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I am an Amercian living in Prague, with...okay, Czech skills but not really good enough to write in the language. Question: should I write my GC entries in English and people can just use Google Translate to see what I have written (like I do with Czech-only cache listings) or should I go ahead and cut-and-paste in a Google Translation, even though the Czech will probably have some errors that I will not be able to catch. Thoughts?
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Language Question on new GCs
#3
Posted 23 February 2011 - 08:45 PM
English only is perfectly OK, much better than Google translations. Most people will understand.
I look forward to seeing your logs on my caches soon
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I look forward to seeing your logs on my caches soon
.
#4
Posted 23 February 2011 - 10:18 PM
English only is OK.
However, if you have some "Czech skills", you can google translate then correct the mistakes. If you know that a phrase has been wrongfully translated, but cannot correct it, reformulate the English phrase and translate again.
Although if my logs are English only, I prefer the description for my caches to be both in English and in the local language.
However, if you have some "Czech skills", you can google translate then correct the mistakes. If you know that a phrase has been wrongfully translated, but cannot correct it, reformulate the English phrase and translate again.
Although if my logs are English only, I prefer the description for my caches to be both in English and in the local language.
#5
Posted 27 February 2011 - 07:20 AM
As a native from that country I suggest: Feel free to write your logs in English, especially if they are short. It is more genuine and more comfortable - not only for you to write but also for many Czech cachers to read. And what more, it is also a subtle way to show demand for an "international" version of the listing which is often missing.
#6
Posted 01 March 2011 - 08:28 AM
memefactory, on 23 February 2011 - 11:40 AM, said:
I am an Amercian living in Prague, with...okay, Czech skills but not really good enough to write in the language. Question: should I write my GC entries in English and people can just use Google Translate to see what I have written (like I do with Czech-only cache listings) or should I go ahead and cut-and-paste in a Google Translation, even though the Czech will probably have some errors that I will not be able to catch. Thoughts?
In my opinion google translator and the like mess your words up and though the intention was good it gives the owner a bit of a headache. As in trying to sit on two chairs and at the end you fall on your bum in between, dunno if you've got this saying, anyway, think it'd be better to have it either in proper English or proper Czech. It depends on your language skills though, if your Czech is better than the translator, like you know the order of the words and stuff, I'd say go ahead.
I've only gone as far as putting a díky at the end of my logs when I was caching in CZ.
#7
Posted 20 March 2011 - 06:57 AM
Or ask a Czech friend / colleague to translate for you? Perhaps wise to include both Czech and English versions in the cache text.
#8
Posted 21 March 2011 - 05:54 AM
Hmmm, lots of food for thought....I have found a little trick, however - use Google Translate (which does a pretty fair job most of the time, I've found), the paste the translation BACK into GT and render it once again into English, then compare the original to the translated translation. Helped me find a few tiny faults with GT's work (for example, Czechs use the word "keš" for "cache", but some are being clever and spell in with a k instead, so "kache" - but GT thinks they might mean "kachna", which means "duck", so you get translations about water fowl instead of people. I have also noticed that idiomatic language escapes the program almost entirely.) Not a perfect system, but at least it's something....
#9
Posted 22 March 2011 - 11:05 AM
I would not bother with it. Just write it in English and let them translate it if they need it at all. Believe me, I know.
I feel I have to add a little to it. Even here in U.S. there are people mixing cache and catch, talking about "geocatching". From there Czechs got "kač" pronounced "katch" and it humorously leads to "káčer" (pronounced "kah-tcher") = Mallard duck male.
my 2c
Richard
I feel I have to add a little to it. Even here in U.S. there are people mixing cache and catch, talking about "geocatching". From there Czechs got "kač" pronounced "katch" and it humorously leads to "káčer" (pronounced "kah-tcher") = Mallard duck male.
my 2c
Richard
This post has been edited by TheCzechguy: 22 March 2011 - 04:41 PM
#10
Posted 22 March 2011 - 09:21 PM
Not that it is very important: i believe the origin of the duck nickname used among Czech geocachers is different. The pronounciation of the word "cacher" is very similar to the Czech word "kačer". I've rarely seen local people mixing up "cache" and "catch", but often you see esp. beginners talking about "cash". It is just a spelling mistake, not related to "kačers".
#11
Posted 31 March 2011 - 10:10 AM
I'm also an English speaker living in Prague and would very much look forward to some new GCs in English!!
I've only just signed up for my own account but have done plenty with some friends, and it's always a bit of a disaster doing the caches written in Czech and suffering through Google's so-so translations into English to sort out where exactly we ought to be looking...though it has surely provided some entertainment for the people looking at us
I've only just signed up for my own account but have done plenty with some friends, and it's always a bit of a disaster doing the caches written in Czech and suffering through Google's so-so translations into English to sort out where exactly we ought to be looking...though it has surely provided some entertainment for the people looking at us
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