----- Original Message -----
From: Justin Mansfield <jdm314@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2001 2:26 PM
Subject: Re: Cookbook
> Anyway, something to worry about when translating recipes: different
> languages handle cooking instructions differently. English uses the
> imperative, French I would imagine uses the infinitive. I'm told that
German
> uses the subjunctive in the impersonal (mann soll... excuse my terrible
> German grammar and orthography, as I have the Yiddish me' zol in mind
;) ),
> and that Hungarian uses the first person!
> In my experience, Ancient Roman recipes fluctuate between 2nd singular
> present subjunctive, present indicative, future indicative, and present
> imperative and future imperative, often even within the same recipe! The
> Akkadian recipes I've read use the imperative... I think (I don't really
> speak the language!), except that there's one where the imperative
alternates
> with a first person form, as if the recipe is a transcription of a chef
> dividing the labor with his assistant!
Teonaht uses the future indicative with formal address:
A small amount of hruta you will take. You will chop it and
add it to the soskylya. Same you will take and boil for
five minutes in harsh sauce.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~scaves/recipes.html
shameless plug... : )