On Tue, Mar 16, 1999 at 08:43:38AM -0800, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> There is no one working on a Japanese translation that I know of. This
> would be a very valuable addition to the documentation package, so please
> begin if you are interested. You should look at the file
> $LYX_SRC/development/DocStyle.lyx in the LyX source directory to learn
> about the desired style for documentation (you may not be able to follow
> everything exactly given the large differences between Japanese and
> English :-) Also, look at (for example) the German translation to see how
> they set it up.
This is a problem that I will write about & add to DocStyle pretty
soon: things that don't translate.
An example of typography that doesn't translate is the use of "[ ]" in
english for editorial comments and such. In the English version of
the docs ... all of them ... there should be no use of "()" or "{}"
instead of "[]" around comments from the author/editor. That's simply
improper typography.
OTOH, in other countries, one might use "{ }" for editorial comments.
Frankly, I don't know.
Another problem is style. In the elder version of DocStyle, I warned
sternly against use of the passive voice. In German and French, two
toher languages I know fairly well, there are other modes that one
needs to worry about using correctly, too frequently, or too
sparingly. I have to wonder, then, if Finnish, Hindi, Bantu, Hebrew,
Chinese, Japanese, Burushaski, or any of the other thousands of
non-Indo-European languages even need to concern themselves with
passive verbs. The palsey-walsey, `hyuk-hyuk', informal style of the
English manuals works well for Americans, at least. A translation of
it, however, may fall flat on its face or even come off as insulting
--- the exact opposite of the intent of the English versions!
I read a bit of the German translations of one or two manuals.
They're a fine effort. Unfortunately, some of the translators were a
little too literal. I don't mean that the translation was incorrect.
It was fine. The problem, however, comes from the style. Some of the
humor or laid-back voice in the English version simply didn't
translate ins Deutsche, hence my "little too literal" remark. Yet, in
one or two other spots, a different [I assume] person translated
something I wrote based on the spirit of it. The result was so good,
it captured what I wanted to say better than what I'd originally
written!
Translating is a verrrry tricky business!
--
John Weiss
