I don't know how Google choose the dictionary translations, but I note that "the huns" was British slang for German soldiers under WWI. So, sometimes, when the word "hun" is used, the speaker has meant "German". Yes, you could argue the speaker would then be a bigot... and most dictionaries would mention that using the word in such a sense is offensive. But a comprehensive dictionary would not leave it out.
On 5 Nov, 17:45, Nastra wrote: > Hello, > > I just translated the word 'Hun' to Portuguese and got a shock. It's > absurdly offensive, and I'm not German. > > Huno > > noun > > 1. huno -- (Hun) > 2. alemão -- (German) > 3. destruidor -- (destroyer) > 4. indivíduo bárbaro -- (Barbarian) > > Why link 'Hun' with 'Barbarian', 'destroyer' and 'German'? If I was > reading a history book telling the history of Germans by recalling > that a part of Germans is formed by Huns, and the word 'barbarians' > were a slang used by Romans to define the Huns and others enemies and > that they did much destruction, it's totally normal. > > But this ain't a History's book, this is a translator that can't > explain the why of the things, so it should flee from misunderstood. > Imagine a German child wanting to learn Portuguese and typing 'Hun' > here, I can't even express my hatred towards this kind of things. > Linking *races* to *actions* is extremely harmful for relation of > cultures. > > Hope you make the same conclusion for this and others languages. > Thanks for the attention. I love your work, by the way. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "General" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/google-translate-general?hl=en.
