# Translation glossary

The terms this site keeps consistent across every language. Decide a term once here,
then use it everywhere: a reader who meets "reseña" on the home page and "opinión" on a
mint page has to work out whether they are the same thing.

Adding a fourth language starts here, not in the catalog. Fill in the column, then
translate `en.json` with it beside you.

## House rules, in every language

- **Sentence case.** Headings, buttons, labels. Not Title Case, not ALL CAPS.
  (Small caps on section labels come from CSS, so the source string stays sentence case.)
- **No em dashes.** Ever, in any language. Use a comma, a colon, or two sentences.
  Spanish and Dutch both reach for the em dash naturally; do not.
- **Specific over clever.** "Offline since 3 Aug 2026" beats "this mint has gone quiet".
- **Second person, informal.** Spanish `tú`, Dutch `je`. Never `usted`, never `u`.
- **Protocol terms stay English.** See the table.
- **Never translate data.** Review text, reviewer names, mint names, mint descriptions,
  MOTD, URLs, npubs, version strings. Those are source data, not site copy.

## The terms

| English | Spanish | Dutch | Note |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| mint (noun) | el mint | de mint | Never "casa de la moneda" / "munt". It is the Cashu term. |
| mint (verb) | acuñar | minten | Spanish spells it out once per page then uses it plainly. |
| melt (verb) | fundir | melten | Same rule as mint. |
| minting | la acuñación | minten | |
| melting | el fundido | melten | |
| ecash | ecash | ecash | Never "dinero electrónico". |
| sat / sats | sat / sats | sat / sats | Never translated, never inflected. |
| Lightning | Lightning | Lightning | Capital L, no article games. |
| NUT / NUT-04 | NUT / NUT-04 | NUT / NUT-04 | The number is the name. The plain-language label beside it IS translated. |
| Nostr | Nostr | Nostr | |
| NIP-87, NIP-07, NIP-46 | unchanged | unchanged | |
| relay | el relay | de relay | Plural: relays. Not "retransmisor" / "doorgeefluik". |
| signer | el firmante | de signer | Dutch keeps the loanword: NL Nostr users say "signer". |
| review (the written thing) | la reseña | de review | |
| rating (the stars) | la valoración | de beoordeling | Deliberately a different word from review in all three. |
| reviewer | quien escribió la reseña | wie de review schreef | Avoid a noun that implies a role or an account. |
| wallet | el monedero | de wallet | Spanish follows bitcoin.org/es. Dutch keeps the loanword. |
| key (private/public) | la clave | de sleutel | |
| npub / pubkey | npub / pubkey | npub / pubkey | |
| custodial | custodial | custodiaal | Always followed by what it means, never left bare. |
| online (a mint) | en línea | online | |
| offline (a mint) | sin conexión | offline | Shorter than "fuera de línea" and standard for a status. |
| unreachable | no responde | onbereikbaar | |
| uptime | disponibilidad | uptime | |
| indexed | indexado | geïndexeerd | |
| to probe (a mint) | comprobar | controleren | |
| mint URL | la URL del mint | de mint-URL | |
| bunker link | el enlace bunker | de bunker-link | `bunker://` itself is never translated. |
| seed phrase | la frase semilla | de seed phrase | |

## Two decisions worth knowing

**Spanish spells out mint and melt on first use, then stops.** `acuñar (mint)` the first
time a page uses it, `acuñar` after that. Spanish-speaking Bitcoin readers know the
English verbs, but a page that only ever says "mint" reads as untranslated. Dutch does
not need this: `minten` and `melten` are what NL and BE Nostr users actually write.

**Dutch keeps more English than Spanish does.** `review`, `wallet`, `signer`, `online`,
`uptime` are all ordinary Dutch now, and translating them ("beoordeling" for the written
review, "portemonnee", "ondertekenaar") reads as stiff or, worse, as a different concept.
Spanish translates more, because Spanish tech writing does.

## Safety copy

The warning banners (`mint.warnings.*`) and the disclaimer are the copy someone reads
before they risk money. Translate them for **plain, unambiguous meaning**, not word for
word. If a literal translation is ambiguous about whether money can get out of a mint,
the translation is wrong even if every word is right. Short sentences. No hedging.