Re: [tlug] Free program translates Euro languages to/from English

["Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon" <ronfaxon@example.com>]

Shawn wrote:

> > I would expect that Japanese and Korean would be much much more 
> > difficult, since their grammars are just so completely different. 
> >    
>
> It's not just the grammar but the writer's style.
>
> Japanese people working at multinationals often comment to me that when
> they translate to English using software (not necessarily the linux
> desktop you mentioned but...), it works best when they look at the
> garbled English and then correct their Japanese and re-translate via
> software again.
>  

Uuuu..... well.... that goes both ways!  I sometimes edit what I write
to Japanese speakers when I imagine how they will mentally (or
otherwise) translate what I've written into Japanese.  I don't think
it's really a matter of clarity in the original language, but rather
anticipating how it will be translated.  I've taken perfectly clear
sentences in English that would confuse no native (or advanced)
speaker/reader/writer of English and made them more mundane (I maintain
that mundane is not the same as clear - sometimes it's the opposite!) to
make sure there is no misunderstanding.  While writing for the
translation can minimize gross misunderstandings, it also prevents any
deep level of communication.....

Lyle