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

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

TL;DR¶

• Address Tatar readers with plural respectful verb forms and pronoun сез (lowercase) — formal register is the default; reserve singular informal forms for narrow casual contexts only.
• Use possessive forms (изафә) instead of attributive adjectives when translating English noun-noun constructions (Information unit → Информация блогы, not Информацион блок); this is the single most common defect when translating from English/Russian.
• Word order is strict — predicate goes at the end of the sentence. Click Save → “Саклау” төймәсенә чирттерегез (not Чирттерегез “Саклау” төймәсенә).
• Replace Russian-influenced calques (агымдагы папка → кулланылучы папка for current folder) and avoid overusing зинһар for English please (in Tatar зинһар is only used for genuine requests, not as politeness filler).
• Don’t pluralize мәгълүмат (data) — it carries plural meaning already; for English loanwords use Tatar-specific transliteration where it diverges from Russian (tag → тәг, flash → фләш, stack → стәк); product names stay in Latin script untranslated.

Register and tone for Tatar translation¶

Register is the level of formality the target text projects. Tatar maintains a formal register as the default for written communication across all consumer-facing spheres. Online materials may shift to a more friendly tone, but formal verb forms and the respectful pronoun сез remain the baseline.

The tone of Tatar translation should mimic the tone of the source product but stay respectful. Avoid word forms specific to any particular dialect. When addressing the user, use plural respectful verb forms and pronouns. In some contexts, use passive voice rather than active even where English uses active — passive constructions are more idiomatic for impersonal/system messages in Tatar.

The word сез must always be lowercase (not capitalized).

Why this matters: Formal Tatar register signals professionalism and correctness across legal contracts, patient-facing medical documentation, government forms, business correspondence, and technical content. Marketing and online consumer content can shift to friendlier tone, but the respectful plural verb forms and pronoun stay — informal singular forms (the equivalent of Russian ты) read as inappropriately casual or even rude in most consumer-facing contexts.

Avoid ethnic or racial offensive vocabulary. Translating “Russian” as урыс / урысча is offensive — use рус / русча.

Avoid exclamation marks copied from English. In English they’re common for emphasis; in Tatar they read as informal:

Audience targeting: technical vs. consumer vocabulary¶

The target audience matters. Translation of learning materials targeted at new users should be more direct and friendly than that of IT Pro materials, which should be more formal.

This applies in every sphere. Legal translation for corporate counsel uses formal Russian-derived legal vocabulary; consumer-facing versions need plain-Tatar framing. Medical translation for clinicians keeps Russian/Latin terminology; for patients it switches to common Tatar terms. IT translation uses developer jargon in engineer-facing docs, natural Tatar in end-user help.

General translation principles¶

The localized text should be as if it was originally written in Tatar. It must be accurate, correct, and clear. Avoid wordiness and word-by-word translation.

• Localization. Adapt the translated text to local language, customs, and standards. In many cases use Tatar names rather than English (Edward → Рәшит, New York → Яр Чаллы where culturally appropriate). Don’t translate every word — use the style natural for Tatar.
• Accuracy. As a rule, all English text must be translated. In some cases text can be omitted or added — there must be a specific reason, and you might need to check with the project team. The translated text must correctly reflect product functionality.
• Consistency. Use terminology consistently within one component and across different components (software, help, documentation). In most cases terminology must be consistent across different products. Use consistent style and register, and translate similar phrases consistently.

Synthetic constructions¶

Prefer “synthetic” constructions in sentences — they make sentences shorter and more natural in Tatar. English analytic structures map to Tatar synthetic equivalents:

Why this matters: Synthetic constructions are denser and more native-sounding. In marketing copy they read as fluent Tatar rather than translated content. In medical instructions they reduce cognitive load. In software UI they fit screen constraints. In legal text they retain precision while sounding natural.

