Re: EDICT and gairaigo or colloquial nihongo

[Dennis McMurchy <denismcm@example.com>]

On Tue, 19 Nov 1996, Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:

> I've noticed that economics terminology is horribly badly translated
> into Japanese, with no rhyme or reason and even less connection with
> normal usage of the terms than there is in English.  Anybody else
> noticed this in their own fields?

  Sloppy translation is endemic in many fields here.  A friend once
explained to me that this was due to the way translations are often
done here.  A publisher will ask a 'well-known' professor from a
'famous' university.  The professor (who may or may not be capable of
doing a proper job of it himself) will farm the work out to grad
students who often have a poor command of the source language (and
ideas involved - if any) and often can't write Japanese to save their
lives either.  

  We are incredibly well-served in general by translators into
English.  Count your blessings!

Dennis McMurchy, 
Tojinmachi, Fukuoka


-----------------------------------------------------------------
a word from the sponsor will appear below
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The TLUG mailing list is proudly sponsored by TWICS - Japan's First
Public-Access Internet System.  Now offering 20,000 yen/year flat
rate Internet access with no time charges.  Full line of corporate
Internet and intranet products are available.   info@example.com
Tel: 03-3351-5977   Fax: 03-3353-6096