar (whatever is more appropriate to the
context)
insert, to
inserir
Standardized Translations
There are a number of standardized translations mentioned in all sections of this Style Guide. In order to find
them more easily, the most relevant topics and sections are compiled here for you reference.
Unlocalized Items
The Importance of Standardization
Standard Phrases in Error Messages
Portuguese (Brazil) Style in Error Messages
Cross-References
Unlocalized Items
Trademarks
Trademarked names and the name Microsoft Corporation shouldn‟t be localized. A list of Microsoft trademarks is
available for your reference at the following location: http://www.microsoft.com/trademarks/t-mark/names.htm.
Unlocalized terms
There are a number of terms that remain unlocalized in Portuguese (Brazil). The main reasons are:
-
Market usage: Technical terms that are mostly used in English in Brazil
The equivalent term in Portuguese (Brazil) is identical to the English term
Example:
Word
Comment
backup
Noun - masculine gender.
bit
Masculine gender.
blog
Masculine gender.
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Word
Comment
buffer
Noun - masculine gender.
byte
Masculine gender.
cache
Masculine gender.
chat
Noun - masculine gender.
clip-art
The term “clip-art” is used hyphenated in Microsoft
products.
cookie
Masculine gender.
design
Noun - masculine gender.
download
Noun - masculine gender.
driver
Masculine gender.
email
The term “email” is not used hyphenated in Microsoft
products. Noun - masculine gender.
emoticon
Masculine gender.
hardware
Masculine gender.
fax
Noun - masculine gender.
firewall
Masculine gender.
firmware
Masculine gender.
gadget
Per subsidiary request, this term should be used in
English. Masculine gender.
home page
Feminine gender.
Internet
Feminine gender.
layout
Masculine gender.
link
Noun - masculine gender.
logon
Masculine gender.
macro
Feminine gender.
modem
Masculine gender.
multicast
Noun - masculine gender.
offline
The term “offline” is not hyphenenated In Microsoft
products.
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Word
Comment
OK
The “OK” button is used as is in Portuguese (Brazil).
online
The term “online” is not hyphenenated In Microsoft
products.
phishing
Masculine gender.
player
The noun “player” (in the sense of media player) is
masculine in Portuguese.
plug-in
Masculine gender.
proxy
Masculine gender.
script
Noun - masculine gender.
slide
Masculine gender.
software
Masculine gender.
spyware
Masculine gender.
streaming
Noun - masculine gender.
unicast
Noun - masculine gender.
zoom
Noun - masculine gender.
Using the Word Microsoft
In English, it is prohibited to use MS as an abbreviation for Microsoft. This also applies to Microsoft products (UI
and UA) localized into Portuguese (Brazil)
Exception: MS-DOS
Variables
There is no specific rule for the localization of variables (this should not be a major issue, i.e. you won't create a
bug if you translate one way or the other), and localizers should trust their good sense. Here are some
recommendations:





Try to follow the US format, i.e. if they use underscores in English, use underscores.
Space is usually an issue; so NomeUsuário makes more sense than Nome_do_Usuário.
Avoid including prepositions.
Favor readability: Nome_Usuário may be more readable than NomeUsuário
Be consistent
Example:
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English
Translation
File_Name
Nome_Arquivo
User_Name
Nome_Usuário
Software Considerations
This section refers to all menus, menu items, commands, buttons, check boxes, etc., which should be consistently
translated in the localized product.
Refer to http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/aa511258.aspx for a detailed explanation of the Windows user interface
guidelines (English).
User Interface
Translating UI items can be challenging. One of the main difficulties is that all too often one doesn't quite know the
context or the exact function of a particular UI item. This topic is intended to give some general guidelines.
Menus, Commands, and Dialog Titles
Menus and commands (also called menu items) are translated following the structure of the original software:

Nouns should be used whenever nouns are used in English.

Infinitive should be used whenever a verb is used in English.
Example:
English
Translation
Tools
Ferramentas
Insert
Inserir
Page Layout
Layout de Página
In Ribbon-type user interfaces, like Office 2010 applications, traditional drop-down menus are no longer used. In
these cases, you should aim at achieving stylistic consistency in group and section names.
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Dialog titles should be consistent with the corresponding command. If the infinitive form is used for the
command, then the corresponding dialog title should also use the infinitive form (examples highlighted in red).
Make sure to follow these guidelines when translating buttons and checkboxes:

Nouns should be used whenever nouns are used in English.

Whenever the source label starts with a verb, the target label should start with an infinitive verb.

