[Sigia-l] translating taxonomies

[Peter Morville]

Here's a citation to one of the best articles I've read on this subject:

	Multilingual Thesaurus Construction (by Michele Hudon)
	Information Services and Use (ISSN: 0167-5265), Vol.17 No.2/3, 1997,
p.111-123.

It's not just a language translation issue. The way people categorize
information also varies between languages and cultures, so the fundamental
organization schemes may need to be different.

See also: Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things by George Lakoff 

Cheers!


Peter Morville
President, Semantic Studios
www.semanticstudios.com


-----Original Message-----
From: sigia-l-bounces at asis.org [mailto:sigia-l-bounces at asis.org] On Behalf
Of Peter Van Dijck
Sent: Monday, November 08, 2004 5:04 AM
To: Listera
Cc: SIGIA-L
Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] translating taxonomies



Listera wrote:

> Do you foresee a difference between translation and translation of
> taxonomies? 

Yes. Tranlation is complex enough as it is, but translating taxonomies 
is worse. In a taxonomy, every label has been carefully crafted. In a 
classic translation you don't translate word for word - it's a creative 
profession and the translator's job is to translate the meaning of what 
is being said. You can see how translating a taxonomy (consisting of 
individual words/labels) can be difficult. Some words change meaning in 
translation. Some categories are hard to translate. I'm trying to get a 
good understanding of the issues, but yes, I expect there to be a 
difference between these 2 types of translation.

Peter

Peter


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