Re: Translation of personal names (was: Re: XHTML Basic)

Hello translators,
Hello Alexander,

> > just to swim against the tide. I never translate people�s names, not
> > because I�m afraid of the work to find all languages for the
> > xml:lang, but I think it is simply not necessary.
>   Ordnung muss sein, Stefan.
Tell me, where do you know this sentence from?
It�s the most popular sentence in Germany. ;-)

>   For this purpose the following is done by the respectable Russian
>   newspapers: the first appearance of a name is translated into
>   Russian following by the English form in parenthesis.
>   A hypothetical article:
>      <h1>Deiv Reggit vstrechaet'sa s Martinom Dyurstom</h1>
>      <p>Segodnia v 14:00 po moskovskomu vremeni v kongress-tzentre
>      gostinitsi Radisson-Slavyanskay vstrechalis' dva nebezizvestnih
>      predstavitelya konsortziuma W3C: Deiv Reggit (<span
>      xml:lang="en">Dave Raggett</span>) i Martin Dyurst (<span
>      xml:lang="de">Martin Duerst</span>).</p> <p>Gospoda Reggit i
>      Dyurst obsuzhdali problemi rasshireniya geografiyi W3C za schyot
>      vostochnoy Evropi.</p>
>   Note that the first appearance of "Deiv Reggitt" was not translated
>   (because it's a heading) as well as the third one (because it's not
>   the first appearance). If you use this style any reader who reads
>   the article from the very beginning will notice the original form.

Ok, so if your newspapers do it this way, your readers are used to 
it. So it�s the right way for you.
(Personly I would prefer to always read the original name of somebody 
and see the pronounciation once.)
Our newpapers handle that a bit different. 

> >> XHTML Basic is to be enclosed in <span xml:lang="en"> too.
> > Not necessarily.
>   Assuming you're right what is the purpose of xml:lang attribute?
In this case I wouldn�t use the xml:lang, because it�s quite obvious, 
that XHTML Basic is an english term. Why explain (with xml:lang) 
something, that is already known. 
But that�s a point we surely can argue about hours and hours, where 
to use it and where not.

In cases where you find similar terms in both languages, I would use 
it to explicitly distinguish between both terms.
Or like you use it to tell your reader the english spelling. And 
maybe in several other cases.

Happy weekend,
Stefan
-- 
Stefan Schumacher
Oesterberg 20                                   0172/2718968
58553 Halver                                    02353/130119
Germany
www.schumacher-netz.de

Received on Saturday, 13 April 2002 17:24:04 UTC