Call for translators of the Unix system programming course

Call for translators of the Unix system programming course

[Daniel Bünzli]

Hello,

We are launching an effort to translate Xavier Leroy and Didier Rémy's  
course on Unix system programming in Objective Caml [1].

We are looking for one translator and one proofreader for each of the  
seven main chapters. To facilitate the task of proof readers and get  
the best translation preference will be given to native english  
speaking contributors. If you are interested in participating please  
email me privately with the following information : chapter you'd like  
to translate/proofread and whether your are a native english speaker  
or not.

The work of the translators will be published online as html and pdf  
documents at this adress [2] under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA french  
license [3]. Note that the non commercial aspect of the license  
doesn't preclude a subsequent publication of the result as a (non free  
as in wine) book. However in that case an agreement would be sought  
between the authors, the translators and the publisher.

Thanks for your help,

Daniel

[1] http://pauillac.inria.fr/~remy/poly/system/camlunix/index.html

[2] http://ocamlunix.forge.ocamlcore.org/

[3] http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/fr/deed.en

Re: [Caml-list] Call for translators of the Unix system programming course

[Mihamina Rakotomandimby (R12y)]

On 05/12/2009 01:56 AM, Daniel Bünzli wrote:
> We are looking for one translator and one proofreader for each of the
> seven main chapters. To facilitate the task of proof readers and get the
> best translation preference will be given to native english speaking
> contributors. If you are interested in participating please email me
> privately with the following information : chapter you'd like to
> translate/proofread and whether your are a native english speaker or not.

I am volunteer to be reviewer.
However, I think it should not be a criteria to be a mother tongue english 
for many reason:
"Non mother tongue english" people use "simple" english and does not 
understand very advanced english. Mother tongue english are tempted to 
fully use english.
I think a reviewer with just basic english would be "very good"...

Anyway, just my opinion...

-- 
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Re: [Caml-list] Call for translators of the Unix system programming course

[Loup Vaillant]

2009/5/12 Mihamina Rakotomandimby (R12y) <mihamina@lab.vectoris.fr>:
> On 05/12/2009 01:56 AM, Daniel Bünzli wrote:
>>
>> We are looking for one translator and one proofreader for each of the
>> seven main chapters. To facilitate the task of proof readers and get the
>> best translation preference will be given to native english speaking
>> contributors. If you are interested in participating please email me
>> privately with the following information : chapter you'd like to
>> translate/proofread and whether your are a native english speaker or not.
>
> I am volunteer to be reviewer.
> However, I think it should not be a criteria to be a mother tongue english
> for many reason:
> "Non mother tongue english" people use "simple" english and does not
> understand very advanced english. Mother tongue english are tempted to fully
> use english.
> I think a reviewer with just basic english would be "very good"...

I think *accurate* English is more difficult for a non native than
*basic* English is for a native, hence their preference. As an
anecdotal evidence, the easiest papers I've read on functional
programming happen to be written by native English speakers (I'm
french).

Moreover, a good translation should also translate the tone of the
authors. Any distortion would be very difficult to recover from. It
may even be important to choose between British and American, and be
consistent with that choice… I consider myself fluent, yet *this* is
completely out of my reach.

Cheers,
Loup

RE: [Caml-list] Call for translators of the Unix system programming course

[David Allsopp]

Mihamina Rakotomandimby wrote:
> I am volunteer to be reviewer.
> However, I think it should not be a criteria to be a mother tongue
> english for many reason: "Non mother tongue english" people use 
> "simple" english and does not understand very advanced english.
> Mother tongue english are tempted to fully use english.
> I think a reviewer with just basic english would be "very good"...

A technical text written in "advanced" English reads badly to a
native-English speaker as well - complex English constructions belong in
novels! Good reviewing, by either a native or non-native English speaker,
should simplify grammar and vocabulary where necessary anyway. Given
Xavier's (and presumably Didier's) level of English, I think it would be a
terrible disservice to produce an English translation containing bad
grammar.

Loup Vaillant wrote:
> I think *accurate* English is more difficult for a non native than
> *basic* English is for a native, hence their preference. As an
> anecdotal evidence, the easiest papers I've read on functional
> programming happen to be written by native English speakers (I'm
> french).
>
> Moreover, a good translation should also translate the tone of the
> authors. Any distortion would be very difficult to recover from. It
> may even be important to choose between British and American, and be
> consistent with that choice. I consider myself fluent, yet *this* is
> completely out of my reach.

Given that both of the authors of the original text speak fluent English,
might it be easiest just to ask them to read and comment on the reviewed
translation?


David

Re: [Caml-list] Call for translators of the Unix system programming course

[Loup Vaillant]

2009/5/13 David Allsopp <dra-news@metastack.com>:
> Loup Vaillant wrote:
>> Moreover, a good translation should also translate the tone of the
>> authors. Any distortion would be very difficult to recover from. It
>> may even be important to choose between British and American, and be
>> consistent with that choice. I consider myself fluent, yet *this* is
>> completely out of my reach.
>
> Given that both of the authors of the original text speak fluent English,
> might it be easiest just to ask them to read and comment on the reviewed
> translation?

Good point. That would alleviate the tone problem, provided they have
the time (I won't make any assumption).

Loup

>
>
> David
>
>

Re: [Caml-list] Call for translators of the Unix system programming course

[Daniel Bünzli]

Le 13 mai 09 à 12:52, David Allsopp a écrit :

> Given that both of the authors of the original text speak fluent  
> English,
> might it be easiest just to ask them to read and comment on the  
> reviewed
> translation?

If they have time they are more than welcome. They should just let me  
know so that I can warn them before the final version is published.

Besides I forgot to say the following in my first email. Those of you  
that sent me an email and didn't get a response yet are not being  
ignored. I'm gathering proposals during approximately a week to allow  
a good allocation of "ressources". Everyone will eventually get a  
response.

Best,

Daniel