Word choice and word-by-word translation pitfalls¶

Frequent errors come from word-by-word translation. Examples:

Specific lexical pitfalls:

• “Size” — two meanings. If it refers to disc space (file size) → күләм (файл күләме). If it refers to relative measurement (font size) → үлчәм (шрифт үлчәме). Don’t mix them.
• “Please”. In English it’s used freely for politeness. In Tatar зинһар is only used as a genuine request. Don’t overuse it: “Please wait…” → Көтегез… (not Зинһар, көтегез…).
• “Data” → мәгълүмат. Don’t use plural мәгълүматлар — мәгълүмат already carries plural meaning.

Asking the user — Do you want to / Are you sure¶

Frequent English constructions referring to the user shouldn’t be translated literally. Patterns:

Numbers preceded by a numeral stay singular in Tatar even if plural in English: “5 seconds” → 5 секунд (not 5 секундлар).

It is not allowed to add affixes directly to placeholders — it may cause non-grammatical constructions at run-time.

Sample voice usage¶

Addressing the user to take action¶

Inclusive language and frequent errors¶

Negation patterns¶

In English, the basic negation pattern is the negative particle “not” with auxiliary “do.” In Tatar, negation is a derivative marker. Frequently occurring negative verb phrases:

Language-specific standards¶

Adjectives¶

Tatar adjectives can take negative meaning through derivative markers:

When translating attributive nominal constructions, possessive forms (изафә) are a better choice than using an adjective:

Articles¶

There are no definite or indefinite articles in Tatar. When indeterminacy is important, use other linguistic categories:

Capitalization¶

Tatar uses capitalization sparingly — capitalize only when you have to. Capitalization of the source term doesn’t necessarily mean Tatar should be capitalized. Many more nouns and verbs are capitalized in English than would normally be expected. Don’t mimic source capitalization — use Tatar spelling conventions.

What to capitalize:

• Names of UI elements (commands, menus, dialog box titles), program names. Only the first word. When referred to, names of UI elements should always be enclosed in quotes.
• If an English noun is capitalized in the source and translated by two Tatar words, usually only the first word is capitalized. Be consistent.
• Country and state names, political names where both words are capitalized: Татарстан Республикасы, Американың Кушма Штатлары, Дәүләт Советы, Министрлар Кабинеты.
• Names of people: Исмәгыйлев Фәнил Ринат улы.
• Acronyms: OLE, BIOS.
• The word Интернет is capitalized.

Do not capitalize:

• Languages and nationalities, and adjectives derived from them: татарча интерфейс, инглизләр, испан теле.
• Month names and day names: гыйнвар, җомга.
• The term Веб is not capitalized: Файлны вебка нәшер итү.
• If the first word in the English source is lowercase, the corresponding first word in Tatar should also be lowercase.

Some strings are concatenated “at run-time” and lack a subject or start in the middle — don’t start such strings with an upper-case letter unless Tatar spelling rules require it.

Compounds¶

Compounds should be understandable and clear. Avoid overly long or complex compounds — verbally express the relationship among components. Unintuitive compounds are an intelligibility and usability issue.

For compounds with components like “audio”, “video”, “web”: don’t localize, transliterate. If the component ends with a vowel, write jointly. If it ends with a consonant, write with a hyphen:

Product + component compounds. Product names are trademarked and remain unchanged. Tatar additions are usually written separately in a possessive form (изафә):

Abbreviation/numeral + component compounds:

Gender, genitive, modifiers, pronouns, singular/plural, split infinitive, subjunctive, symbols¶

These sections do not apply to Tatar — the language has different morphological structure that doesn’t require the same treatment as English.

Nouns¶

Tatar doesn’t differentiate noun classes based on animacy, shape, or gender. But add correct “hard” or “mild” case and plural affixes to English loan words. English loan words are usually considered “hard” and get “hard” affixes (сервер). However, words ending in -ция (English “-ion”) get “mild” affixes (функциягә, функциянең).

Prepositions and postpositions¶

Localizing English prepositional phrases is a specific Tatar issue because Tatar marks syntactic cases on nouns with postpositions and case affixes, not prepositions. Pay attention to correct preposition translation.

