Re: CHAT: Relays, Link 1

On Tue, 21 Aug 2001, Bryan Maloney wrote:

> The thing to remember about the surprises one gets in this relay is that
> there really are two tasks going on:
<G>  I find the surprises fun more than anything else--I figure
anything that gets skewed weirdly in my leg is clearly my fault.  ^_^

> 1:  How clearly you are able to explain your conlang to someone who may
> have never seen it before--if it comes out of a step very differently than
> how it went into the step, don't necessarily blame the person doing that
> step.  Some of us are attempting to translate out of a language we have
> never seen before, dealing with transcriptions that are idiosyncratic, and
> are forced to go entirely upon the information given to us without any real
> context beyond what is supplied.  If that information is unclear, then the
> translation may be surprising.  What qualifies as "unclear" may not be
> self-evident to someone writing instructions.  As a biologist, I have to
> compose instructions to be used by a variety of people, some of whom may be
> in Japan or the People's Republic of China, only using their "school
> English".  If they can't follow my instructions, it's my responsibility to
> ensure they can.  Instructional writing is a skill that is very rarely
> taught and is usually only accidentally learned--anyone who reads computer
> manuals already knows this.
>
<whistle>  I'm impressed--most people I know (including myself) can't
write stuff to be understood by other people in the same language,
let alone non-native speakers.  Has anyone else seen some variant of
the infamous "write instructions on how to make a peanut butter &
jelly sandwich" exercise?  Our teachers foisted it on us in 5th
grade, put us in groups, and then actually carried out the
instructions.  Literally.  It was painfully funny to watch.

I for one would *love* feedback on how clear my notes on Czevraqis
were to Jesse, frex.  I have this sinking feeling that either the
language is still too simplistic, or I wasn't clear enough.  Jesse?

And if Daniel Andreasson has any questions for me I'm happy to
answer.  :-)

> 2:  How well the person knows his or her own conlang.
>
> These relays are not like Ss. Methodios and Cyril going to the Slavs for a
> decade and learning their language, then translating Greek into
> Slavonic.  It's more like a couple of Englishmen wandering around the Ohio
> valley asking random Indians "what's that thing called" and naming every
> other animal a variation of "which thing do you mean?"  They're still a
ROTFL!

> great way to get experience with your conlang and with explaining your
> conlang.  Indeed, I encourage everybody who thinks that he or she is "not
> ready yet" to participate in the next one.  In comparison to many of the
> participants, I was certainly "not ready".  Vocabulary and grammar had to
> be invented as needed in some cases. Orthographical decisions (punctuation)
> had to be made.  I will say that having a fictional culture behind the
> conlang definitely helped.
God, yes.  I felt fortunate in that Relay 1's text (as I got it) was
particularly suitable to mashing to fit into the conculture.  =^)
And I was sitting there generating vocabulary like mad.  I didn't
expect to *need* some of those words for a while....<G>

If another relay happens in the near future, sign me up...:-)

YHL

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