Follow the punctuation in the source text

Be concise
Examples in the table and screenshot below:
English
Translation
Change title…
Alterar título…
Add
Adicionar
Create a copy
Criar uma cópia
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Notes
1. For command buttons that open other windows, make sure to use consistent terminology
2. For space limitations and aesthetical reasons, when dealing with pronominal verbs, do not include the pronoun
in the translation of a button:
Example:
English
Translation
Connect
Conectar
(instead of Conectar-se)
Tooltips
Tooltips are small pop-up windows that display a single line text describing the purpose of a tool in an application.
In such cases, tooltips should be short and concise and they should have exactly the same linguistic form as
menus, commands or buttons.
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The concept and use of a tooltip has evolved and we see more and more tooltips that serve as short
explanations, such as seen in Office 2010 extended tooltips.
In any case, a consistent and usability-centered approach should be taken.
Drop-down Lists
Drop-down lists are translated following the structure of the original software:


Nouns should be used whenever nouns are used in English.
Infinitive should be used whenever a verb is used in English.
Example:
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Messages
This topic contains some general guidelines for the translation of Error Messages. Please note that these
guidelines might not apply to all instances. When translating expressions or sentence structures not addressed in
this document, try to be as clear, concise and fluent as possible. And, in any case, do not compromise the
meaning of the message only to make it fit in one of the Portuguese structures mentioned in this document.
Status Messages
What is a Status Bar Message?
A status bar message is an informational message about the active document or a selected command as well as
about any active or selected interface item. Messages are shown in the status bar at the bottom of the window
when the user has chosen a menu, a command or any other item, or has started a function. The status bar
messages refer to actions being performed or already complete (for example in Outlook and Word below).
Portuguese (Brazil) Style in Status bar Messages
In English, the status bar messages have different forms dependent on the information they must convey.
An application can display various types of information in the status bar. Descriptive messages and progress
messages are very common pieces of information in a status bar. Typically, for translation simplicity and
consistency, the structure used in the English product should be followed. Follow these guidelines when
translating status bar messages:



