Jim Mason, director of the Rosetta project, has replied to a couple of
Unicode List messages.
But he wrote to [EMAIL PROTECTED] (the Unicode Digest Mode) rather
to [EMAIL PROTECTED].
This was my fault to mislead Jim there: in a private message, I referred him
to the YahooGroops archive, calling it the Unicode List. I apologize to
Jim and everybody else for this misunderstanding.
Here are Jim's messages:
-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2001 10.35
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [unicode] Digest Number 480
[...]
___
Message: 1
Date: Sat, 26 May 2001 03:12:41 -0700
From: Jim Mason [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Genesis vs. UDHR
jim mason here, the director of the rosetta project.
i'm enjoying the genesis vs udhr debate i just found in your list archive.
i wish i could say the debate was new to my ears . . . ;-)
mike hit most of the points relating to our genesis choice in his email
below. but to expand a bit, our desire was to have one of the eight
components for each 1,000 languages be a text for which we could find
quality parallel translations. trying to commission these ourselves was
logistically impossible so we had to choose what had already been done. and
what has been carefully, often painstakingly translated, us the bible.
setting aside the its culturally loaded argument for a moment, from a
linguistic perspective, it is clearly the best source for quality
translations in a large number of languages. the udhr doesn't come close in
number or quality.
portions of the bible have been translated into about 2,200 languages.
translators usually start with the gospels, typically mark, as it is one of
the more literal. we decided a new testament text was simply too loaded to
make an icon of the project, so we compromised on the somewhat more shared
story of genesis. that reduced the number of available parallel
translations to about 1,000. and then we tried to soften the impact by
making the second component for each language a glossed creation text for
some culture that speaks the language. but that opens a whole other set of
difficulties regarding the appropriate dissemination of important cultural
materials . . .
a couple points to remember about our motivations.
1. we are NOT trying to create a cultural snapshot or timecapsule with the
rosetta project. we are trying to create a linguistic tool of relevance for
contemporary and future researchers. towards that end, we will use the best
linguistic materials we can find. sometimes they won't agree with the
politics of an ideal world.
2. biblical texts are absolutely central to the history of linguistics and
the development of writing systems around the world. you can't talk about
either without talking about biblical materials. it is integral to the
history of language globally, from ancient times to today. so while many of
us don't ascribe to the cosmology of the story, our linguistic heritage is
inextricably intertwined with the history of biblical translation. i am not
a believer, nor is the long now foundation a religious organization, but
i/we do acknowledge and engage with my/our history as well as the history of
others.
3. genesis is an evocative text, exploring somewhat general human themes,
and has found relevance with listeners for millennia. it is shared by
several major world religions and a majority of the world's citizens. the
udhr, on the otherhand, is a fragmented and rather dry text. it reads like
a text written by a committee, which it was. not to mention it is equally
(or more) political to many ears than genesis. ultimately, there is no
neutral text. any single parallel text will be culturally loaded for
someone . . .
4. and despite all these reasonable reasons, we are probably going to start
using both, as i'm tired of explaining our choice . . . ;-) people usually
agree with the above reasons once we have the discussion, but many jump when
they first see it. it tends to derail people from the larger goals of the
project.
thanks for your interest in the project. hope you all will come see us at
www.rosettaproject.org
jim mason
director, rosetta project
ps- and to tempt you all a little, our future plans are to convert the
entire database to a two-level file system, using image files to display
texts like we currently do, but having a hidden live text layer (in unicode)
that will allow for real searches across the database, live text downloads,
and use of screen readers for the blind. anyone have a couple months they
care to donate . . . ;-)
From: Ayers, Mike [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Fri May 25, 2001 6:07 pm
Subject: RE: Genesis v. UDHR?
[...]
Message: 3
Date: Sat, 26 May 2001 03:30:44 -0700
From: Jim Mason [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: Call for contributions to
