This guide adapts rules and examples from Microsoft’s Localization Style Guide for Santali (Ol Chiki) (originally written for software/UI localization). The underlying linguistic rules apply universally — to legal contracts, medical documents, marketing copy, and any Santali translation work. Restructured and reformatted as a general Santali translator reference by ChatsControl.

Santali (Ol Chiki) Translation Style Guide — Voice, Word Choice & Common Pitfalls (Legal, Medical, Marketing, IT)¶

TL;DR¶

• Santali (in Ol Chiki script) translation uses formal register; address user with ᱟᱢ (you, singular).
• Use Santali full-stop ᱾ (Mucaad) at sentence end, not the Latin period. Two unique Santali punctuation marks: rela (~) for repeated words, farka (-) for pronunciation correction.
• Plural typically formed by adding suffix ᱠᱚ (e.g., ᱯᱩᱥᱤ ᱠᱚ, ᱟᱯᱮ ᱠᱚ, ᱯᱚᱛᱚᱵ ᱠᱚ). Loan words like USB lack inherent gender — assignment is contextual, not grammatical.
• Ol Chiki script is unicameral — no capitalization. Nuqta is not used (it’s a Devanagari diacritic for foreign sounds; Ol Chiki has its own native phoneme inventory).
• Reference Glosbe Santali, Wikipedia Santali language article, A Santal Dictionary (online). Verify spelling against Microsoft approved terminology and use consistently.

Register and tone for Santali translation¶

Modern Santali in software, legal, medical, and consumer-facing marketing contexts uses formal register throughout. There is no informal/conversational alternative for technical/professional contexts.

Why this matters: Santali is the official language of the Indian state of Jharkhand and one of the Eighth Schedule languages of India. Translation into Santali serves indigenous communities across Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Assam, and beyond. Government documents, legal materials, medical literature, and educational content require formal register; the Ol Chiki script (created by Raghunath Murmu in 1925) is the official script and standard for written Santali.

Abbreviations¶

You might need to abbreviate words due to lack of space, especially in UI.

• UI abbreviations do not require full stops.
• Santali nouns are typically pluralized by adding the suffix ᱠᱚ.

Examples of plural formation: ᱯᱩᱥᱤ ᱠᱚ (cats), ᱟᱯᱮ ᱠᱚ (sisters), ᱯᱚᱛᱚᱵ ᱠᱚ (books).

Acronyms¶

Acronyms made of initial letters of compound terms. Well-known: DNS (Domain Name Server), HTML (Hypertext Markup Language).

• Santali acronyms do not require pluralization. Forms retain similar aspects, such as DNS or HTML.
• Loan words like USB typically lack inherent gender — generally treated as inanimate objects due to technological nature. Gender assignment follows contextual usage rather than fixed grammatical rules.
• If an English acronym used throughout text: first occurrence — acronym (full form). Subsequent — acronym only.

Example: USB (ᱩᱱᱤᱶᱮᱨᱥᱟᱹᱞ ᱥᱤᱨᱤᱭᱚᱞ ᱵᱚᱥ).

The full form can be translated or explained depending on context. Subsequent mentions use only the acronym unless full form needed for clarity.

• Some English acronyms kept in English due to wide acceptance and usage: USB.

Capitalization¶

Capitalization does not apply to Santali (Ol Chiki). Single form is used for each letter. Ol Chiki is unicameral — no uppercase/lowercase distinction.

Punctuation¶

Punctuation guidelines for writing in Santali (Ol Chiki):

Mucaad (full stop) — ᱾¶

The full stop is represented by ᱾ (U+1C7E, Ol Chiki Mucaad — looks similar to but distinct from Latin period).

Rela (~)¶

In Santali, rela replaces a repeated word within a sentence. Visually similar to tilde but used as a Santali punctuation feature.

Examples: ᱥᱮᱻᱥᱮ, ᱨᱮᱻᱨᱮ

Farka (-)¶

In Santali, farka is used to correct the pronunciation. Visually similar to hyphen but used as a Santali pronunciation guide.

