In <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, René
Fleschenberg wrote:
> Stefan Behnel schrieb:
>> :) This is not about "technical" English, this is about domain specific
>> English. How big is your knowledge about, say, biological terms or banking
>> terms in English? Would you say you're capable of modelling an application
>> from the domain of biology, well specified in a large German document, in
>> perfect English terms?
>
> As I have said, I don't need to be able to do that (model the
> application in perfect English terms). It is better to model it in
> non-perfect English terms than to model it in perfect German terms. Yes,
> I do sometimes use a dictionary to look up the correct English term for
> a domain-specific German word when programming. It is rarely necessary,
> but when it is, I usually prefer to take that effort over writing a
> mixture of German and English.
What about words that can't really be translated because they are not only
domain specific but some "code" within the organization the project is
written for? Wouldn't it be much easier for maintenance if the
specification, the code, and the users of the program use the same terms
for the same things or concepts instead of mixing this with some
artificial translations?
Maybe you don't need this. The field of programming is very broad and many
domains can be translated and make sense in an international context, but
e.g. software that should map the workflow of a local company with local
laws and regulations and internal "names" for things and concepts looks
strange in both, pure "english" and mixed local language and english. But
the latter is easier to map to the specifications and language of the end
users.
Ciao,
Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch
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