| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Differentiating between language variants Thread poster: Mary Worby
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Sheila Wilson 
Spain
Local time: 04:26
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| Certainly a valid point | Nov 20, 2009 |
kmtext wrote:
There are three different languages which are all classed as "Gaelic", and, while there's some similarity between them, they're not mutually intelligible. Most of the job posters don't even note which language they want until you submit a quote. Some don't even realise that they're different languages, not just variants or dialects.
I've often wondered, Kmtext, why your language pair simply cites Gaelic - I imagine it's because that's all that ProZ offers. I don't speak a word of either Irish Gaelic or Scottish Gaelic (although my name's actually Shelagh and my husband's half Scottish), but please tell:- what's the third version? Does it have its origins in Cornwall, Brittany or elsewhere?
Sorry if it's off-topic, but I really would like to know.
| | | | John Fossey
Canada
Local time: 23:26
Member (2008)
French to English
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If variants were to be allowed, would the base language be a "catchall"? For instance, would a search for translators under EN return all the EN-UK & EN-US, etc? Because there may be many clients who don't know what the variant is they're looking for.
| | | | | Very good point, John! | Nov 20, 2009 |
John Fossey wrote:
If variants were to be allowed, would the base language be a "catchall"? For instance, would a search for translators under EN return all the EN-UK & EN-US, etc? Because there may be many clients who don't know what the variant is they're looking for.
I often have to point the differences in target variants to clients, and they have a hard time deciding. How would they sort out the source?
I can't remember where, but once I saw an agency from the UK in deep trouble. They had a document to translate into EN, but couldn't find out what language it was written in. They were about to run out of Far Eastern languages to check. So I asked to take a look, and they sent me a three-page letter on PDF. Though I don't speak Hebrew, nor can read it properly, I figured out it actually was handwritten Hebrew... but whoever scanned that document got the image mirrored and turned upside down!
I think any decent professional translator should be able to translate from any written variant of their source language, maybe with different degrees of difficulty, but definitely should. Regional accents may render a language meaningless to the untrained ear, but properly written language shouldn't pose so much of a problem.
| | | | | I can imagine free-text fields, no searches by variant | Nov 20, 2009 |
John Fossey wrote:
If variants were to be allowed, would the base language be a "catchall"? For instance, would a search for translators under EN return all the EN-UK & EN-US, etc? Because there may be many clients who don't know what the variant is they're looking for.
I can imagine an optional "free text" field where the poster could define variants for a given language.
On the other hand I can't imagine such auxiliary field populated by values predefined in a menu, such as "English UK" and "English USA". I don't think that there are only two variants of English in the world.
To have the language variants as options in a menu it would be necessary for a reasonable number of options to define the whole set of variants for that language.
In the case of Spanish you could talk of "Spain" and "Latin America", but you could also go to a country level and request "from Puerto Rico" or "the variant spoken in USA", or even go to a regional level and ask "Rioplatense" (Uruguay and part of Argentina).
A free text field would allow the poster to freely define his/her requested language variant, and let others use this information to ascertain their interest in the job or question.
The problem with free text fields is that their values lack consistency and therefore are not appropriate for searches.
Regards,
Enrique
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John Fossey
Canada
Local time: 23:26
Member (2008)
French to English
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| Local localization | Nov 20, 2009 |
Enrique wrote:
I don't think that there are only two variants of English in the world.
Exactly, I was wondering where EN-CA (Canada), or EN-QC (English as spoken in Quebec, which is its own unique localization), etc., would fit in ...
| | | | juvera
Local time: 04:26
English to Hungarian
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| Middle English and Gaelic | Nov 22, 2009 |
Sheila Wilson wrote:
Out of interest, perhaps someone from ProZ could tell us if there has ever been a job post requiring Middle English. Should I learn it, I wonder - could I corner a nice little niche market?
Some years ago I questioned the usefulness of Middle English on ProZ, and I was told off by someone who specialised in Middle English for doubting it. It remained on the list, and you may find yourself in demand, should you make the effort of learning it.
The third Gaelic variant is Manx, which nearly became extinct in the early sixties but thanks to a revival of interest in the language, by the time of the 2001 census 1689 people claimed to speak it.
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 04:26
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| Thanks Juvera | Nov 23, 2009 |
juvera wrote:
Some years ago I questioned the usefulness of Middle English on ProZ, and I was told off by someone who specialised in Middle English for doubting it. It remained on the list, and you may find yourself in demand, should you make the effort of learning it.
I think I'll drop the idea of Middle English, then. Too much competition.
The third Gaelic variant is Manx, which nearly became extinct in the early sixties but thanks to a revival of interest in the language, by the time of the 2001 census 1689 people claimed to speak it.
I'll learn Manx Gaelic in the hope that there isn't a qualified translator among the 1,689.
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