• Re: Wasteful internationalization

    From =?UTF-8?Q?Niocl=C3=A1s_P=C3=B3l_Caile=C3=A1n_de_Ghloucester?=@Spamassassin@irrt.De to comp.lang.ada on Sat Aug 30 20:17:35 2025
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    On Wed, 24 Jan 2007, Bj=C3=B6rn Persson wrote: |---------------------------------------------------------------------|
    |"[. . .] If translations are |
    |bad it's because the translators aren't good enough at what they do."| |---------------------------------------------------------------------|

    Not always. Languages differ significantly, such that faithful=20
    translations can be awkward.

    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------= --|
    |"I =
    |
    |don't know about Russian translators but good Swedish translators do exist= =2E"| |--------------------------------------------------------------------------= --|

    So? If we translate "The 21st integer is good." to Swedish and if we=20 properly translate "The 21st century is good." then we get two sentences=20 which differ by strictly one word. But persons who speak Swedish are=20 innumerate so they miscount the 21st century to supposedly be the 20th=20 century. So an interpreter may dumb it down for them by producing a=20
    sentence which differs by 2 words instead of by strictly 1, whereas a=20 translator will not. Persons who speak Swedish avoid conjugating in=20
    Swedish (and fail occasionally to conjugate in English). Persons who speak=
    =20
    Swedish say =E2=80=9C=C3=A4ger=E2=80=9D when they mean =E2=80=9Cbesitter=E2= =80=9D. So a translator suffers a=20
    tricky Catch-22 job!

    Consider
    "YOU KNOW YOU'VE BEEN IN SWEDEN TOO LONG WHEN...
    408 reasons and going strong!
    [. . .]
    51. You accept that 80 degrees C in a sauna is chilly, but 20 degrees C=20 outside is freaking hot.
    [. . .]
    64. You think nothing of paying $50 for a bottle of 'cheap' spirits at=20 systembolaget
    [. . .]
    88. You have an uncontrollable urge to mail this list and point out the=20 numbering is incorrect!
    [. . .]
    141. "It's 5 degrees outside" does not necessarily mean PLUS 5, it could=20 mean minus 5.

    142. You talk of 10C as "10 degrees cold", when in Australia +10C would=20
    be considered cold. And who else calls +1C, "one degree warm"!
    [. . .]
    248. England, Scotland and Wales can all be called England.
    [. . .]
    269. You use the word "or" as a question.
    [. . .]
    355. And paying $800,000 for a 3 room (living room, 2 bedrooms, 2=20
    bathrooms, kitchen) house in a suburb of Stockholm seems cheap.>
    [. . .]
    =C2=A9 1996 to 2010 Australians Abroad - Aussies in Sweden"
    said
    HTTP://WWW.AustraliansAbroad.com/sweden/youknow.html --708268602-1006612638-1756577805=:159156--
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