Prepositional phrases need context-appropriate translation. When unfinished or containing a placeholder, avoid non-grammatical constructions with incorrect word order. Try to rephrase using nouns with appropriate common meanings.

Frequently occurring noun phrases preceded by prepositions:

Punctuation¶

Comma. Lowercase after a comma unless the next word needs capitalization. Used to separate decimals (5,25, not 5.25). Used to separate place name and date in letters (Казан, 25 июль 2009 ел).

Don’t use a space as decimal separator — a space separates the numeral from the abbreviation:

Colon. Include a space after colons. Don’t capitalize the following word unless used in enumerations of full sentences. Either a period or colon can separate hours/minutes/seconds — prefer colon (18:30) for consistency.

Semicolon. Use as a list separator. If list items are full sentences, use a period.

Dashes and hyphens — three characters:

• Hyphen (сызыкча). Divides words between syllables, links parts of a compound. No spaces before or after. Don’t use instead of a dash. Example: веб-бит.
• En dash (сызык). Used as minus sign, usually with spaces. Space omitted only when minus shows negative number. Example: 1 – 2 = –1. Also used in number ranges, no spaces: 10–20 битләрне карагыз.
• Em dash. In Tatar Microsoft materials, use em dash for dashes wherever technically possible. Separates words in a sentence, has grammatical function. Don’t substitute with hyphens.

Ellipsis. Remove all spaces before the ellipsis sign, even when used in source text:

Some command names appear in the menu followed by ellipsis to indicate that pressing opens a dialog. Same convention in Tatar.

Period.

• Do not use a period in titles or headings.
• Do not use a period after IS measurement units (см, кг) unless at the end of a full sentence.
• Do not use a period after question/exclamation marks or after an ellipsis.
• Include a space after commas and periods.
• After a period, the following word is always capitalized unless in an abbreviation.
• When an abbreviation ends a sentence, only one period is written.
• If bulleted items are complete sentences: each ends with a period. If they continue an introductory clause: no period.
• For items in lists (chapters, sections, products, system requirements) that are neither sentences nor sentence continuations: no period.
• Never put a period after just one word.

Quotation marks. Several kinds: chevrons (« »), curly (” “), straight (” “), simple (’ ‘). In documentation normally use chevrons, inside chevrons use curly quotation marks: “Әзер” төймәсе. In software and web pages use straight quotation marks (same as English). Period stands outside the chevrons. Don’t use single quotation marks. Don’t use angle brackets (< >) instead of quotation marks.

Parentheses. No space between parentheses and text inside, in both English and Tatar. Period placement depends on what they refer to: enclosing part of a sentence → period outside; enclosing full sentence → period inside.

Examples:

• Дәвам итү өчен, «Алга» төймәсенә чирттерегез (продукт ачкычын кертү кирәк булырга мөмкин).
• Дәвам итү өчен, «Алга» төймәсенә чирттерегез. (Продукт ачкычын кертү кирәк булырга мөмкин.)

Syntax (synthetic constructions, word order)¶

Use synthetic constructions to shorten sentences and sound more native. See the table in “General translation principles” above.

For procedural instructions of the type “To do this and that, click on …”, rearrange to first mention the action, then the purpose. Action matters most to the user. But if it’s important to stress the purpose, start with purpose, followed by action. Don’t rearrange if it would sound unnatural.

Verbs¶

English simple form and gerund may have different Tatar translations — verbs, nominalized forms (исем фигыль), or nouns. Choose appropriate Tatar forms; avoid incorrect translations:

Sometimes an English verb is used as a loan word in Tatar. Such loans follow Tatar syntactic and morphological rules — usually derived with -ла/-лә verb-making affixes. For “to block” assumed untranslated:

Word order¶

The main word order issue in localization from English to Tatar is the position of the predicate. In Tatar, it’s a strict rule — the predicate stands at the end of the sentence.

Localization considerations¶

Abbreviations¶

Don’t abbreviate words arbitrarily — use only commonly accepted abbreviations:

Use a non-breaking space (Ctrl+Shift+Spacebar) in any abbreviation. If non-breaking spaces can’t be used (Help files), acceptable to write without space to avoid one letter moving to the next line. Don’t abbreviate мәсәлән, секунд, минут, сәгать.

