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I know that I can directly use the english word but I'm trying to use generally accepted and agreed german terms in the german translation of our software. Our developers missed some of the button strings when we sent them to translation and I'm stuck with the translation of "Jump".

The second part of my question is if I should use the noun forms or the verb forms for button strings like "Jump", "End", "Start" etc. Which one is common in german? The german translator from the translation company seems to be confused about this matter because they used both forms for them. I can separate this part from my question if you think that this should be a separate question.

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    Sprung is the actual leap, while springen is the act of leaping. But you should give a more complete example. What does the "Jump"-button actually do?
    – Chieron
    Commented May 23, 2016 at 14:25
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    I think "Überspringen" is used in German interfaces. PS. Why "Jump" and not standard "Skip"?
    – Eller
    Commented May 23, 2016 at 15:13
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    Can you give more context? Without context, nobody can provide a reasonable translation. As for nouns and verbs: Are other (similar) buttons (in German) labeled with verbs or nouns? I'd try to be consistent with that.
    – Robert
    Commented May 23, 2016 at 16:34
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    @Thomas: In larger applications, shortcut buttons to directly jump to another section of the application are a very common feature and both the word to jump and the word springen are absolutely fitting in my opinion. (However, the OP has meanwhile clarified that is not what their button does.)
    – O. R. Mapper
    Commented May 24, 2016 at 16:59
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    Note that there is more than njust "noun forms" and "verb forms" - you could also decide between the infinitive (springen) and the imperative (springe) verb form, for example, each of which can make sense with respect to software.
    – O. R. Mapper
    Commented May 25, 2016 at 6:42

1 Answer 1

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The answer really depends on how the button actually works. There are many possibilities:

  1. The button skips a defined number of steps: in that case I'd label it Überspringen.
  2. The button jumps to a step that the user can choose: I'd label it Gehe zu.
  3. The button jumps to a fixed step: I'd label it Weiter or something similar.

If the above do not fit your needs, please provide further information on what the button does.

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    Hi, thanks for the solutions. I'm starting to think that we did miscall this button in english. This button does end the execution of the current step and starts the next step each time it's been pressed. We did explain its function as "step jumping" in the english manual but when I tried to explain it to you yesterday I've used the term "skip" in the comments. Maybe "Skip" is more suitable for its function. I'm not sure anymore.
    – Montag451
    Commented May 24, 2016 at 8:47
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    @Montag451 sounds like Skip => Überspringen :)
    – Alex
    Commented May 24, 2016 at 8:56
  • I've just remembered that we already had the manual translated to german, sorry for that. I was intensely buried into the software string translations since 2 weeks, so I had completely forgotten that we already had the manuals translated. They have choosen "Sprung-Taste" for the "Jump Button" in the manual. I'm not fully confident with this solution and the german translator because they did many problematic translations before. Does "Übersprung-Taste" sound good if I decide to transition to "Skip Button".
    – Montag451
    Commented May 24, 2016 at 9:07
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    I would then call it "Überspringen"-Taste, not Übersprung-Taste. Übersprung can mean something different (for example: The act of a dog licking his b..ls if he doesn't know how to react is called a Übersprungshandlung).
    – Thorsten Dittmar
    Commented May 24, 2016 at 9:47
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    Sprung Taste contains a Deppenleerzeichen. It should be Sprungtaste or Sprung-Taste.
    – Thorsten Dittmar
    Commented May 25, 2016 at 5:46

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