Republic of Lavalon
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Author Topic: Translation Priorities  (Read 1972 times)
JasonMckerra
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« on: December 07, 2009, 02:20:08 am »

What do you think would be the most important information we need to provide to prospective citizens. I want to get some basic stuff translated, but what should we start with?

The constitution once it's completed? A basic how to guide? The opening page of the website?

What are your thoughts.
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Gottingen
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« Reply #1 on: December 07, 2009, 03:30:39 am »

Well, in all frank honesty, the most important thing would be the phrase "Learn English".
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JasonMckerra
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« Reply #2 on: December 07, 2009, 12:17:02 pm »

Only if the English section can also say, "Learn Spanish" (or Portuguese, or German, or Russia, or French, or Dutch etc).

An actively multilingual micronation should  not be an impossibility.

With a few technical aides, I can struggle through and understand posts in just about any major language. All that a multilingual community requires is the patience and goodwill to make it work.
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Gottingen
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« Reply #3 on: December 08, 2009, 04:04:54 am »

I can too, but I don't care too.
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Zachary Klaas
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« Reply #4 on: December 11, 2009, 01:51:47 am »

If we're serious about the multilingual thing, my suggestion is the website should be the priority, but it has to be more than that.  A seriously multilingual community should have a "point person" in each language it claims to serve.

Code:
1 ILR Level 1 - Elementary proficiency
2 ILR Level 2 - Limited working proficiency
3 ILR Level 3 - Professional working proficiency
4 ILR Level 4 - Full professional proficiency
5 ILR Level 5 - Native or bilingual proficiency

I can translate well to a few languages.  If we use the ILR system to describe my proficiencies, I'd say I am fluent at en-5 (mother tongue), fr-3 (lived in Canada and used French extensively while there), de-2 (ancestry from Germany, learned it fairly extensively), es-1 (took Spanish in high school...also it's very like French), nl-1 (learned Dutch a bit when visiting the Netherlands in 2001...also it's very like German), it-1 (I can usually figure Italian out...also very like French).

Wikipedians also use this kind of scale to give an indication of what kind of linguistic connections people can make within a multilingual environment.  It might be useful for Lavalon citizens to be asked to provide this information as well - so we know who can (fluently or marginally) talk to one another in this place.

But we should also try and contact people higher in language fluency amongst us to be the "point person" for a particular language.  For example, if we have a Lavalonian citizen who speaks Italian, I'd consider myself it-1...so I can contact that person to ask if he or she will consider helping us provide language support for Italians.  But it probably wouldn't make too much sense for me to do it, because it-1 isn't very high, and in the end it might disappoint any potential Italian-speaking Lavalonians if I was exclusively in charge of providing services for them.  Likewise, for Arabic, I'm pretty much useless (ar-0), even in terms of asking people to be a "point person".  But if there's someone I can talk to who can in turn speak some level of Arabic, and I know that, then it might be possible to send that message out to someone.

So here's the plan.  I'd be willing to translate the web page into the languages I have some kind of fluency in (level 1 or above).  I'd like to encourage a survey of our current citizens for their levels of fluency as something the Senate can authorize.  If we have anyone with a level of fluency at 4 or 5 in some language other than English, I'd like to contact those people to possibly help us out as a "point person" for their language.

Sound good?
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JasonMckerra
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« Reply #5 on: December 11, 2009, 10:30:18 am »

Mr Klaas,

This sounds like an excellent plan. As Consul I authorize you to use the contact information available in the "Conference Room" forum to email a survey to all citizens.
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Kraffe
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« Reply #6 on: January 19, 2010, 01:37:04 pm »

I can help with French, being French mother tongue educated (living in th UK to reconquer my country, I'm from Brittany).
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Brandon
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« Reply #7 on: January 19, 2010, 11:00:39 pm »

That thing I was discussing in the Conference Room could have simple language courses, and we could make the official language Esperanto! (not very serious)
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Kraffe
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« Reply #8 on: January 20, 2010, 03:53:14 pm »

I can help too by sending Breton language studies (fro free) to whom interested by the Brittany native language (Assimil Method).
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