Arwel Parry wrote:
In message <3FFD1664.3070803(a)moongate.ro>ro>, Gutza
<gutza-xe8bB7KpE7GhKNWrAYCRhA(a)public.gmane.org> writes
Ray Saintonge wrote:
The last thing that Wiktionary needs is a listing
of automated
translation. [...] Still, to choose one example and say that there
is a 1:1 correspondence between the words of two languages represnts
a totally naïve view of language.
What would be wrong with this? What counter-examples do you have in
mind?
Well, for example if you were translating to/from Welsh, the word
"glas" is normally used to describe the colour of the sky, however it
is also used to describe the colour of grass. "Llwyd" usually means
"grey" but it also has "bluey" connotations...
Ok, maybe I didn't get the concept across really well. You are aware
that we didn't get to that point in history where we humans all lay back
and expect automatons to do all the work for us, right? Writing a parser
to create the proper cross-links between definitions in the English
Wiktionary and other languages' Wiktionaries would not be expected to
result in complete dictionaries for all other languages.
But the same happens with human contributors: you happen to know that
"glas" has those two meanings, but some other contributor may not. Some
other contributor may write the "glas" article in the Welsh Wiktionary
and only include the first definition. If you happened to come across
that article, you might add the other definition as well.
I don't see why we need that human contributor at all if "glas" were to
be found on the English Wiktionary article on "sky blue", for instance.
Not to mention that if "glas" also showed up on "grass green" then
both
definitions would be available for the Welsh "glas", using a smart
automated parser.
In any case, the point is not to expect the automated parser to result
in a prefect any language to any language dictionary, but rather to do
what automated things tend to do today: make our lives easier, as in
creating a reasonable basis for other Wiktionaries, as well as keeping
things in sync.
Just my 2c,
Gutza