Examples: ᱢᱮᱱᱟᱜ-ᱟ, ᱜᱚᱫᱚᱜ-ᱟ

Bulleted lists¶

In bulleted lists, punctuation depends on whether items are complete sentences or fragments.

Dashes and hyphens¶

Hyphen (-) — shortest dash. Use for compound words, breaking words at line end, page numbers/dates/intervals, relationships between concepts.

En dash (–) — Alt+0150 or Ctrl+- (numpad). Used in arithmetic and negative numbers.

Example: Temperature is -10°C → ᱞᱚᱞᱚᱥᱚᱝ ᱫᱚ -10°C ᱾

Em dash (—) — Alt+0151 or Ctrl+Alt+- (numpad). Avoid extensive use of English em dash. Use commas or parentheses instead. Can start new sentence. Feel free to change sentence (remove em dash) for natural Santali.

Quotation marks¶

Santali (Ol Chiki) quotation mark usage generally mirrors Roman script conventions. Follow the type of quotation mark used in the source text.

Usage of Nuqta¶

The Nuqta is a diacritic used in the Devanagari script to describe modern sounds borrowed from languages not native to Devanagari, mainly Urdu (Arabic, Farsi) and English. It appears as a dot and is used in some Hindi letters.

In Santali (Ol Chiki), the Nuqta is NOT used. Ol Chiki has its own native phoneme inventory and does not require Devanagari-style adaptations for foreign sounds.

Numbers, symbols, non-breaking spaces¶

Numbers. Numbers 1-10 spelled out in documentation; other numbers as numerals.

Non-breaking space. Use between numeral and symbol/unit of measure. Examples: 30 cm, 1 h, 75 %, 20 °C.

Ampersand. Always translate “&” as “ᱟᱨ” when in running text. Don’t keep “&” in target unless part of a tag, placeholder, shortcut, or code.

Date¶

Date format: DD/MM/YYYY or DD/MM/YY (e.g., 26/03/2025 or 26/03/25).

When only month and year: Month YYYY format.

Inclusive language¶

General principles: comply with local language laws; use plain language; mind regional/cultural references; represent diverse perspectives; don’t generalize/stereotype; don’t use profane/derogatory terms or military/political jargon.

Term replacements¶

Avoiding gender bias¶

Use gender-neutral alternatives. Avoid compounds with gender-specific terms (ᱵᱟᱵᱟ ᱡᱟᱱᱟᱝ — male-specific, ᱜᱚᱜᱚ ᱡᱟᱱᱟ — female-specific).

When presenting generalization, use plural noun forms (ᱦᱚᱲ, ᱟᱹᱯᱱᱟᱹᱛ, ᱯᱟᱹᱴᱷᱩᱭᱟ ᱠᱚ).

Don’t use gendered pronouns (ᱩᱱᱤ, ᱩᱱᱤᱭᱟᱜ) in generic references. Instead:

• Rewrite to use second or third person (ᱟᱯᱮ, ᱩᱱᱠᱚ).
• Rewrite to have plural noun and pronoun.
• Use articles instead of pronoun (the document instead of ᱩᱱᱤᱭᱟᱜ ᱠᱟᱜᱚᱡ).
• Refer to person’s role (ᱯᱟᱲᱦᱟᱣᱤᱡ, ᱠᱟᱹᱢᱤᱭᱟᱹ, ᱜᱨᱟᱦᱚᱠ, ᱠᱞᱟᱭᱤᱴ).
• Use ᱦᱚᱲ or ᱱᱤᱡᱮᱨᱟᱜ.

If you can’t write around the problem, OK to use plural pronoun (ᱩᱱᱠᱩ ᱠᱚ, ᱩᱱᱠᱩᱣᱟᱜ, ᱩᱱᱠᱩ) in generic references to single person. Don’t use he/she or s/he constructions.

Real people: Use the pronouns the person prefers (ᱩᱱᱤ, ᱩᱱᱠᱚ, or another).

Accessibility¶

Focus on people, not disabilities. Don’t use pity-implying words (ᱥᱟᱶ ᱥᱟᱛᱟᱣ, ᱠᱷᱟᱱᱟᱜ ᱥᱟᱛᱟᱣ). Don’t mention disability unless relevant.

