This document defines translation conventions for the Spanish site content (content/es/**).
It is intentionally written in English so both Spanish translators and non-Spanish reviewers can align.
If an existing ES page conflicts with these conventions, do not “mass-fix” it. Apply these rules to new/edited text and improve consistency opportunistically.
- Terminology guide (docs contribution):
/es/docs/releases/contribute/terminology/(Guía de terminología)
Prefer technical accuracy and consistency over literal translation. Many Istio/Kubernetes concepts are proper nouns or widely-used terms in English; translating them often reduces clarity.
Use Spanish articles/adjectives around the English term where needed.
- mesh: use “la mesh”, not “la malla”.
- Plural: “las meshes”.
- Examples:
- ✅ “Agregar workloads a la mesh”
- ❌ “Agregar workloads a la malla”
- service mesh: prefer “service mesh” (optionally “service mesh de Istio”).
- Avoid translating to “malla de servicios” in new content.
- control plane / data plane: keep as “control plane” / “data plane”.
- Use Spanish article: “el control plane”, “el data plane”.
- workload: keep “workload” when referring to the Kubernetes/Istio concept.
- You may use “carga(s) de trabajo” only when it’s clearly generic prose, not the defined concept.
- namespace: keep “namespace” (not “espacio de nombres”) unless the sentence is purely explanatory.
- sidecar: keep “sidecar” (not “secundario”, “carro lateral”, etc.).
- Ambient / ambient mode: keep “ambient” as the feature name.
- Prefer “modo ambient” for “ambient mode”.
- waypoint: keep “waypoint” (and “waypoint proxy” as-is).
- ztunnel: keep “ztunnel”.
- Envoy: keep “Envoy”.
- Gateway API: keep “Gateway API”.
- gateway: keep “gateway” (e.g., “Istio ingress gateway”, “Kubernetes Gateway”).
- Kubernetes: keep “Kubernetes”.
- Istio resources / CRDs (e.g.,
VirtualService,DestinationRule,PeerAuthentication): never translate resource kind names.
These are safe and expected in Spanish:
- traffic → “tráfico”
- traffic management → “gestión de tráfico”
- security → “seguridad”
- observability → “observabilidad”
- authentication / authorization → “autenticación / autorización”
- policy → “política”
- upgrade → “actualización”
- installation / install → “instalación / instalar”
- cluster → “clúster” (plural “clústeres”)
- distributed tracing / tracing → “trazado” (and “trazado distribuido” where helpful)
- trace → “traza” (e.g., “spans de traza”)
Use these canonical choices across Spanish content for consistency:
- mesh: “la mesh” (avoid “malla” and “malla de servicios”)
- namespace: “namespace” (avoid “espacio de nombres” in technical contexts)
- control plane / data plane: “control plane” / “data plane” (avoid “plano de control” / “plano de datos”)
- gateway: “gateway” (avoid “puerta(s) de enlace”)
- distributed tracing: “trazado” / “trazado distribuido” (avoid “rastreo” for tracing; keep YAML keys like
tracingunchanged)
- Voice: prefer second-person informal already used across the site (“tú/tu”), unless the page clearly uses another voice.
- Clarity: short sentences; avoid overly literal calques from English.
- Consistency: once you pick a term within a page/section, keep using it (don’t alternate between synonyms).
- Gender/number around English terms:
- “la mesh”, “el control plane”, “el data plane”, “un sidecar”, “los workloads”.
- If it reads awkwardly, rephrase instead of translating the term.
- Do not translate code, CLI output, API fields, YAML keys, or filenames/paths.
- Inline code and code blocks: keep exactly as in the source language.
- Hugo shortcodes / gloss tags (e.g.,
{{< gloss >}}...{{< /gloss >}}): do not change the shortcode structure. - Links:
- Keep URLs unchanged.
- Translate the link text unless it is a product name, resource kind, command, or code.
- mesh
- ✅ “Conecta tus servicios a la mesh”
- ❌ “Conecta tus servicios a la malla”
- resource kinds
- ✅ “Crea un
VirtualService…” - ❌ “Crea un
ServicioVirtual…”
- ✅ “Crea un
- mode names
- ✅ “En modo ambient…”
- ❌ “En modo ambiental…”
Add a short note in the PR describing the choice and rationale (accuracy/consistency). If a term is controversial, prefer matching existing Istio Spanish glossary usage unless it conflicts with the “keep in English” list above.