Translation software use in threads

[Frabjous]

Has there been any thought about a button for the poster to self-identify that the poster is using translation software?

Edit: this is now a linguistics thread

 

[fresh_42]

Has there been any thought about a button for the poster to self-identify that the poster is using translation software?

For what reason? I use it all the time if ...

• I am too lazy to translate it myself, e.g. if the quoted text in a foreign language is quite long
• I turn to Wikipedia to figure out a technical term that I only know in my native language
• to get a rudimentary text body via Google translate that I only have to adjust a bit
• look up words I only know in my native language, e.g. do you really expect foreigners to know "onomatopoetic"?
• to check whether it is correct what I want to express
• to check whether there is a better wording

Of course, I do not always proceed by this, so many of my sentences could probably be better phrased, especially if it is not especially important as in this answer here.

 

[Frabjous]

For what reason? I use it all the time if ...

• I am too lazy to translate it myself, e.g. if the quoted text in a foreign language is quite long
• I turn to Wikipedia to figure out a technical term that I only know in my native language
• to get a rudimentary text body via Google translate that I only have to adjust a bit
• look up words I only know in my native language, e.g. do you really expect foreigners to know "onomatopoetic"?
• to check whether it is correct what I want to express
• to check whether there is a better wording

Of course, I do not always proceed by this, so many of my sentences could probably be better phrased, especially if it is not especially important as in this answer here.

I apologize. I was under the impression that there are users who are less than fluent in English and thought that the quality of the advice they received might be improved if this was known. I have less confidence in technical translators for all languages. Please note that I said “self-identify“ in the original post.
I see that two mentors have come out against the idea, so I guess the point is moot.

 

[fresh_42]

I see that two mentors have come out against the idea, so I guess the point is moot.

Well, depends on what you want to achieve.

I love the history of science. I have a book (900+ pages) about the history of mathematics of the 18th and 19th centuries which was written by a French scientist and translated by someone into German, which I, in case I want to cite it, usually let Google translate it. It is faster to type it in German and let Google put it into an SPO order than dealing with all the minor sentences and appositions myself. So, it could well be the case that you have read something that had been translated twice!

Furthermore, I have downloaded and bookmarked the original papers of Einstein, Noether, Gauß, Newton, and even the paper by Perelman, et al. I'm not sure about Perelman, but the others weren't written in English, although I tend to use Newton's English transcription rather than the Latin original.

See, science is full of translations.

 

[fresh_42]

It is quite interesting how the language of science changed through time:

Greek (Euclid)
Latin (Newton)
Italian (Peano, Cardano)
French (Cauchy, Legendre, Lagrange)
German (Einstein, Noether, Gauß)
English (nowadays)

I remember a guest we had at our institute who once said in broken English:

Scientific English is broken English.

However, I do not remember where he was from.

 

[Frabjous]

I am impressed with your fluency. What does it have to do with a generic person struggling with a concept that they are being exposed to for the first time?

 

[fresh_42]

I am impressed with your fluency. What does it have to do with a generic person struggling with a concept that they are being exposed to for the first time?

Maybe I did not understand you. That's why I asked what you wanted to achieve. If someone has difficulties with the English language then they could - and frequently do - tell us in their posts. How does this differ from a button? Where does the translation software make a difference?

 

[BillTre]

It is quite interesting how the language of science changed through time:

Greek (Euclid)
Latin (Newton)
Italian (Peano, Cardano)
French (Cauchy, Legendre, Lagrange)
German (Einstein, Noether, Gauß)
English (nowadays)

I remember a guest we had at our institute who once said in broken English:

However, I do not remember where he was from.

I took Russian reading for science literature once in grad school.
The teacher had an interesting observation that many science words were the same between Russian and English (American). This made science literature much easier.
Other words were obviously related in some other way, like library::bibliotech or something like that (long time ago).

When I was in Newcastle, I noticed differences in the words used to designate common things used in labs. What I might call a 50 ml plastic centrifuge tube, the Brits would a "X" tube, where X was the name of a company that made it. Not sure if the particular tube name was applied across the products of different manufacturers, I didn't order stuff there.
This was really common lab terminology apparently throughout the country.

 

[fresh_42]

The German word for library is Bibliothek, so I guess you remember correctly. Russian has adopted quite a few German words. While German adopted sandwich, Russia adopted Butterbrot (German version of a sandwich). Language is funny!

I should have added Russian to my list between French and German to honor all the Russian topologists at the beginning of last century.

Scientists are like kids: "I don't care the wrapping, give me the goodie!" This is the reason why the ISS works and politics doesn't.

We also have some items where the first major brand became the synonyme for the product. And don't you drink coke even if it is pepsi?

 

[Bystander]

We also have some items where the first major brand became the synonyme for the product. And don't you drink coke even if it pepsi?

"Sugarplum Fairy Gag-juice" is not the "Real Thing."

 

[BillTre]

We also have some items where the first major brand became the synonyme for the product. And don't you drink coke even if it pepsi?

Also zipper, which comes from a particular make of galoshes.

 

[fresh_42]

Also zipper, which comes from a particular make of galoshes.

Interesting that it also became the verb! The German solution is worse: rip-locker (Reißverschluß).

 

[Vanadium 50]

It is quite interesting how the language of science changed through time:

"In German and English, I know how to count down...
..und I'm learning Chinese" says Werner von Braun.

 

[fresh_42]

Has there been any thought about a button for the poster to self-identify that the poster is using translation software?

Edit: this is now a linguistics thread

... but only because you never answered any question to drive the thread along your primary intentions. E.g. we never were able to figure out why you wanted such a button in the first place. If you do not participate in your own discussion, do not blame others for discussing wherever it led to.

P.S.: Moved to the language forum.

 

[berkeman]

After some Moderation, this thread is now locked. Thanks folks.