On Thu, May 30, 2019 at 11:09 AM Patricia Shanahan <p...@acm.org> wrote:
> Interesting. I just tried this on some of my own writing in the draft > FAQ. Translating English->Italian->Japanese->Basque->English transformed: > > "Style and writing etiquette, such as how directly or indirectly one > indicates that another writer has made a mistake, also varies by > subculture and by gender. Most of us are, consciously or unconsciously, > more comfortable communicating with those who write the way we write." > > into: > > "Typing style and protocols are dependent on genre and genius, the way > in which other writers have directly or indirectly mistaken. We > communicate with people who write most of us comfortably or comfortably." > > That was only three other languages. I have some work to do. > Japanese famously drops meaning. Words go unsaid, so there are multiple meanings in a round trip. It's a major PITA for translation maintainers. I wouldn't use it beyond conversational translation. Some other languages have similarly radical differences with western language. Just to demonstrate to yourself, try some arbitrary text simply between english, japanese and back again to english. The failure is the tool in this case, not the user. 日本人は意味を落とすことで有名です。 言葉は意味が分からないので、往復には複数の意味があります。 これは翻訳メンテナにとっては重要なPITAです。 会話型の翻訳以外には使用しません。 他の言語の中には、西洋言語と同様に根本的な違いがあるものがあります。 あなた自身に実演するために、単に英語と日本語の間の任意のテキストを試し、そしてまた英語に戻ってください。 この場合の失敗はユーザーではなくツールです。 Japanese are famous for dropping meaning. Since the words do not know the meaning, the round trip has more than one meaning. This is an important PITA for translation maintainers. It is not used for anything other than conversational translation. Some other languages have fundamental differences as well as Western languages. Just try out any text between English and Japanese to demonstrate to yourself, and also go back to English. The failure in this case is a tool, not a user.
