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Re: CHAT: Hello

From:Patrick Dunn <tb0pwd1@...>
Date:Wednesday, May 2, 2001, 2:09
On Tue, 1 May 2001, David Peterson wrote:

> Is it just me, or does this seem completely ridiculous? First of all, > it's just a translation exercize--just to see how the grammar works, et > cetera. Second, if you don't want those words to be in there, then simply > delete them after you're done. It's just an e-mail, anyway. Or if you have > to use scratch paper to figure things out, you can burn the paper and throw > the ashes into the sea. I mean, contaminate the culture? You're creating > it! If it's others' opinions of or feelings towards this language and it's > made up culture, then maybe you have something there, though I personally > could not care whether or not the words really exist in your language or > whether the very translation of these concepts would destroy the foundations > of this faux culture. Heck, a couple of times when I've translated things > for this list and I didn't have a word for whatever was being translated yet, > I just made one up and had it function the same as any other word of that > type would in whatever language I was doing at the time. So I really don't > see how translating harms these non-real cultures over which one has complete > control, or why one would get so defensive about it. If it's the Bible, > political documents and Kipling you've got issues with, take it up with them.
I think it's a matter of working styles. I do not approach my languages logically, but by emotional response. The phonological shape arises from intuition before it is codified, and I see the entire language as a whole existing in harmony. This is why I rarely finish a language; I often lose the thread, the emotional tone, of the language before finishing it. If, I've discovered, I translate a text inconsistant with the emotional tone of the language too early, I lose the thread earlier. Now, once a language is more or less solidly in mind, like, say, Hatasoe, I can translate anything I like into it and not be the least bit troubled. I've translated bits of the bible itno Hatasoe without any difficulty. But not Hrondu. I can translate Buddhist things into Hrondu, because that's consistant with the flavor, but not Christian, not yet. --Pat --------------------------------------------------------------------- Living your life is a task so difficult, it has never been attempted before.