Language choices for English-language website

General conversations about Go belong here.

What language should translated go terms be presented in?

Poll ended at Sun Jul 05, 2015 12:53 am

Japanese - This is what the Western World already knows, and I'd rather not have to learn new words
19
79%
Original Language - Respect the culture of the source material, I don't mind learning new words
1
4%
English - Even if it requires multiple words, use an English equivalent
1
4%
Don't Know / Don't Care
1
4%
Other - Please comment in reply
2
8%
 
Total votes: 24

User avatar
wineandgolover
Lives in sente
Posts: 866
Joined: Sun Jul 25, 2010 6:05 am
GD Posts: 0
Has thanked: 318 times
Been thanked: 345 times

Re: Language choices for English-language website

Post by wineandgolover »

Thanks again, all. I really appreciate the votes and comments.
- Brady
Want to see videos of low-dan mistakes and what to learn from them? Brady's Blunders
User avatar
Bantari
Gosei
Posts: 1639
Joined: Sun Dec 06, 2009 6:34 pm
GD Posts: 0
Universal go server handle: Bantari
Location: Ponte Vedra
Has thanked: 642 times
Been thanked: 490 times

Re: Language choices for English-language website

Post by Bantari »

Uberdude wrote:== Definitely Not ==
moku
I would add to this the following recently often (mis) used terms:
goban,
kifu,
baduk (althought this one is useful for searches, so maybe leave it in, but just for that geason.)
- Bantari
______________________________________________
WARNING: This post might contain Opinions!!
skydyr
Oza
Posts: 2495
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2012 8:06 am
GD Posts: 0
Universal go server handle: skydyr
Online playing schedule: When my wife is out.
Location: DC
Has thanked: 156 times
Been thanked: 436 times

Re: Language choices for English-language website

Post by skydyr »

Bantari wrote:[
I would add to this the following recently often (mis) used terms:
...
baduk (althought this one is useful for searches, so maybe leave it in, but just for that geason.)
I really like "baduk" for searching, both because it is unique for that purpose and because unlike weiqi, there aren't a lot of romanization or pronunciation pitfalls. I would be quite willing to have it adopted as the official name of the game in English if it weren't for the cultural issues a forced change like that might bring up.
User avatar
Charlie
Lives in gote
Posts: 310
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2012 2:19 am
Rank: EGF 4 kyu
GD Posts: 0
Location: Deutschland
Has thanked: 272 times
Been thanked: 126 times

Re: Language choices for English-language website

Post by Charlie »

Personally, I'd vote for Japanese terms adapted into English. Newspeak would be more correct and future proofed (post Brexit and the Trump presidency) but it will still be a while before "unlife" replaces "death" and "unsente" replaces "gote" in the common usage. (Also "unponnuki" for "dango", "unseki" for false Seki", "untesuji" for the almost identical mash-ups "anti-suji" or "non-suji", and remember that "unfilled triangles" are bad shape.)
seberle
Dies in gote
Posts: 22
Joined: Mon Feb 03, 2014 2:07 pm
Rank: KGS 8 kyu
GD Posts: 0
KGS: Seberle 8k
DGS: Seberle 7k
OGS: Seberle
Online playing schedule: KGS or OGS around 04:00-06:00 UTC most days
Location: Niger, West Africa
Has thanked: 13 times
Been thanked: 4 times

Re: Language choices for English-language website

Post by seberle »

wineandgolover wrote:For the purposes of this poll, please assume the goal of this website is to be a resource for the Western world, not just native English-speaking countries.
If the goal is to reach all Westerners, then one should definitely go with the established Japanese terms, which are used (as far as I know) in all European languages. This would make it easier for those trying to read English who are more familiar with go in another Western language.

Of course, as has been mentioned, many terms such as "nobi", "shicho", "oiotoshi", "niken tobi", "semeai", "hasami", "kaketsugi", etc. have been (or are being) replaced by modern English equivalents and many newer players would no longer be familiar with those terms unless they read older books.
Post Reply