Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Texts shaping language

From:Irina Rempt <ira@...>
Date:Monday, March 1, 1999, 9:12
On Sat, 27 Feb 1999, dunn patrick w wrote:

> Thanks. I intend to. I've noticed that translating texts alien to the > culture of the Trolls -- say, the Babel text, which besides being > cumbersome is just plain silly to a Troll -- tends to shape the language > in undesirable ways. Writing original works in the language, at least > at first, allows the grammar and vocabulary to grow somewhat naturally.
That goes for any language, I think, even natural ones. The Dutch language was shaped in part by the seventeenth-century Bible translation. I've never tried to translate any Bible text into Valdyan, mostly for that reason. I *do* write original texts, and they shape the language the way it wants to go, even if they tend to leave strange gaps - I noticed when translating the "great freedom for all the children" text that I had all the words except "freedom". Obviously I hadn't written anything political before. Words to do with food, drink and cooking, on the other hand, are abundant because I've written some recipes. Irina irina@rempt.xs4all.nl http://www.xs4all.nl/~bsarempt/irina/frontpage.html (English) http://www.xs4all.nl/~bsarempt/irina/backpage.html (Nederlands)