Re: open translations database

[Mark Gordon <mtgordon helixcode com>]

Stefan Rieken wrote:

> I'm afraid I am. When I read the GNOME Users Guide, it stopped halfway
being logical, and then it wasn't much more than a collection of terms
and words thrown together in a Dutch-English mix. I've given other
examples already.

I've observed that a lot of languages borrow heavily from English for
their technical jargon.  The exceptions either borrow from Latin and
Greek (e.g. English) or coin new terms based on roots found in the same
language (e.g. German).  I'm not sure what the Dutch convention is, and
there may not be a clear consensus between translators, which may
explain the perception of mechanistic translation.

>  I suspect Helix Code is guity of using Babelfish at some point in the
Dutch translation, and also Galeon. Helix Code's translation made the
whole Preview Release 4 unusable because the window became too wide in
several languages including Dutch. When this was translated by
individuals, I think they would surely watch their result. But also the
construction of some sentences provide evidence. Human translators know
they translate software, not a book. Some translations are most clearly
done in a "book" context.

So far as I know, we haven't done any of our own translations, at least
not in Dutch.  If you're dissatisfied with any of our software, you know
where to find our bug database (e.g. #307, #609, #1919).  I've used
Babelfish to try to decipher some of the bug reports we've gotten in
languages other than English, but that's the extent to which I've used
it at Helix Code.
 
> Being a native English speaking person has got more in common with
using Internet Explorer than you might think:

As a native English speaker, I ought to take offense at that. ;-)

-Mark Gordon