Use parallel constructions (see Parallelism for more information).
For descriptive messages, use the present tense.
For descriptive messages, use complete sentences, including articles, and end with a period.
Example:
English
Translation
Message Type
Inserts text into the picture.
Insere texto na imagem.
Descriptive message
Waiting on {0}
Aguardando {0)
Progress message
Copies the current selection onto
the Clipboard.
Copia a seleção atual para a área
de transferência.
Descriptive message
The Importance of Standardization
In the US product you can often find messages that are phrased differently even though they have the same
meaning. Try to avoid this in the localized Portuguese (Brazil) version.
Example:
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English term
Standardized Portuguese (Brazil) translation
Press F1 to get Help
Pressione F1 para obter ajuda.
If you want Help press F1
To get Help press F1
Not enough memory
Memória insuficiente.
Insufficient memory
There is not enough memory
Save changes to %1?
Deseja salvar as alterações em %1?
Do you want to save changes to %1?
Error Messages
What Is An Error Message?
Here is an example:
Error messages are messages sent by the system or a program, informing the user that there is an error that
must be corrected in order for the program to keep running. For example, the messages can prompt the user to
take an action or inform the user of an error that requires rebooting the computer.
Portuguese (Brazil) Style in Error Messages
It is important to use consistent terminology and language style in the localized error messages, and not just
translate as they appear in the US product.
When translating error messages, bear in mind three basic principles:
Clarity
To communicate with efficiency. Sometimes, breaking the source string in two sentences increases its legibility.
The idea is to avoid too many subordinate sentences and conjunctions. The communication must be as direct and
efficient as possible.
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A number of messages refer to highly specific technical procedures. It is important to understand the meaning of
an obscure message in order to increase the legibility of the translated information.
Example:
English
Translation
Correction
Since a virus was detected,
rebooting is recommended to
minimize the possibility of further
infection.
(-) Uma vez que um vírus foi
detectado, recomenda-se a
reinicialização do computador para
minimizar a possibilidade de maior
infecção.
(+) Vírus detectado. É aconselhável
reinicializar o computador para
minimizar possíveis danos.
Can't rename with different drive.
(-) Não é possível renomear como
outra unidade de disco.
(+) Não é possível renomear em
uma unidade diferente.
Economy
To communicate with brevity. The increase of text length is a crucial problem in software localization. The
localization of a message, for example, may be limited to a single line or allow for only a few extra characters. In
order to use the available space appropriately, it is necessary to eliminate the redundant material without
compromising the clarity of the information. The idea is to avoid lengthy and complex sentences, whose contents
may be better expressed in a shorter, more explicit structure.
Example:
English
Translation
Correction
Specify which drivers you want to
include during the optimization
process.
(-) Especifique quais drivers deseja
incluir durante o processo de
otimização.
(+) Especifique os drivers a serem
incluídos na otimização.
This file could not be found.
(-) Este arquivo não pôde ser
encontrado.
(+) Arquivo não encontrado.
Consistency
The same messages are sometimes written in several slightly different formats in English, depending on the
product where they appear. For instance, the forms Cannot/Unable are variations on the same idea, which may
cause unnecessary inconsistencies in our translations. Portuguese translations should be consistent.
The topic The importance of standardization contains several patterns that should be followed when translating
error messages.
Example:
English
Translation
File not found.
This file was not found.
File is missing.
Arquivo não encontrado.
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English
Translation
Do you want to continue?
Do you wish to continue?
Do you want to proceed?
Deseja continuar?
Don't display this dialog in the future.
Don't show this dialog in the future.
Never display this dialog again.
Não exibir mais esta caixa de diálogo.
Check errors:
Verificação de erros:
Error checking:
Cannot find '%s'.
„%s' não encontrado.
„%s' not found.
This folder already contains a file named '%2'.
This folder already contains a file called '%2'.
Do not show this warning in the future.
In the future, do not show this warning.
A pasta já contém um arquivo chamado '%2'.
Não mostrar mais este aviso.
Standard Phrases in Error Messages
When translating standard phrases, standardize. Note that sometimes the US uses different forms to express the
same thing.
Example:
English
Translation
Cannot…
Unable...
Não é possível...
Not possible…
Could not...
It was impossible...
Não foi possível...
Example
Não é possível ativar o
aplicativo.
Não é possível abrir o
arquivo.
Não foi possível iniciar o
trabalho de impressão.
Comment
Messages that start with
one of these forms
usually convey, in a
generic way, the
impossibility to carry on
a task. These forms
should all be translated
as Não é possível +
infinitive
The past tense form
seems to introduce the
notion of a more specific
event. That notion, in
some cases, may be
relevant. For this reason,
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English
