I don't know if this will be a long discussion or not, but now that is there I have also my own thoughts to share with anyone wanting to read beyond this line.
Researchers begin as students. Students are essentially formed in their mother language and I hope it keeps like that for the good. Very often it's only afterwards that they/we learn the lingua franca of science, and I mean it, because one may have some base of this broken English we (non-native and some native English speakers) talk in science, but our base is often out of tune with the real use we make of English. When you teach a student about the use of a program you often find yourself also teaching that particular English slang. Or they have to spend a significant amount of time to learn it themselves. Think also about this: as Kevin said, not so long ago Latin was the language of science and philosophy. Sooner than what we may think, Chinese might earn its place in that hall of fame. What then, if the best program ever for whatever task we carry out is only available in Chinese? Translating programs is fortunately infinitely easier than translating poetry. It can be undertaken as a collaborative task, requiring a limited amount of time from anyone participating. And it enriches both the users and the program. Needless to say, English is not my first language, not even the second one... Miguel Le 28 janv. 2010 à 14:24, Johan Turkenburg a écrit : > Maybe I will get away with this one, as English is not my first language..... > > I think translating interfaces/programs is a gimmick: at the end of > the day, scientists (people!) need to be able to talk to each other, > so need a common language. This happens to be English (at the moment). > So we better all practice it as much as possible. > > (don't let this be the start of a long discussion, it's just a thought....) > > Johan > > On 28 January 2010 10:50, Paul Emsley <[email protected]> wrote: >> Kevin Cowtan wrote: >>> >>> Ezra Peisach wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> I move that the names in the scheme scripts be changed to the american >>>> names and that a new script "British.scm" be put in place. >>>> >>> >>> Well, that's just crazy talk. The scripting interface should clearly use >>> the established language of science, which transcends national boundaries >>> and has been the lingua franca for the bulk of the history of science. >>> >>> I therefore propose that Coot scripting interface be translated to Latin. >>> >>> There may be some technical neologisms which do not yet have appropriate >>> Latin equivalents. I'm sure these people will be glad to help... >>> >>> http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/institutions_connected/latinitas/documents/index_en.htm >>> >> >> At some stage I (at least) would like to have the GUI translated into >> various languages. We have a start for Spanish and French and I'd like >> others, for example Chinese, Japanese and Portuguese, So we'll be putting >> out a call for translators later (Latin_Vatican is a possibility). No time >> to look at this before next year though. >> >> Paul. >> > > -- > This message has been scanned for viruses and > dangerous content by MailScanner, and is > believed to be clean. > -- Miguel Architecture et Fonction des Macromolécules Biologiques (UMR6098) CNRS, Universités d'Aix-Marseille I & II Case 932, 163 Avenue de Luminy, 13288 Marseille cedex 9, France Tel: +33(0) 491 82 55 93 Fax: +33(0) 491 26 67 20 e-mail: [email protected] Web: http://www.pangea.org/mol/spip.php?rubrique2
smime.p7s
Description: S/MIME cryptographic signature
