| Helmut Wollmersdorfer 2004-06-30, 7:51 am |
| Mike Hommey schrieb:
> I must say I've not been shocked by MS Windows french version, but I've
> been quite shocked by the japanese one. Not because of formal/informal
> issues, but because of vocabular. Most of the basic stuff, like "My
> computer", "My documents", etc. are just raw english written with
> japanese characters. Would you imagine having "My computer", "My
> documents", etc. on your french desktop ? I don't.
Language cultures are different. Japanese like to adopt vocabulary from
other languages, when they need a new word. Looking into my small DE-JP
dictionary:
Computer - kompyuta (latin transscript of JP syllables)
Creme - kyrimy
Curryreis - kareraisy
Dokumentarfilm - dokyumentari-eiga
You cannot compare this to french culture, where nearly everything is
translated. Even in one language you can have different cultures. We in
Austria (de_AT) like to adopt foreign words a little bit more than de_DE.
> And I doubt that such translations will help japanese newbies to
> understand what's going on.
As you see, it seems to be part of the language.
> I think the best thing is to learn from any other OS/software/whatever.
> One of the purposes of translators is not to loose users into
> terminology, right ? So, using the same terminology as other
> OS/software/whatever (be it Mac OS, MS Windows, QNX...) helps the user.
Wording is very important.
I always check against a hierarchy of dictionaries:
- common language, like Webster, needs no explanation
- computer language, e.g. FOLDOC
- linux glossary
- package specific, needs definition within the document or first appearance
> Languages contain so many synonymous...
Always use the same word for the same thing, choose the most common.
Applying this rule your result will be better than MS Win;-)
Helmut Wollmersdorfer
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