For anyone using macOS in languages OTHER than English
If you start terminal and do
cd /
ls -al
what do you see ?
Can you post the listing ?
That would be awesome
Might have more questions once I see
Trying to help figure out some issues with non-English macOS
Thanks !
Here’s mine, in French (Switzerland):
total 10
drwxr-xr-x 20 root wheel 640 11 jan 08:03 .
drwxr-xr-x 20 root wheel 640 11 jan 08:03 …
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 36 11 jan 08:03 .VolumeIcon.icns → System/Volumes/Data/.VolumeIcon.icns
---------- 1 root admin 0 11 jan 08:03 .file
drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 64 11 jan 08:03 .vol
drwxrwxr-x 37 root admin 1184 29 jan 22:30 Applications
drwxr-xr-x 68 root wheel 2176 29 jan 22:30 Library
drwxr-xr-x@ 9 root wheel 288 11 jan 08:03 System
drwxr-xr-x 7 root admin 224 11 jan 08:03 Users
drwxr-xr-x 9 root wheel 288 1 fév 01:34 Volumes
drwxr-xr-x@ 38 root wheel 1216 11 jan 08:03 bin
drwxrwxr-t 2 root admin 64 18 oct 2021 cores
dr-xr-xr-x 4 root wheel 5033 29 jan 22:31 dev
lrwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 11 11 jan 08:03 etc → private/etc
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 25 29 jan 22:31 home → /System/Volumes/Data/home
drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 64 18 oct 2021 opt
drwxr-xr-x 6 root wheel 192 29 jan 22:31 private
drwxr-xr-x@ 65 root wheel 2080 11 jan 08:03 sbin
lrwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 11 11 jan 08:03 tmp → private/tmp
drwxr-xr-x@ 11 root wheel 352 11 jan 08:03 usr
lrwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 11 11 jan 08:03 var → private/var
The file system is English basically and the Finder translates some folder names.
so Applications is shown as Programme here.
Henze they are translated but not in Terminal, there is the original name only possible to address:
The following Picture shows the Folder in Finder:
Here the Folder Applications does not exist cause of the translation. Bit in Finder by self you will see again: Applications and not the translated Programme
So the sidebar shows Programme instead of Applications but the rest shows: Applications. Means: only the Sidebar is translated, the rest not. So the Folder Structure is still like it shall be and nothing is redirected.
Yeah I was actually looking for a few special hidden files with names starting with a period
Interesting they dont seem to be there
hmmmmmm
They are not translated in France… (never was to my knowledge).
Here’s the listing:
total 10
drwxr-xr-x 20 root wheel 640 14 jan 01:57 .
drwxr-xr-x 20 root wheel 640 14 jan 01:57 …
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 36 14 jan 01:57 .VolumeIcon.icns → System/Volumes/Data/.VolumeIcon.icns
---------- 1 root admin 0 14 jan 01:57 .file
drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 64 14 jan 01:57 .vol
drwxrwxr-x 35 root admin 1120 28 jan 09:51 Applications
drwxr-xr-x 68 root wheel 2176 24 jan 15:05 Library
drwxr-xr-x@ 10 root wheel 320 14 jan 01:57 System
drwxr-xr-x 5 root admin 160 24 jan 15:05 Users
drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 96 2 fév 11:32 Volumes
drwxr-xr-x@ 39 root wheel 1248 14 jan 01:57 bin
drwxrwxr-t 2 root admin 64 8 déc 2020 cores
dr-xr-xr-x 4 root wheel 4714 2 fév 11:31 dev
lrwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 11 14 jan 01:57 etc → private/etc
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 25 2 fév 11:32 home → /System/Volumes/Data/home
drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 64 8 déc 2020 opt
drwxr-xr-x 6 root wheel 192 2 fév 11:31 private
drwxr-xr-x@ 64 root wheel 2048 14 jan 01:57 sbin
lrwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 11 14 jan 01:57 tmp → private/tmp
drwxr-xr-x@ 11 root wheel 352 14 jan 01:57 usr
lrwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 11 14 jan 01:57 var → private/var
BTW: there are far many invisibles files (items starting with a dot) in the root (boot ?) hard disk.
First of all, invisible items from the boot SSD (MacBookPro m1, Ventura 13.2):
NB: Pink Backdrop is invisible items.
Next, three localized items:
Bibliothèque
Système
Utilisateurs
NB: Applications exists in French (but it could have been translated to Programme, but prudence tells the localization people to translate the less possible OS things).
Next: the ListBox Header tells what it is (external SSD):
The pink entry without name: I do not know what it is (0KB, created/modified on… 1904-01-01 00:00:00); this is a file.
At last, a folder with a Custom Icon:
That SSD is shared alternatively on an Intel i5 MBP, then MBP m1. So, sometimes that invisible file who holds a Return character at the end of the file name is replaced with a ? character (yes, the question mark as seen above). It is invisible in the Intel Finder, and visible on the m1 Finder (and I do not kow why).
The .DS_Store file is created when a folder is opened for the first time (and then modified by the Finder if/when needed). A folder that was never opened will not have one.
IMHO.
The actual folder names are internally always in English, and that’s what is visible in the Terminal.
As Christian said, Finder translates them on the fly, so that the user sees the localized names. It happens only for a selection of hardcoded localized folders (Applications, Users, Documents, Library and so on) when there is an empty “.localized” file present in the folder. If you remove the .localized file, the localized name will no longer appear.
You may also localize any custom folder. To do so, just create a folder with .localized extension (for example, “My Folder.localized”), create a “.localized” folder inside, and then place a text file there with the desired language code name and .strings extension (de.strings for Deutsch, pl.strings for Polish, fr.strings for French etc., one for each language) containing the original to localized name mapping, such as:
"My Folder" = "Mon dossier";
Don’t forget the semicolon! Reboot (forcing the Finder to quit should be also enough) and enjoy your localized folder names.
It might be useful when preparing localized versions of your software.
