Portuguese (Brazil) Translation Notes

Portuguese (Brazil, pt-BR) Translation Notes

Translation Goals

The primary goal was to ensure the translation aligns precisely with the guidelines, focusing on:

1. Consistency and Clarity of Core Concepts: Ensuring terms like secret and passphrase are translated consistently and accurately according to their specific meanings within the Onetime Secret platform
2. Brand Voice and Tone: Refining the language to be professional, clear, and efficient, while remaining approachable
3. Grammar and Style: Applying rules regarding active/imperative voice for actions (buttons) and passive/declarative voice for informational text (status messages or descriptions)
4. Natural Language: Selecting translations that sound natural in Brazilian Portuguese, rather than overly literal translations from English

Important Translation Examples

1. secret Translation

Guideline: Translate secret as the confidential information/message, not personal secrets.

Changes: Keys like create-a-secret, recent-secrets-count, hide-secret-message, view-secret-message, secret-content, secrets-details-counts-secret_count were updated.

Reasoning: The previous translations might have used “segredo,” which could imply a personal secret. The updated translations consistently use variations like “mensagem confidencial” (confidential message) or “conteúdo confidencial” (confidential content) to more accurately reflect the nature of the shared item.

Examples:

• create-a-secret: “Criar um Segredo” → “Criar Mensagem Confidencial”
• secret-content: “Conteúdo secreto” → “Conteúdo confidencial”

2. passphrase Translation

Guideline: Distinguish clearly between account password and secret passphrase. Use a term implying a phrase-based security measure for the latter.

Change: Keys like enter-a-passphrase and the new Double check that passphrase use “frase secreta”.

Reasoning: To avoid ambiguity with the account password (typically “senha”), the distinct term “frase secreta” (secret phrase) was consistently applied for protecting individual secrets, directly following the guideline.

Examples:

• enter-a-passphrase: Potentially ambiguous term → “Insira uma frase secreta”

3. Clarity and Conciseness

Guideline: Prioritize clarity, avoid redundancy.

Changes:

• e-g-example: Changed from “p. ex. exemplo” to “ex.”

  • Reasoning: “ex.” is the standard and more concise abbreviation for “for example” in Portuguese, making the UI cleaner

• docs: Changed from “Documentos” to “Documentação”

  • Reasoning: “Documentação” is the more common and precise term for technical documentation in this context

4. Voice Consistency (Imperative for Actions)

Guideline: Use active, imperative voice for user actions (buttons, etc.).

Changes: hide-secret-message and view-secret-message verbs were refined.

Reasoning: Ensured the verbs used (“Ocultar”, “Visualizar”) are clear commands appropriate for button labels, alongside the updated term for secret.

Summary of Changes to the Portuguese (Brazil) Translation

The Portuguese (Brazil) translation was updated to align more closely with the specific terminology and style guidelines. Key changes involved:

Standardizing secret

Consistently translating secret as “mensagem confidencial” or “conteúdo confidencial” to emphasize the nature of the shared information rather than personal secrets.

Clarifying passphrase

Using the distinct term “frase secreta” for secret protection to differentiate it clearly from the account password (“senha”).

Improving Clarity and Conciseness

Refining phrasing for better natural language flow and using standard abbreviations (e.g., “ex.” for “e.g.”).

Ensuring Voice Consistency

Applying imperative verbs for user actions (buttons) and declarative/passive voice for informational text where appropriate.

These adjustments aim to enhance the accuracy, consistency, and clarity of the user interface for Brazilian Portuguese speakers using Onetime Secret.

Key Terminology

English	Portuguese (Brazil)	Notes
secret (noun)	mensagem confidencial / conteúdo confidencial	Emphasizes the information being shared
password	senha	Account login credential only
passphrase	frase secreta	Secret protection mechanism
burn	queimar	Permanent deletion metaphor
view	visualizar	Imperative form for buttons
hide	ocultar	Imperative form for buttons
documentation	documentação	Technical documentation
search	buscar	Brazilian preference (not “pesquisar”)
clipboard	área de transferência	Brazilian term
custom domains	domínios personalizados	Standard translation
dashboard	painel	Translated (not loanword)
settings	configurações	Standard translation

Brazilian vs European Portuguese

CRITICAL: This translation uses Brazilian Portuguese conventions, not European Portuguese.

Key Differences

Aspect	Brazilian (pt-br) ✅	European (pt-pt) ❌
Search verb	buscar	pesquisar
You (informal)	você	tu/vós
Application	aplicativo/aplicação	aplicação
Train	treinar	formar

Gerund Usage

Brazilian Portuguese uses the gerund (-ndo) more frequently than European Portuguese:

• ✅ Brazilian: “Mostrando resultados” (Showing results)

• ❌ European: “A mostrar resultados”

• ✅ Brazilian: “Buscando” (Searching)

• ❌ European: “A buscar”

Use the Brazilian gerund style throughout documentation.

Formality and Tone

Use “Você” (Informal You)

Modern Brazilian Portuguese tech documentation uses “você” (informal you), not overly formal “o senhor/a senhora”:

Examples:

• “Seu recurso central” (Your central resource)
• “Confira nossa documentação” (Check our documentation)
• “Se você tiver dúvidas” (If you have questions)

This creates a professional but approachable tone, standard for tech documentation in Brazil.

Link Localization

CRITICAL: All internal links must use the /pt-br/ prefix.

Correct Format

✅ CORRECT: [documentação](/pt-br/docs-overview)
✅ CORRECT: [primeiros passos](/pt-br/introduction)
✅ CORRECT: [segurança](/pt-br/security/best-practices)

❌ WRONG: [documentação](/pt/docs-overview)  # Wrong locale code
❌ WRONG: [documentação](docs-overview)      # Missing locale prefix

Note: The locale code uses a hyphen: pt-br (not pt_br or ptbr)

External Links

External links to onetimesecret.com should remain as-is:

✅ CORRECT: [entrar em contato](https://onetimesecret.com/feedback)

Technical Terms

Keep in English

These terms should remain in English:

• API
• URL
• DNS
• SSL/TLS
• HTTP/HTTPS
• JSON
• YAML

Translate to Portuguese

Technical concepts should be translated for clarity:

• secrets → mensagens confidenciais
• passphrase → frase secreta
• custom domains → domínios personalizados
• settings → configurações
• dashboard → painel
• clipboard → área de transferência

Natural Language Flow

Write for Brazilian Portuguese Speakers

Translations should sound natural in Brazilian Portuguese, not like literal English translations:

Good example:

"Bem-vindo ao Onetime Secret Docs, seu recurso central para
maximizar o valor do nosso serviço de compartilhamento de
mensagens confidenciais efêmeras e focado em privacidade."

This uses:

• Natural Brazilian Portuguese sentence structure
• Professional tone with “você/seu”
• Appropriate vocabulary choices
• Natural gerund usage (-ndo verbs)