-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [gutvol-d] Re: Translation project From: "Keith J. Schultz" <schultzk@uni-trier.de> Date: Wed, February 24, 2010 4:28 pm To: Project Gutenberg Volunteer Discussion <gutvol-d@lists.pglaf.org>

Hi Carel,

What you are forgetting that every language has its cultural idiosyncrasies and idioms. You can not take a pre-school text book and simply translate it. Furthermore, there are also cultural differences in teaching.

I deal with people of a variety of cultures and languages on a daily basis. Problems and frequent episodes of humor occur as a result of these differences. I also realize the existance of idiosyncrasies and idioms or I would have thought that google translate was the answer rather than human translations. I have instructors from many different cultures and they openly discuss and often use the teaching methods of their culture of origin. So, that is something I would have a hard time forgetting as I have several decades of personal experience with it (I'm wht is known as a 'life-student' or 'professional student' --depending on how rude you feel like being). [snip]

Furthermore, a German normallydoes call their dogs Spot. Or translate Dick and Jane. Well I could start with "Every dick and Jane" being Hinz und Kunze, but Hinz und Kunze are last names.

Exactly. Again, the reason google translate is not adequate. As books intended to help a native speaker of one language gain some familiarity with the sentence structure of another (by reading books they are familiar with from their own language), I fail to see how most of this applies in any real depth. The individuals translating the books would have to decide how best to deal with the issues of how "See Spot" should best be phrased in another language: I believe that is the role and purpose of a translator is it not? And, I've rarely seen names changed in translation as that would remove a large portion of the cultural of origin. The purpose and nature of what I am looking for is why I doubted that PG would be interested in the end result: It would not be an 'authoritative' translation, but rather a learning aid.

It does not work that way. Sorry.

I'll be sure to let the publishers of books that do exactly what I am describing know that they are doing the impossible. Since my question was actually whether or not such a translation project exists, I will take your response as the simple 'no' that all of this can be translated to mean. I'll search around a bit more for an existing project and then start one of my own. If it serves no other purpose than to help me (and some of my fellow students) to get a firmer grasp on a few languages and to meet a few interesting people who are willing to help out, then the project will be a success.

regards Keith.

Yes, thank you.... Carel