On 4/17/2011 2:40 PM, Peter Dimov wrote:
Edward Diener wrote:
I do not think you can seriously argue that 'translation' from language X to language Y is more correct if it must go from language X to language E to language Y.
Translation from N source languages to M target languages requires O(M*N) resources, whereas translation from N source languages to E to M targets requires O(M+N) resources.
The problem is translating between 1 source and multiple targets.
Similarly, if you have a world with N languages, absent a universal second language E, people need to learn N languages to be able to communicate, and 2 if there exists an agreed-upon E. This is why we are writing in E in this very mailing list.
That's very nice but it does leave out all those who do not know E. Do you see that as a practical justification for a programming translation system ? I do not.
In theory, it's more correct to translate from X to Y, but in practice, it's hard to find people who are simultaneously fluent enough in X software terminology and Y software terminology to be able to produce a high quality translation.
But it is easier to find someone who is fluent enough in X and E and Y to do so ?
And in any event, the fact that the source texts are in E shouldn't preclude your translating from X to Y. You just take the translation text file for X which is basically a list of (E phrase, X phrase) pairs, and translate the X phrases to Y phrases. This requires no E knowledge on your part.
If only such a simplistic means of translating between 2 languages actually existed. I doubt it, even in the limited use of programming phrases. I know in my own area of expertise, literature, it does not exist but I will grant that the needs of a computer program may be much less linguistic precision. But even a computer program still deals in end-users who want to see text that makes sense to them in their own language rather than pig-latin type gobbledygook which they will laugh at. We are talking about computer users who will pay for a computer program in their own language and commercial companies who can not deliver poor quality in that regard and hope to be successful.