Re: RELAY INSTRUCTIONS!!! was Re: new relay

On Thu, 31 May 2001, Tom Tadfor Little wrote:

>Hi Padraic. I understood that pointing to a web site was an encouraged
>*addition* to the interlinear and lexicon given with the text, but was
>wondering about it as the sole source of information (assuming the
>recipient has said it is OK--no access problems).
Keep in mind that we have a limited time to translate (2 days).
If the person who follows you wishes, they may certainly ignore
your interlinear and glossary and head straight for the website.
You should know the order of players in advance, so you certainly
can discuss this with whoever follows. If that person is agreeable,
then by all means send only the text and url!

>There's obviously a
>certain challenge in zeroing in on an unknown form armed only with a
>grammar and lexicon. For example, the first word of the previous sentence
>("There's") would be harder for someone who had never seen English before
>if no interlinear were provided. Even after finding "there" in the lexicon,
>one would have to verify that "there's" was some legitimate form of "there"
>and track down just what it was. I can see this being either fun or just
>too much work, depending on the translator, the language, and the text.
>
True enough. It would be fun for me - but could easily turn into
excessive work knowing that I have umteen such forms to track down
in Gods know how big and complex a website, and I still have to
come up with my own translation to send along. All on a deadline!

>It's not that important of a question; it's clear to me that an interlinear
>and text-specific word list are expected. I guess I'm just curious to know
>where the limits of the acceptable are.
I guess you'd be stepping over the Line if you provided only a url
with no interlinear and no glossary and you hadn't discussed this
with the next person in line.

Padraic.

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