Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2007 February 10

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February 10

Pokemon in Chinese?

Were the Pokemon games ever translated into chinese? If so which dialects?

There are translations of the names of creatures (up to about number 300. I'm sure No. 1~251 all have Chinese names). Names are in Cantonese (Hong Kong) style or Mandarin (Mainland and Taiwan ones, almost identical). But the games itself (Gameboy,... etc) were not translated into Chinese ever.--Fitzwilliam 04:24, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Uist pronunciation

Could someone transcribe the IPA for Uist? The way I want to pronounce it is [uɪst], but I am not Scottish, nor have I ever heard the word pronounced. Makes me think of the hypothetical word ew-est, as in "That is the ew-est thing I have ever seen" for something that would make a person exclaim "Ew!". Anyway, thanks for your consideration.-Andrew c 03:01, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

I've always pronounced it [just], and that seems to be right. — Gareth Hughes 14:21, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

However, now, I doubt myself, and suggest that your pronunciation may be better. — Gareth Hughes 14:25, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

Not that I usually have cause to pronounce the word but I usually hear it as ew-ist rather than -est. meltBanana 19:33, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

The Cambridge Pronouncing Dictionary says ['ju:Ist]. Chl 20:10, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

The Longman Pronouncing Dictionary and Everyman's Pronouncing Dictionary also say [ˈjuːɪst], so I've added it to the article Uist. —Angr 23:46, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

Latin translation please

Could I have the Latin for "I like string" and "Do you like string?" please?I can translate from Latin pretty well but not the other way round.hotclaws**== 09:31, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

What do you mean with string? What is that supposed to mean? Strings? G-string? 惑乱 分からん 11:56, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

How about "Funiculus me placet." AnonMoos 13:55, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

Which I believe would be "Placetne te funiculus?" for "do you like string." -Elmer Clark 02:01, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

• Thank you so much.hotclaws**== 09:26, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Actually, I think it should be mihi rather than me (and tibi rather than te). Maid Marion 15:31, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

The plural of virus

The plural of hippopotomous is hippopotomi, the plural of thesaurus is thesauri, etc. If this is so, why is the plural of virus viruses, instead of virusi?—Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.166.71.196 (talk • contribs)

Plural of virus --Kjoonlee 17:37, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

...In other words, just because some words that end in -us take -i (or -ii) in the plural, it does not imply they all should do so.--Shantavira 19:51, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

What about "bi", "pi" and "rucki"... ;) 惑乱 分からん 23:11, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

The plural of 'juice' should be 'jeece'. Vitriol 00:53, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Indeed. And instead of the long-winded expression "a grain of rice" we should just say "a rouse". —Angr 00:58, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Some other examples (appearing in Richard Lederer's Crazy English) include dra, lynges and foxen. They are suggested as alternative forms for drums, lynxes, and foxes, being patterned after datum/data, sphynx/sphynges, and ox/oxen. --Kjoonlee 03:27, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Two stewardii. (Old one.) --jpgordon^∇∆∇∆ 00:21, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

Alphabetizing, part 2

Should (You Drive Me) Crazy be filed under (, Y, or C? Thanks. Xiner (talk, email) 18:26, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

C meltBanana 19:37, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

Oh do you want an explanation? It's because (You Drive Me) is a parenthetical phrase tacked on to explain the actual title Crazy. But with computer sorting no more frequently used, and their ability to make quick, efficient mistakes, other sort orders are becoming more common. meltBanana 19:43, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

I like tradition sometimes. Thank you. Xiner (talk, email) 23:25, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

WWWD -- What Would Wikipedia Do? It would have an article under one form of the title and a redirect under the other form. In a printed index or glossary or that sort of thing, you can do the same thing by having an entry under Y like "(You Drive Me) Crazy: see Crazy", and the main entry under C, or the other way around. If it's a simple alphabetical list of titles, of course, that doesn't work and you just have to pick one style or the other.

Don't even think of "alphabetizing under (", though. Punctuation marks in their normal uses should always be ignored in alphabetization.

--Anonymous, February 11, 2007, 20:47 (UTC).

Linking Articles Between Language Wikis

Hello,

I swear that I've searched and I've been searhing for a few days now. But what is the policy on linking articles between language Wikis?

For example, if I'm translating a German article on the City Worms and there is an article on a smaller town surrounding Worms that just isn't really important in the grand scheme of the english language and there isn't a compelling need to translate that article...is there a way to link to the German language wiki on that town?

I'm sorry, I'm new to editing but want to contribute my experiences on some specific subjects hope to learn more. Thank You.

TurboManiacal 20:43, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

I don't understand your question exactly? Are you wondering if it's better to link to a roughly corresponding article than no article at all? 惑乱 分からん 23:18, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

This would be a question for the help desk. Xiner (talk, email) 23:20, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

Yeah...I think it's better to link the original language article than to translate the article to english. I agree this maybe a front page article but that's where I started and got directed here. TurboManiacal 23:42, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

(edit conflict) I think I understand - you have tranlated 'worms' (town in germany) - because it's an important town (obviously) - but don't want to translate (making this up) the article on 'little worms by the sea' (4 miles from worms and nobody ever goes there)..

