Re: Second version of my (german) article on Hurd

[Farid Hajji <farid.hajji@ob.kamp.net>]

Marcus,

> > One question: Should I use "Translatoren" or "Translators"? I thought
> > "Translatoren" would be used in german Hurd documentation...
> I use Übersetzer, because that's what they are. I don't know if there is
I've read your Hurd articles in freeX magazine where you used 'Uebersetzer'
for 'translator'. Even as a german speaker, that seemed weird to me. I would
really have preferred 'translator' here, even if it's not a german word.

Of course, 'Uebersetzer' _is_ the german word for 'translator' and you're
probably right to use it. But it sounds really... weird and unusual in this
context:

  "Setzen wir einen Uebersetzer auf /mnt/xyzzy"   (Ugh...)

The reason for this "weirdness" is that unlike familiar words like
'Datei' (file) and 'Verzeichnis' (directory), 'Uebersetzer' is not so
frequently used in the IT world [not even in the sense of 'compiler',
but here's again a potential source of confusion!] in this context
and as such, it doesn't have the 'IT-touch/feeling' that would trigger
certain IT-associations.

IMO, (Hurd-)'translator' is so specific to the Hurd, that it would need
a different word that is not mainstream. Lacking such a word, it may be
best to stick with the original, so that readers can understand the
documentation more easily.

I'm not sure if 'translator' should be written as a substantive with
a capital letter like in 'Translator' or if it should be written in
italics, non-capitalized, indicating a foreign word like in /translator/,
or if it should be quoted as well: 'translator' or '/translator/'.
Personally, I'd prefer /translator/, but that's not the only possible
form.

One other example: How would you translate:
e   "...we mount /dev/hd0s1 on /mnt..."
d1  "...mounten wir /dev/hd0s1 auf /mnt..."
d2  "...haengen wir /dev/hd0s1 {auf,in} /mnt [ein]..."
d1 abuses 'mounten' which is not a german word, but which is commonly
used among Unix people to describe Unix-like mounting of filesystems.
'[ein]haengen' would be a more correct translation, but who really
uses this?

-Farid.

-- 
Farid Hajji -- Unix Systems and Network Admin | Phone: +49-2131-67-555
Broicherdorfstr. 83, D-41564 Kaarst, Germany  | farid.hajji@ob.kamp.net
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - - - - - - -
Murphy's Law fails only when you try to demonstrate it, and thus succeeds.