Keep paragraphs short. Aim for one verb per sentence. Read text aloud and imagine it spoken by a screen reader. Spell out words like ᱟᱨ, ᱥᱮᱞᱮᱫ, and ᱵᱟᱵᱚᱛ since screen readers misread special characters (&, +, ~).

Applications, products, features¶

Trademarked names not translatable. Verify before translating.

Version numbers always contain a period.

Trademarks¶

Trademarked names and “Microsoft Corporation” shouldn’t be localized unless local laws require. Reference: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/legal/intellectualproperty/trademarks.

Reference materials: Santali language references¶

Normative references:

1. Glosbe Santali — https://glosbe.com/. Community-maintained Santali dictionary.
2. Wikipedia Santali language article — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santali_language. Linguistic overview.
3. A Santal Dictionary (Bodding) — https://books.google.co.in/books/about/A_Santal_Dictionary.html. Comprehensive historical dictionary.

Note: If more than one spelling is acceptable, opt for the spelling adopted on Microsoft approved terminology and in normative dictionaries. Use consistent spelling across Microsoft products.

Informative references:

1. Aksharamukha — https://www.aksharamukha.com/describe/Santali. Script conversion and description tool.

FAQ¶

What’s the register for Santali (Ol Chiki) translation?¶

Formal. Microsoft privacy content and similar tone use formal register. Address user with ᱟᱢ (you, singular). Modern Santali in software, legal, medical, and marketing contexts uses formal register throughout.

How should I address users in Santali translation?¶

Use ᱟᱢ (ām) for second-person formal singular. For plural references, use ᱟᱯᱮ (āpe) or ᱩᱱᱠᱚ (ʔunkō). Avoid third-person ᱦᱚᱲ (hor̥, person) generically in consumer-facing text — use second-person direct address.

What punctuation differences exist in Santali (Ol Chiki)?¶

Santali uses its own full-stop mark ᱾ (Mucaad / Ol Chiki full stop, U+1C7E). Unique marks: rela (~) replaces a repeated word within a sentence (ᱥᱮᱻᱥᱮ, ᱨᱮᱻᱨᱮ); farka (-) corrects pronunciation (ᱢᱮᱱᱟᱜ-ᱟ, ᱜᱚᱫᱚᱜ-ᱟ). Hyphen and dashes follow general conventions.

Does Santali have grammatical gender?¶

Santali has no grammatical gender for inanimate nouns. Loan words like USB lack inherent gender — assigned contextually. Gender-neutral writing avoids compounds with gender-specific terms (ᱵᱟᱵᱟ ᱡᱟᱱᱟᱝ, ᱜᱚᱜᱚ ᱡᱟᱱᱟ) — prefer neutral forms.

Which Santali references should I follow?¶

Glosbe Santali dictionary (glosbe.com), Wikipedia Santali language article, A Santal Dictionary (Bodding). Aksharamukha for script conversion. Verify spelling against Microsoft approved terminology; use consistent spelling across products.

Why is Nuqta not used in Santali (Ol Chiki)?¶

Nuqta is a Devanagari diacritic developed to represent foreign-borrowed phonemes (Urdu, Arabic, Farsi, English) absent from native Devanagari. Ol Chiki was designed for Santali phonology with its own native inventory — no need for Devanagari-style adaptation. Translators familiar with Hindi conventions should NOT add Nuqta marks in Santali text.

How does Santali form plurals?¶

Plural typically formed by adding suffix ᱠᱚ to the noun: ᱯᱩᱥᱤ → ᱯᱩᱥᱤ ᱠᱚ (cat → cats), ᱟᱯᱮ → ᱟᱯᱮ ᱠᱚ (sister → sisters), ᱯᱚᱛᱚᱵ → ᱯᱚᱛᱚᱵ ᱠᱚ (book → books). Loan acronyms (DNS, USB) typically don’t pluralize.

Sources¶

• Microsoft Localization Style Guide for Santali (Ol Chiki) (PDF)
• Microsoft Globalization Style Guides hub
• Glosbe Santali
• Santali language (Wikipedia)
• A Santal Dictionary
• Aksharamukha — Santali