In case anybody is interested, Umberto Eco has recently published a book on this type of thing: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0297830015/026-9357729-1057214 This is where I got the mouse/rat/topo example from. I can provide quotes if necessary.
Now I really am interested in making things easier on Wiktionary. I just want to make sure people understand what's possible and what isn't and what we need to be very careful with.
The only kinds of translations which will be transferable between different language Wiktionaries are those with standardized definitions. The ones I can think of off the top of my head are:
* Atomic element symbols * Scientific species names
I'm sure there are others but besides these rare cases each and every term has to be inspected very care- fully.
This is for the translation section. Most other sections are independent of translation: pronunciation, synonyms, antonyms, derived & related terms, see also.
Let me apologies for soundy argumentative etc in earlier emails. If at least our current major contributors don't understand the true nature of translation and carelessly copy and paste, a lot of damage could be done to Wiktionary which will be very slow to repair.
"mouse" and "rat" are not special cases and they are not even difficult examples.
Andrew Dunbar (hippietrail)
--- Sabine Cretella sabine_cretella@yahoo.it wrote:
Before going ahead to take this example Italian has a definite word for rat and topo doesn't mean rat.
topo = mouse ratto/topo di fogna/in coll. language "topone" = rat
topo d'acqua = this is a kind of rat and not of mouse
topo becomes rat only in combination with other words, but never alone.
To confirm this I just asked a colleague of mine (as even translators can be wrong)
There is a problem of this kind but normally this happens when for example there is no translation for a subspecies into the other language.
I don't have an exact example now, but I am sure, we will need it.
This is also a reason for me to work in lists as when asking colleagues to check the cross translations normally these things come out easily.
Going back to work. - For now I'll read the messages but answer only as soon as I have finished my job, sorry.
Ciao, Sabine
-- Sabine Cretella s.cretella@wordsandmore.it www.wordsandmore.it Meetingplace for translators www.wesolveitnet.com
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