Acronyms¶

In US English it’s incorrect to include a generic term after an acronym if a letter already stands for that term, but in Tatar this is acceptable when acronyms are not well known or stand for English words — the generic term helps user understanding:

Localized acronyms. In online help or documentation, spell out the words comprising an acronym/abbreviation the first time it’s used. Include language-specific translation, US term, and acronym:

• Мәгълүматка керү объектлары (Data Access Objects, DAO)
• ActiveX мәгълүмат объектлары (ActiveX Data Objects, ADO)

In UI there’s usually not enough space for all three terms; only in wizards can the acronym easily be spelled out on first mention. Don’t create new acronyms from language-specific translated terms — leave English acronym intact:

Unlocalized acronyms. Many are standardized and remain untranslated. They’re only followed by full English spelling when the acronym needs explanation. Commonly understood acronyms not localized or spelled out: ANSI, ISO, ISDN, DOS, DSL, CD, DVD.

Applications, products, and features¶

Product/application names are often trademarked and rarely translated. Feature names may also be trademarked (IntelliSense). Microsoft product names are usually trademarked and remain unlocalized. Product names and non-translated feature names should be treated as proper nouns in Tatar.

Using the word Microsoft¶

Both in English and Tatar, MS as an abbreviation for Microsoft is prohibited.

• The word “Microsoft” is not transliterated in unlocalized product names. Example: Microsoft Word.
• The word “Microsoft” is translated as Майкрософт ширкәте when referring to Microsoft Corporation or its products descriptively in text. The descriptor ширкәте can be omitted for fluency. Examples: Microsoft Knowledge Base → Майкрософт белем базасы; Microsoft products → Майкрософт ширкәте продуктлары; Microsoft software → Майкрософт программ тәэминаты.

Style and English loanwords¶

Don’t use colloquial, slang, local, poetic, rare words and expressions, or words outside standard literary language.

The influx of English into other languages has significantly increased. Use English terms if they’re industry standard in your country/region — but research current standards. When incorporating English terms, follow the spelling, grammar, and syntax rules of Tatar. Sometimes English words get incorporated whole; more often the word gets phonologized and integrated.

Traditionally English words have been phonologized through Russian. A newer trend uses Tatar-specific sounds (Ә, etc., which Russian lacks):

• tag → тәг
• flash → фләш
• stack → стәк

User interface translations¶

Checkboxes and radio buttons. Usually translated in nominalized form (исем фигыль). In negative form, use an infinitive:

If checkbox is selected → тамгаланган or сайланган. When deselected → тамганы алу.

If checkbox items form a list, don’t capitalize them. If they don’t form a list, capitalize. Text in checkboxes and radio buttons receives no period at the end. If the source has a period and the string is a complete sentence, the localized string should end with a period.

Dialog box titles. Should be consistent with the menu items or commands that call them. Menus are typically nominalized verbs (исем фигыль); dialog titles should be nominalized verbs too.

Menus, commands, buttons. Translate verbs as verbs unless there’s a good reason not to. Distinguish noun from verb in context:

Command and button names should preferably be translated as nominalized verbs (Save → Саклау, don’t use Infinitive -ырга/-ергә/-рга/-ргә). If the source is a negative verb, translate as infinitive (Don’t Save → Сакламаска).

Button naming in instruction texts uses phrases like “Әйе” төймәсе, “Баш тарту” төймәсе. In some cases use just the button name: “Юк” төймәсенә яки ‘Әйе’гә басыгыз. But never use “Юк” without “төймәсе” — “Юк”ка басыгыз is stylistically incorrect.

Tool tips. Short and concise, helpful to users. Often the same linguistic form as menus/commands/buttons — impersonal style without a period. Sometimes serve as short explanations addressing the user directly.

