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Comments on Translation Golf - Welcome!

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Translation Golf - Welcome!

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In an effort to drum up activity (given we haven't had any in over a week), I present the first translation golf!

Before entering, please read the ground rules. The aim of the game is to translate a given text using as few characters as possible.

The first text is quite simple, it's the welcome text for our community.

Welcome to Languages & Linguistics, our community for anyone interested in specific (human) languages, language and its constructs more generally, or linguistics.

Translations:

  • must be welcoming, ideally using common phrasing for the target language
  • do not need to refer to the community explicitly by name, as long as they adequately describe the community as one for the study of language
  • do not need to include redundant details (E.g. if you write "Study of language", that automatically would include "Study of language constructs")

As the community is still small, any target language is allowed (including English! Try to shrink the text). Translations will compete within the same language, just like code golf.

Abbreviations are not allowed for this challenge.

Letter counter for submissions: https://jsfiddle.net/2ermv0rh/2/

discussion translation-golf
posted almost 4 years ago
4y ago
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Moshi‭
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General comments (4 comments)
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English, 31 characters

Hi! This site's for you if you like lingo.

Notes:

  • I consider Hi!, as an informal but not impolite greeting, to connote both the greeting and the acceptance aspects of Welcome to.

  • Languages & Linguistics, being a name, can't really be golfed as such, but contextually This site works as a substitution, and by metonymy includes the community behind the site.

  • I'm stretching lingo a bit, but see e.g.

    the language and speech, especially the jargon, slang, or argot, of a particular field, group, or individual -- dictionary.com

    Language, terminology, or Dialect. Usually of a particular "Kind" or within a certain "group", "culture" etc -- Urban Dictionary

    language; words used by people doing particular job. -- Macmillan Dictionary

Alternative, also 31 chars but perhaps less controversial and slightly clearer on the study aspect of point 2:

Hi! This site's for all language lovers.

posted almost 4 years ago
4y ago
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Peter Taylor‭
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General comments (7 comments)
General comments
Lundin‭ wrote almost 4 years ago
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Jargon and slang isn't really a synonym for language and definitely not for linguistics. Also I think you take way too many liberties with the original text in general. "Hi" isn't a synonym for "Welcome" and they are used in different contexts; you don't tell your guests "Hi to my home".

Lundin‭ wrote almost 4 years ago
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When I translated this to another language, I was rather thinking "would a professional interpreter accept this?" As in, are all nuances of the original text preserved and no information lost? Now of course "English to English" is a special case.

Peter Taylor‭ wrote almost 4 years ago
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@Lundin, I approached this in the spirit of the English-to-Spanish translation golf contests in another place which were the inspiration for L&L's version. One thing which this challenge doesn't have, and which experience there showed to be valuable, is explicit acceptance criteria enumerating the key points. That still allows room for some argument about whether a submission hits them, but it reduces the subjectivity.

Moshi‭ wrote almost 4 years ago
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@PeterTaylor I'm open to improvements to the challenge, if you'd like to suggest them! I have no experience with the Spanish translation golf, so any you have is valuable. What sort of criteria do you think would be good for this challenge?

Peter Taylor‭ wrote almost 4 years ago
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@Moshi , retrospectively adding criteria isn't so simple, but perhaps an example from a challenge I posted in the other place would help. The original text was in Latin (De bello Hispaniensi, 39), although I supplied the English translation from http://classics.mit.edu/Caesar/spanish.html and two Spanish translations for reference. The key points which I enumerated were:

Peter Taylor‭ wrote almost 4 years ago
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  1. The subject is Pompey. His name should appear at least once. 2. He is prevented from fleeing (on foot) by his injuries. 3. The terrain means that he can't flee by other means (horse or vehicle). 4. "Our" (i.e. Caesar's) troops were executing carnage. 5. Pompey had lost his fortifications and his aid. 6. He hid in a cave. 7. Where he was found only by information gathered from prisoners. 8. That's where he was killed. 9. His head was exhibited publicly in Seville.
Moshi‭ wrote almost 4 years ago
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@PeterTaylor I see, so enumerating the points that can't be "lost in translation". I'll try to do some clarification criteria in the OP, if you have any concerns bring it up there