Re: Devel Digest, Vol 20, Issue 22
From: Ed Trager [EMAIL PROTECTED] So while I have no objection to simple English which will be easily understood by younger learners of the language, we must also be sure that we do not proscribe an incorrect idea regarding the usage of the pronoun you in imperative sentences in English. I understand completely and agree. My examples were forced and hastily-chosen. I wanted the use of the second person to be clear in my explanation, and I made the mistake of making it too clear. That is what happens when one concentrates on form over effect. I was not thinking that the docs would repeat you all the time. But in many other languages (perhaps most other languages?) we would not use possessive pronouns here at all. All of these English yours, if translated quite directly into foreign languages, results in very annoying and unnatural sounding texts in my experience. So I would advise we try to fix the English from the start by avoiding unecessary invocations of possessive pronouns, especially your: I will explain how to switch the screen to black-and-white. First, press the X button on the keyboard Writing to accommodate a particular target language would not be wise because there are many target languages and many differences. These kind of adjustments would have to be made by the translator. That being said, I agree with you that omitting the possessive would introduce the less misleading information, so it would be best to leave it out. The examples above are just as easy to understand and less wordy. ___ Devel mailing list Devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel
Re: Devel Digest, Vol 20, Issue 22
From: Steve Fullerton [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: slightly long and detailed proposal for documentation-translation workflow I fully appreciate the detail. However, IMHO I think that there is some re-thinking required re: the traditional user documentation. The core of ... The highly intuitive design of Sugar and the experience of the pilots bears this out. The children seem to do just great without manuals, discovery is enhanced, and many of the constructionist ideals are realized. What do you think? I seem to have been working under a misconception. I thought that the manuals were mainly intended for teachers and local educators who might be trained to do some low-level support. The language should be comprehensible by younger children because the manual will be the teacher's main reference, and we can assume that the manual language will find its way into the teacher-speak. Docs are definitely necessary for educators, since they will not have time to discover, and since they are responsible for getting the children going with XO. Don't you agree? ___ Devel mailing list Devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel
slightly long and detailed proposal for documentation-translation workflow
to be translated consistently, but more creative and expressive language (you can type like a banshee, students will be on it like white on rice, resulting in a Mickey Mouse, vanilla solution to the problem) should be curtailed. * Use words, mathematical symbols, and visuals to reinforce and enhance purely verbal explanations with conceptual representations of information (I am thinking Edward Tufte here), i.e. (poor example, but here goes) I will show you how to teach your students to create multimedia presentations. in box Sound + Pictures = Multimedia /in box. I think you get the idea, though. * The source-docs be organized so that each section and each paragraph is identified by a number and that the translators be required to maintain this organization so that paragraph 61 in the Yoruba translation is paragraph 61 in the source-docs. By doing so, it will be easier to modify the translations when changes are made to the source-docs. This would imply some kind of web-based app to store and manage the docs. I am looking at the way we translate in my organization and thinking about what would be a good online tool to coordinate translations. There are many proprietary tools with vast hoards of features and complications which cost 1-2 thousand dollars per user, but they are not suitable for OLPC. I think OLPC docs-trans would do well with a lighter, simpler application. If the list doesn't mind, I would like to post the resulting thoughts at a later date so that there can be an exchange of ideas. I apologize for the length, and I hope these ideas can be of help. Micheal Cooper, Japan ___ Devel mailing list Devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel
