--- cookfire cookfire@softhome.net wrote:
If topo in Italian means both mouse and rat. Then it should be a word with two definitions. One will translate into mouse, the other will translate into rat.
Rubbish! Spanish "ser" and "estar" both **translate to** English "be". That doesn't mean that English "be" has two definitions. Italian "topo" doesn't **mean** "mouse" or "rat" - those are foreign words. Italian "topo" means a group of rodents of a particular type of appearance, just as Italian "sorcio" does. Just as Japanese "nezumi" does.
I seriously cannot believe that you believe these languages must have 1:1 mappings. I especially can't believe that you want to force languages into trying to fit this expectation. You speak more than one language - think about this!
If this distinction was not made initially, the split will have to be performed afterwards.
Please read about translation!
Andrew Dunbar (hippietrail)
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