InfoTips. Use nominalized form (исем фигыль) — most common type. Even if English uses personal form, avoid it in Tatar:

Status bar messages¶

Menu and command status bar messages follow specific formats:

Process-executing messages use “-ing” + ellipsis. In Tatar use present tense passive voice:

Error messages¶

Use consistent terminology and language style. Many English error messages vary in articles, demonstratives, possessives — be consistent in Tatar.

Standard error phrases (standardize):

Standardized messages — same translation for variant English wordings:

Placeholders. %d, %ld, %u, %lu mean numbers; %c means letter; %s means string. Tatar nouns in non-nominative cases have affixes that differ by root vowel. Reword translations in analytic construction without affixes to avoid potentially ungrammatical sentences. Avoid common words like “object” (объект) after a placeholder — the text shown to user may not be an “object.”

Rephrasing recommendations for unknown placeholder content:

Keys and shortcuts¶

References to key names appear capitalized in Tatar. When referring to a key, always use the descriptor төймәсе:

• ESC төймәсенә басыгыз (right)
• ESC’ка басыгыз (wrong)

Localized key names (all other names not localized):

Hot key characters allowed in Tatar exclude ё, ж, ц, щ, ъ, ь (not in Tatar keyboard layout). Most Cyrillic Tatar letters are preferred or allowed; numerals 0-9 are allowed.

Shortcuts. Use төймәләренә басыгыз, not төймәләр кушылмасына басыгыз. Key names in shortcuts separated with plus sign, no spaces. Standard shortcut translations:

Document titles¶

In English, chapter titles begin with “How to …”, “Working with …”, “Using …”. In Tatar, various constructions are used, often a nominalized verb form (исем фигыль):

Copyright¶

Standard translations:

Numbers and dates¶

• Decimal separator: comma (,)
• Thousand separator: space (14 400)
• Period used in version numbers: Windows 3.11, Internet Explorer 5.5
• It is acceptable to omit the thousand separator for 4-digit integers
• Short date: dd.MM.yyyy (17.03.2011)
• Long date: dd MMMM yyyy ел (17 март 2011 ел)
• First day of week: Monday (Дүшәмбе)
• 24-hour time format: HH:mm:ss
• Currency: рубль / сум (Tatar uses сум instead of Russian рубль; subunit: тиен)
• Currency placement after amount with space: 123 456,15 сум
• Percent: separated from number by non-breaking space (10 %); no percent sign before numbers in software or UI references

Measurement units¶

Metric system is commonly used. Temperature is always Celsius — recalculate Fahrenheit to Celsius in localized products. Format: x°С (capital Latin C). Below-zero shown with minus, above-zero plus sign optional and rarely used: -27°C, 0°C, 25°C.

For inches, use the quotation mark instead of дюйм only when technically impossible to use the full variant.

Reference materials: authoritative Tatar dictionaries and grammars¶

Normative references (must be adhered to):

1. Информатика һәм мәгълүмат технологияләре терминнары (Terms of Information Science and IT, English-Tatar-Russian Explanatory Dictionary), Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, Suleymanov, Galimjanov, Valiev. Kazan: Mәgarif, 2006. 383 pp.
2. Татар теленең орфографик сүзлеге (Tatar Orthographic Dictionary). Kazan: Tatarstan Book Publishing, 1983. 280 pp.
3. Сафиуллина Ф.С., Ибраһимов С.М. Татар телендә тыныш билгеләре (Punctuation in Tatar Language). Kazan: Mәgarif, 2004. 47 pp.
4. Татар теленең аңлатмалы сүзлеге (Tatar Explanatory Dictionary), three volumes. Kazan Branch of USSR Academy of Sciences, Ibragimov Institute. Kazan: Tatarstan Book Publishing, 1977-1981.
5. Русско-татарский словарь (Russian-Tatar Dictionary, ~47,000 words). Ed. F.A. Ganiyev. Moscow: INSAN, 1997. 718 pp.

Informative references:

1. Информатика буенча инглизчә-татарча-русча сүзнамә (English-Tatar-Russian Computer Science Vocabulary), Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, Kazan State University, Suleymanov, Galimjanov. Kazan: Kazan Mathematical Society, 2000. 131 pp.
2. Татарская грамматика (Tatar Grammar), three volumes (Phonetics; Morphology; Syntax by M.Z. Zakiyev). Kazan: Tatarstan Book Publishing, 1993-1995.