Translation
Example
Comment
use the past tense in the
translations as well.
Translate messages that
finish with failed or start
with Failed to as Falha +
preposition “a” and the
noun failure as falha.
Failed to …
Failure of …
Falha ao …
Falha ao salvar o
documento.
Note: When the verb
form failed to appears in
the middle of the
sentence, with a subject
and a complement,
follow this construction:
subject + não pôde +
complement, as in:
Setup failed to initialize.
A instalação não pôde
ser inicializada.
Cannot …
Could not …
Unable to …
Não é possível…
Não é possível abrir o
arquivo.
Unable to …
You cannot …
Not enough …
Memória insuficiente para
carregar "%‟.
Insufficient …
There is not enough …
There is not enough …
… insuficiente
available
Out of …
... not available
... unavailable
…não disponível
Espaço em disco
insuficiente para instalar
os programas
selecionados.
Site não disponível.
Messages that start with
one of these forms
usually convey, in a
generic way, the
impossibility to carry on
a task. These forms
should all be translated
as Não é possível +
infinitive.
Even though there are
several valid ways to
convey this idea, it is
always preferable to be
concise when translating
error messages.
In the source text, it is
very common to omit the
verb (is/are) in error
messages. The verb
should also be omitted in
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English
Translation
Example
Comment
Portuguese (Brazil),
even when it is present
in the source error
message.
… occurred
… has occurred
Erro de disco durante uma
It is often possible to
operação de leitura.
omit the translation for
Falha ao executar um
occurred or has occurred
comando de
in error messages.
administração remota.
Error Messages Containing Placeholders
When localizing error messages containing placeholders, try to find out what will replace the placeholder. This is
necessary for the sentence to be grammatically correct when the placeholder is replaced with a word or phrase.
Note that the letters used in placeholders convey a specific meaning, see examples below:
%d, %ld, %u, and %lu means <number>
%c means <letter>
%s means <string>
Examples of error messages containing placeholders:
"Checking Web %1!d! of %2!d!" means "Checking Web <number> of <number>".
"INI file "%1!-.200s!" section" means "INI file "<string>" section".
Keys
The keyboard is the primary input device used for text input in Microsoft Windows. For accessibility and efficiency,
most actions can be performed using the keyboard as well. While working with Microsoft software, you use keys,
key combinations and key sequences.
In English, References to key names, like arrow keys, function keys and numeric keys, appear in normal text (not
in small caps). The same formatting is used in Portuguese (Brazil).
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Access Keys/Hot keys
Sometimes, there are underlined or highlighted letters in menu options, commands or dialog boxes. These letters
refer to access keys (also known as hot keys) that allow you to run commands, perform tasks, etc. more quickly.
When assigning access keys, assign the access key to the first letter of first word or first letter of the second word;
if these have been used previously, assign it to the second letter of the first word or the second letter of the
second word, then the third and fourth letters of the first or second words, and proceed successively.
Hot Key Special Options
Usage: Is It Allowed?
Notes
"Slim characters", such as I, l, t, r, f
can be used as hot key
yes
When no other character is
available.
Characters with downstrokes, such
as g, j, y, p and q can be used as
yes
When no other character is
available.
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Hot Key Special Options
Usage: Is It Allowed?
Notes
hotkeys
Extended characters can be used as
hotkeys
no
An additional letter, appearing
between brackets after item name,
can be used as hotkeys
yes
When no other character is
available.
A number, appearing between
brackets after item name, can be
used as hotkey
yes
When no other character is
available.
A punctuation sign, appearing
between brackets after item name,
can be used as hotkey
yes
When no other character is available
Duplicate hotkeys are allowed when
no other character is available
This is an engineering decision.
No hotkey is assigned when no more
characters are available (minor
options only)
This is an engineering decision.
Notes These are generic guidelines aiming at providing some guidance on hotkey assignment.
Arrow Keys
The arrow keys move input focus among the controls within a group. Pressing the right arrow key moves input
focus to the next control in tab order, whereas pressing the left arrow moves input focus to the previous control.
Home, End, Up, and Down also have their expected behavior within a group. Users can't navigate out of a control
group using arrow keys.
Numeric Keypad
It is recommended that you avoid distinguishing numeric keypad keys from the other keys, unless it is required by
a given application. In case which keys to be pressed is not obvious, provide necessary explanations.
Shortcut Keys
Shortcut keys are keystrokes or combinations of keystrokes used to perform defined functions in a software
application. Shortcut keys replace menu commands and they are sometimes given next to the command they
represent. In opposition to the access keys, which can be used only when available on the screen, shortcut keys
can be used even when they are not accessible on the screen.
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Standard Shortcut Keys
US
US English Shortcut
Command
Key
Portuguese (Brazil) Command
