Date: Thu, 18 Jun 1998 12:48:55 +0200 (CEST) From: Marino Ladavac <lada@pc8811.gud.siemens.at> To: Jun-ichiro itojun Itoh <itojun@iijlab.net> Cc: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG, Chen Hsiung Chan <frankch@waru.life.nthu.edu.tw>, Allen Smith <easmith@beatrice.rutgers.edu> Subject: Re: internationalization Message-ID: <XFMail.980618124855.lada@pc8811.gud.siemens.at> In-Reply-To: <1623.897632922@coconut.itojun.org>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On 12-Jun-98 Jun-ichiro itojun Itoh wrote:
> Wow, this is the point. Phonetic expression (and sound itself)
> has ambiguity in Japanese/Chinese/Korean language. If you hear
> some sound, you can interpret that in several ways. We resolve
> the ambiguity by context in spoken Japanese, and by Kanji letters
> in written Japanese.
>
> For example, Japanese sound, "Hashi", can be translated into
> both "bridge" and "chopsticks". There's slight difference
> in sound (intonation) which makes those sound distinct.
> Also, Japanese sound "Saru" can be translated to "monkey (noun)" and
> "leaving from somewhere (verb)". In this case there's no
> difference in sound. We make a distinction by context
> for spoken Japansese, and by Kanji letters in written Japanese.
>
> Therefore, if we write "saru" in Kana (phonetic letter),
> we cannot figure out what these letters mean. This makes it
> really hard for us to read Kana-only teletype, which were
> used about 20 years ago.
Judging from your English, this is an example definitely known to you:
We turned right right there, right?
Alphabetical scripts simply requre the reader to grasp the context of
the written language, as if it were spoken. This might be not natural
to you which shows our respective cultural differences, but the fact
that the common written language contains ambiguities is not necessarily
crippling for the major part of population. The highly specific fields
have developed (out of necessity) their own languages, i.e. jargon.
This written ambiguity is not limited to English: here is a Croatian
example:
Gore gore gore gore. (translation available upon request)
Aside: southern Slavonic languages have since mid 19th century been
using phonetic script--7 year old kids have absolutely no problem
to transcribe any word or sentence they hear. Sadly, the grammar
has not been reformed and is so complex that the formal language parsing
is almost impossible and even the grown-ups have problems forming
correct sentences.
/Marino
To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?XFMail.980618124855.lada>