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List:       kde-edu-devel
Subject:    [kde-edu-devel] Re: kdeedu - (again)
From:       Thomas Diehl <thd () kde ! org>
Date:       2002-05-03 6:33:44
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Am Freitag, 3. Mai 2002 08:00 schrieb Zumstein, Gregor:

> >i18n: KLatin uses at the moment data text files like
> >level_one.txt with:
> >puella
> >girl
> >puer
> >boy
> >magister
> >master
> >...
> >the even lines should be translated.
>
> I think that it makes more sense to translate the odd lines.

Come on: This would mean Latin strings in our PO files (and sometime maybe 
also ancient Greek, Hebrew, Japanese etc.). I think this is exactly what we 
do _not_ want. See the former postings eg on knorskverbs which triggered 
the whole discussion.

> As you want
> to learn latin, you have to translate the latin words into your own
> language.
> For German if you translate 'girl' you get 'Mädchen' which actually
> really is the translation of 'puella', but if you translate 'master'
> it's 'Meister' or 'Herr', but 'magister' normally translates to
> 'Lehrer'.

Well, the "core meaning" of "magister" in classic Latin is really "master" 
in German as well (Herr, Oberster, Meister). See eg "magister equitum". It 
can, of course, also mean "teacher" (because for a Roman this would be kind 
of a "master" as well). Of course, this meaning often prevails in today's 
school context. Therefore it may look like the core meaning to us.

Anyway, in KLatin cases like these are not a big problem because the program 
uses a "multiple choice" approach (you are asked which of 4 different 
meanings is a correct translation for "magister": angry, master, slave, 
many). This can always be answered correctly, provided the alternate 
meanings are really wrong.

Neverthelesse, it may be a good idea to put the original word into a PO 
comment. This would allow translators who know Latin, ancient Greek etc. to 
check and compare.

> The same thing is true for all training programs for foreign languages.

I see a real problem in programs like KVocTrain where you are 
supposed to type in a certain translation. If the program only accepts only 
one or two answers while the original word has a lot of meanings (or there 
are a lot of synonyms for the same thing in your own language) you will 
always get "errors" no matter how correct your answers are.

Regards,

Thomas

-- 
KDE translation: http://i18n.kde.org/
Deutsche KDE-Uebersetzung: http://i18n.kde.org/teams/de/
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