Portuguese (Brazil)
Shortcut key
General Windows Shortcut keys
Help window
F1
Ajuda
Context-sensitive Help
Shift+F1
Shift+F1
Display pop-up menu
Shift+F10
Shift+F10
Cancel
Esc
Activate\Deactivate menu bar
mode
F10
F10
Switch to the next primary
application
Alt+Tab
Alt+Tab
Display next window
Alt+Esc
Alt+Esc
Display pop-up menu for the
window
Alt+Spacebar
Alt+Spacebar
Display pop-up menu for the
active child window
Alt+-
Alt+-
Display property sheet for
current selection
Alt+Enter
Alt+Enter
Close active application
window
Alt+F4
Alt+F4
Switch to next window within
(modeless-compliant)
application
Alt+F6
Alt+F6
Capture active window image
to the Clipboard
Alt+Prnt Scrn
Alt+Prnt Scrn
Capture desktop image to the
Clipboard
Prnt Scrn
Prnt Scrn
Access Start button in taskbar
Ctrl+Esc
Ctrl+Esc
Display next child window
Ctrl+F6
Ctrl+F6
Display next tabbed pane
Ctrl+Tab
Ctrl+Tab
Launch Task Manager and
system initialization
Ctrl+Shift+Esc
Ctrl+Shift+Esc
Cancelar
F1
Esc
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US
US English Shortcut
Command
Key
Portuguese (Brazil) Command
Portuguese (Brazil)
Shortcut key
File Menu
File New
Ctrl+N
Arquivo Novo
Ctrl+N
File Open
Ctrl+O
Arquivo Abrir
Ctrl+O
File Close
Ctrl+F4
Arquivo Fechar
Ctrl+F4
File Save
Ctrl+S
Arquivo Salvar
Ctrl+S
File Save as
F12
Arquivo Salvar como
F12
File Print Preview
Ctrl+F2
Arquivo Visualizar Impressão
Ctrl+F2
File Print
Ctrl+P
Arquivo Imprimir
Ctrl+P
File Exit
Alt+F4
Arquivo Sair
Alt+F4
Edit Menu
Edit Undo
Ctrl+Z
Editar Desfazer
Ctrl+Z
Edit Repeat
Ctrl+Y
Editir Repetir
Ctrl+Y
Edit Cut
Ctrl+X
Editar Recortar
Ctrl+X
Edit Copy
Ctrl+C
Editar Copiar
Ctrl+C
Edit Paste
Ctrl+V
Editar Colar
Ctrl+V
Edit Delete
Ctrl+Backspace
Editar Excluir
Ctrl+Backspace
Edit Select All
Ctrl+A
Editar Selecionar Tudo
Ctrl+A
Edit Find
Ctrl+F
Editar Localizar
Ctrl+F
Edit Replace
Ctrl+H
Editar Substituir
Ctrl+H
Edit Go To
Ctrl+B
Editar Ir para
Ctrl+B
Help Menu
Help
F1
Ajuda
F1
Font Format
Italic
Ctrl+I
Itálico
Ctrl+I
Bold
Ctrl+G
Negrito
Ctrl+G
Underlined\Word underline
Ctrl+U
Sublinhado
Ctrl+U
Large caps
Ctrl+Shift+A
Todas em maiúsculas
Ctrl+Shift+A
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US
US English Shortcut
Command
Key
Small caps
Ctrl+Shift+K
Portuguese (Brazil) Command
Versalete
Portuguese (Brazil)
Shortcut key
Ctrl+Shift+K
Paragraph Format
Centered
Ctrl+E
Centralizar
Ctrl+E
Left aligned
Ctrl+L
Alinhar texto à esquerda
Ctrl+L
Right aligned
Ctrl+R
Alinhar texto à direita
Ctrl+R
Justified
Ctrl+J
Justificar
Ctrl+J
In some localized products, such as Office applications, shortcut keys are localized.
The table that follows contains the standard shortcut keys for common Office commands.
Microsoft Office Applications
US Command
US English Shortcut Key
Portuguese (Brazil) Command Portuguese (Brazil)
Shortcut key
Select All
Ctrl + A
Selecionar Tudo
Ctrl + T
Save
Ctrl + S
Salvar
Ctrl + B
Find
Ctrl + F
Localizar
Ctrl + L
Undo
Ctrl + Z
Desfazer
Ctrl + Z
Cut
Ctrl + X
Recortar
Ctrl + X
Copy
Ctrl + C
Copiar
Ctrl + C
Paste
Ctrl + V
Colar
Ctrl + V
Bold
Ctrl + B
Negrito
Ctrl + N
Underline
Ctrl + U
Sublinhado
Ctrl + S
Italic
Ctrl + I
Itálico
Ctrl + I
Open
Ctrl + O
Abrir
Ctrl + A
Print
Ctrl + P
Imprimir
Ctrl + P
New
Ctrl + N
Novo
Ctrl + O
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Document Translation Considerations
Document localization may require some specific considerations that are different from software localization. This
section covers a few of these areas.
Titles
Manual titles
Manual titles should follow the English capitalization, that is, the first letter of each word capitalized.
Example:
English
Translation
Getting Started with InfoPath 2010
Guia de Introdução ao InfoPath 2010
Windows Preinstallation Environment User's Guide
Guia do Usuário do Ambiente de Pré-Instalação do
Windows
Topic and chapter titles
In English the titles for chapters usually begin with "How to …" or with phrases such as "Working with …" or
"Using …. In the Portuguese (Brazil) version of Microsoft documentation, please follow the English structure as
much as possible, as this has proved to promote consistency. Use gerund when translating headings/topic titles
that start with the gerund form and use the infinitive when translating headings/topic titles that start with the
infinitive form.
Example:
English
Translation
Monitoring File Transfers
Monitorando transferências de arquivo
Align text
Alinhar texto
Formula Overview
Visão geral de fórmulas
For capitalization rules, see the Capitalization of headings and topic titles subtopic under Capitalization.
Microsoft Press titles
Microsoft Press titles already translated for the Brazilian market can be found at
http://www.microsoft.com/brasil/certifique/mspress/default.aspx
When in doubt if a Microsoft Press title will be available for the Brazilian market, please contact the Microsoft PM
for your project.
When a title is only available in English, after the English book title, please add the disclaimer em inglês in
parentheses.
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Copyright
Copyright protection is granted to any original work of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression from
which it can be perceived, reproduced, or communicated.
Pay attention to the fact that the trademarks and the name of Microsoft Corporation should not be changed.
Example:
English
Translation
Copyright© Microsoft Corporation 2009-2010. All
rights reserved.
Copyright© Microsoft Corporation 2009-2010. Todos os
direitos reservados.
Windows® is a registered trademark of Microsoft
Corporation.
Windows® é uma marca registrada da Microsoft
Corporation.
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