[Kde-i18n-fa] groupware, spam, ham and bug

[Aryan Ameri]

On Sunday 21 December 2003 00:41, Shahram Emadi wrote:
> First, I need to thank all the people who sent me an
> email.  I am overwhelmed.  Thanks.  Also, I will be
> more careful about subject matter of the discussion
> thread ;-).
>
> But for finding rigth translations, I think it can not
> be done in the way of "Farsi Ra Pass Bedarim", and
> call a helicopter a BALGARD.
>
> What is Spam? It is low quality pork meat.  The word
> became famous because of a movie song (Monty Python
> Flying Circuse). 

If this was slashdot, you would have been moded down into oblivion by 
now, for being off topic.

>There it meant too much and too
> anoying. Now days it means net abuse. Now, for Farsi
> we do not have these concepts or even the needed
> concepts to build on top.  Spam is an evolved entity,
> with a very uniq place of its own.
>
> I think, for many of the English word we have no way
> but to leave them at that.  As another example, think
> about the word "Okay" which is used almost by anybody
> with a more than six years of education.


Oh really? try saying 'OK' to anyone in a suburb of Kerman, Hamedan, and 
pretty much any big city in Iran, and you will be surprised to know 
that many people don't know what 'OK' means. Been there, Done that.

OK has been trsnalated in Computer Graphical Interfaces to Taaid تایید 
for dacades. I remember the MS produced Windows 3.11 also called it 
taaid.

Besides, even in languages were OK is used in everyday language, like in 
Turkish, they still have made their own synonym for it (Tamam). Even 
though people use OK in Turkish, the official translation for it is 
Tamam, and I see nothing wrong with this approach. 

And yes, my Turkish teacher told me that 'Tamam' wasn't a welcome word 
when it was first created, and many people thought the word was 
inappropriate for OK, and many thought it's stupid to use it (this was 
during Mustafa Ataturk's time). Guess what? now this same word, is the 
mostly used word in Turkish language. 

I have been bashed before for saying this, but this is my opinion, and 
IANAL (I Am Not A Linquist), but:

When a language fails to produce new words, it's dead. period.


>  Why, cause
> we do not have the equivalent concept in Farsi.  The
> concept itself has migrated through the use of this
> word and now it is localized.
> So, my suggestion is to write most English words in
> Farsi Alphabet, and keep the UI consistant, so the
> user does not need to read in a mixed mode of LTR and
> RTL.

I love reading the word 'groupware' in Farsi alphabet.


> I think even French or Germans are not capable to find
> a word for spam.


> Now, we can discuss many such words, but I think if
> you know the word bug, you are more prepared in your
> life for using a debugger.  And if you know spam, you
> have a better chance to research its meaning.

Umm, did you make the same arguments when the use of words like Sakh 
Afzar, Narm Afzar, or Rayaneh, were starting to become popular?

> Of course it would be nice to have clear explantions
> added.

Imagine a UI, in which every word has an explanations attached to it in 
a paranthes. You really like that stuff don't you?

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Aryan Ameri