Re: Untranslated notes (was: Poll by Email No. 7)

Boudewijn Rempt wrote:
>On Thursday 18 April 2002 13:38, Christophe wrote:
> >
> > Well, now I understand why my Dutch collegues never read scientific
> > articles in Dutch. Among them, only one understands scientific German,
>and
> > no one understands French, and even less scientific French (which is
>quite
> > different from scientific Dutch).
>
>Then they have no business being scientists. Any university-educated
>Dutchman
>should be able to read scientific English, French, German and Dutch. And,
>depending on his field, Russian, too.
You must've got good Unis in Dutchistan; I known dozens of
university-educated Swedes, only a few of could read a scientific paper in
any language other than Swedish or English. This assuming we're talking
about whatever field they study/-ied; obviously many wouldn't be able to
make sense of one dealing with something they've never studied.
[snip]
>
> > Expecting too much of your audience is an even bigger lack of respect
>than
> > expecting too little. It sets the tone on who you think should be
>allowed
> > to read what you want to write... I know it may not be meant like that,
>but
> > that's what it does.
> >
>
>Translations always lie, without any exceptions.
As do mere quotes, since context is lost.

>If you quote someone, you
>should use his or her _exact_ words. Translations of quotes should be
>relegated to footnotes, if the author thinks them necessary at all. Giving
>only the translation, or even mainly the translation with the original
>in a footnote is a clear mark of [dis]respect for the original author.
If you let this kind of "respect" for the original author get in the way of
communication with the reader, one might question if you're most interested
in communicating information, or showing yourself off.

>And, frankly, I'd expect someone interested in acquiring certain knowledge
>to
>do the groundwork necessary, learning a language, if necessary.  The reader
>needs the knowledge: he do the work.
If being able to read scientific French and German were considered
prerequisite for becoming a scientist, engineer or similar, the Swedish
economy of today couldn't work - the number of people who combine
scientific/technological interest and aptitude with the same for languages
is simply too small. I suspect that the same is true of much of the Western
world, not to talk of the rest of world.

                                                   Andreas

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