[ExI] Linguistic shifts

[BillK]

On Thu, Dec 23, 2010 at 8:31 PM, Adrian Tymes  wrote:
> I have long wondered why it is so common in automated translations,
> that a common word (such as "of") can be translated one way, but
> that translation is missing from the reverse.  (Granted, in this case it
> was a loop translation, but that's a common enough word that its
> equivalent should have been in all six of E->F, F->E, E->G, G->E,
> F->G, and G->F.)
>


I think it is because some languages structure sentences in a
different word order to English.

The old joke about the UN translators --
When the French representative started speaking, the translators all
followed immediately, jabbering away in their own languages.
When the German representative started speaking a deathly hush fell
over the translators for long minutes.  They were waiting for the verb
to appear.


BillK