FAQ¶

How should I address users in Tatar translation?¶

Use plural respectful verb forms and the pronoun сез (lowercase, never capitalized). Formal register is the default for software UI, marketing, medical patient materials, business correspondence, and consumer-facing legal documents. Tatar maintains a clear singular/plural-respect distinction similar to Russian Вы/ты. Use passive voice rather than active in some cases even where English uses active — Tatar-natural rendering of “You are now connected to the Internet” is Интернетка тоташу урнаштырылды (passive), not direct address.

What’s the rule on possessive (изафә) vs. adjectives in Tatar?¶

When translating English noun-noun attributive constructions (Information unit, Arithmetic operation), use the Tatar possessive form (изафә) instead of a derived adjective. Correct: Информация блогы (Information unit), not Информацион блок. Correct: Арифметика гамәле (Arithmetic operation), not Арифметик гамәл. This is the single most common defect when translating from English or Russian into Tatar — both source languages use adjectives, but Tatar prefers the genitive-marked compound form. Same rule applies in legal, medical, and technical translation.

What’s the Tatar word order rule that translators most often violate?¶

Tatar verb-final word order is strict — the predicate goes at the end of the sentence. Imperatives often look natural left-to-right in English but reverse in Tatar: “Click Save.” → “Саклау” төймәсенә чирттерегез (right) — not Чирттерегез “Саклау” төймәсенә (wrong, English-style). “To open the shortcut menu, click View Source” → Ярлык сайлагын ачу өчен, “Чыганагын карау” пунктын сайлагыз. The action comes first when it matters most to the user, but the verb always lands at the end.

Which Russian-influenced calques and overly literal translations should I avoid in Tatar?¶

Avoid агымдагы as “current” — it’s a Russian calque (current folder → кулланылучы папка, not агымдагы папка; current page → хәзер ачылган бит; current location → хәзерге урын). Don’t translate English “please” as зинһар unless it’s a genuine request — in Tatar зинһар is reserved for asking, not for politeness filler (“Please wait…” → Көтегез…, not Зинһар, көтегез…). Don’t pluralize мәгълүмат (data) — it’s plural by meaning. Distinguish file “size” as күләм (disc space) from font/page “size” as үлчәм (relative measurement).

How are English loanwords handled in Tatar (vs. Russian transliteration)?¶

Traditionally English words have been phonologized through Russian. A newer trend transliterates them using Tatar-specific sounds that Russian lacks (Ә, etc.). Preferred: tag → тәг (not тэг); flash → фләш (not флэш); stack → стәк. For compounds with audio/video/web/etc., transliterate without translation: if the component ends in a vowel, write jointly (медиауйнаткыч for media player, аудиоязма for audio record, видеокарта for video card); if it ends in a consonant, use a hyphen (веб-бит for web page, веб-эчтәлек for web content, фләш-диск for flash drive). Tatar nouns derived from English “-tion” loans get “mild” affixes (функциягә, not функциягэ).

What’s the Tatar punctuation system and how does it differ from English?¶

Three dash characters: hyphen (сызыкча, no spaces, divides words and links compounds — веб-бит); en dash (сызык, with spaces as minus, no spaces in number ranges — 10–20 битләрне карагыз); em dash (with spaces, grammatical separator within a sentence, used wherever technically possible). Don’t substitute em dash with hyphen. Comma is the decimal separator (5,25 см, not 5.25 см); period is for product version numbers (Windows 3.11). Quotation marks: chevrons « » in documentation with curly ” ” inside, straight ” ” in software and web pages. Don’t use single quotes anywhere. Avoid exclamation marks following English source — in Tatar they read as informal.

Sources¶

• Microsoft Localization Style Guides hub
• Microsoft Terminology — Globalization
• Microsoft Trademarks
• Tatar State Press / Tatar dictionaries reference