There are options -

1. don't make the article about 'little worms by the sea'

2. make a very short article about 'little worms by the sea' (these are labelled 'stubs' and link that article to the german page (which has more detail - but is in german) labelled like this

using this template {{stub}}.Note that if no-one will ever expand the article it may come up for deletion. As long as it's relevant to any encyclopedia it's worth making.

3. in your translated article on 'worms' make a subsection "satellite towns and villages" or similar and link to the german page on 'little worms by the sea' like this

• German Wikipedia article on 'little worms by the sea'

ie *[[:de:little worms by the sea |German Wikipedia article on 'little worms by the sea' ]]

Did that help or have I totally misunderstood.87.102.9.117 23:49, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

Since Wikipedia is not paper, any article that's encyclopedic in the German Wikipedia is encyclopedic here. If the existence of the little village near Worms can be verified, there's no reason it can't have an article at English-language Wikipedia. —Angr 00:11, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

I think all that's being asked is whether interlanguage links are possible, which they are. As 87.102.9.117 said, you just put the language prefix (in this case, de) before the link, e.g. . However, since many people reading the article won't be able to read German and will have no use for a link to a German article, I at least would recommend avoiding such links when there's any sort of alternative - personally, I don't use them at all. Perhaps the "external links" section might be an appropriate place for them. -Elmer Clark 02:08, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Interlanguage links automatically appear in the left hand box - there is no need to put them in external links and they are encouraged. Interwikis links are put last on the page after the category section but that is good style and doesn't affect functionality. Rmhermen 06:33, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

I don't think that's the kind of interlanguage link he meant, but yeah, those are entirely different and certainly encouraged. I was talking about links to other articles in other languages, which I think he meant, for instance, linking to the German article on some tiny town which the English Wikipedia has no article on. -Elmer Clark 06:51, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

You're right, his actual question never got answered. I believe the answer to the question "Can I add an interlanguage link to an article in German on a different but related topic?" is "It's technically possible, yes, but probably not a good idea. People expect there to be only one interlanguage link per language, and if you add a link to Worms that goes to a German article about something other than Worms, it will confuse people and will probably get removed anyway." —Angr 09:16, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Thanks All. I got my question answered and I also got some insight into the policy of linking German articles within English Articles. TurboManiacal 13:12, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

John Michell

I would like to know if "Michell" is pronounced as "Mishell" or "Mitchell"? Thanks Melamed katz 21:50, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

I used to move in those circles and I have only ever heard it pronounced "me-shell". (Similar to Jean Michel Jarre.)--Shantavira 09:33, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

translation

I am trying to learn a way to translate a saying and a prayer from English to Norwegian. can you help me or send me in the right direction. Thank you Scott Torkelson

Would you like a course in Norwegian, or just a translation of a single prayer? 惑乱 分からん 23:16, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

If you post it here there's a good chance someone with some Norwegian profiency will come along. If you actually wanna learn Norwegian, you can try the "learn Norwegian" Wikibook, although it's pretty rudimentary. Unilang might have helpful materials. -Elmer Clark

Translating news articles from Arabic

Hello,

I have been blogging about the Middle East (mostly Israel and Palestine) for the past few months. I really need to find someone who speaks Arabic and shares the same interests (Middle East politics) to work out with me on translating articles, and the first website that came to mind is Wikipedia. I'm sure there are many native Arabic speakers on Wikipedia who are very passionate about what's going on in the Middle East.

So what I need is someone who will help me translate articles from Palestinian news outlets (Al Quds, Al Hayat, Al Ayam, and so on). In return, I could translate articles from Hebrew. I could use a long-term "friendship" like that, where we send articles back and forth. I was hoping people here on Wikipedia could help me.

Thank you! ~~Shay -- Note: This query was added on 23:14, February 10, 2007 by 68.36.58.152

Much of this may already be available through existing services. I'd suggest you search and evaluate them before you invest what might be duplicate efforts. For starters, take a look at what's being provided by the MidEast Web News Service Analysis. With that, I'll add: As a translator and occasional publicist working in this field, I advise caution in promulgating unauthorized, ad hoc versions of what may be copyrighted material (available electronically for use in the original). Furthermore: nonprofessional translations, if flawed, may wreak havoc in this notably volatile and contentious area. That having been said, existing services might be an ideal place for you to provide Hebrew>English translations under the guidance of qualified and responsible editors, who would then arrange to have the output distributed in the bargain! Good luck with your efforts! -- Deborahjay 00:01, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Shay, I have the same idea and decided to learn Hebrew for that very purpose. Please respond with your e-mail so I can correspond with you. Cheers! --Mahmud mohamed 04:04, 16 February 2007 (UTC)