Re: [tlug] linux in Japanese schools

["Josh Glover" <jmglov@example.com>]

On 07/01/07, Marty Pauley <marty.pauley@example.com> wrote:

> I don't know what current practice is.  I prefer èçããã becuase it is
> clear what I mean when I use it.  ãããããã is going to have the same
> problems as English, and maybe more.

Why?

The word ããã does not have any intrinsic meaning in Japanese.
Moreover, Japanese speakers are not likely to break down a loan word
like ãããããã and say to themselves, "I know what ããã means, and I know
what ãããmeans, so now I know what ãããããã means." In my experience,
loan words are imported as one discrete unit, and Japanese speakers
remain blissfully unaware of the building blocks in the import
language, thus any lexical ambiguity that existed there stays there.

I think that if the accepted word for Free Software is ãããããã, you
will cause more confusion by using èçããã than you will prevent, as
Japanese speakers will not equate èç with ããã, and thus think that
èçããã and ãããããã are two different types of software.

-Josh