abadidea
@0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago

the translation on Wikipedia vs my New Living Internet Translation. 🐴

#chinese #classicalchinese #translation #localization #autism #actuallyautistic #horses

(long text warning) When the world is graced by people with Horse Autism, then we also have Thousand Mile Horses. Such horses are actually quite common; it’s having enough Horse Autism to recognize them that’s rare. Hence, though a horse may be an S-Rank pull, it is humiliated at the hands of a filthy casual, dying in a stable without ever being recognized as a horse that can run a thousand miles. Such a horse needs to eat a metric fuckton of grain, but the guy feeding horses couldn’t recognize what he has on his hands without a metric fuckton of help. Hence this horse, though it has such enormous potential, never eats its fill, never unlocks its true power, it never gets a chance to shine and it gets assigned scrub tier on the Horse Leaderboards; who’d look for top talent in the bronze league? You whip it wantonly, you don’t feed it enough to reach its potential, it cries out to you and you just crack the whip again, grumbling “there ain’t a damn decent horse on this earth;” is it really the horse, or is it your neurotypical ass?
(long text warning) When the world is graced by people with Horse Autism, then we also have Thousand Mile Horses. Such horses are actually quite common; it’s having enough Horse Autism to recognize them that’s rare. Hence, though a horse may be an S-Rank pull, it is humiliated at the hands of a filthy casual, dying in a stable without ever being recognized as a horse that can run a thousand miles. Such a horse needs to eat a metric fuckton of grain, but the guy feeding horses couldn’t recognize what he has on his hands without a metric fuckton of help. Hence this horse, though it has such enormous potential, never eats its fill, never unlocks its true power, it never gets a chance to shine and it gets assigned scrub tier on the Horse Leaderboards; who’d look for top talent in the bronze league? You whip it wantonly, you don’t feed it enough to reach its potential, it cries out to you and you just crack the whip again, grumbling “there ain’t a damn decent horse on this earth;” is it really the horse, or is it your neurotypical ass?
(long text warning) When the world is graced by people with Horse Autism, then we also have Thousand Mile Horses. Such horses are actually quite common; it’s having enough Horse Autism to recognize them that’s rare. Hence, though a horse may be an S-Rank pull, it is humiliated at the hands of a filthy casual, dying in a stable without ever being recognized as a horse that can run a thousand miles. Such a horse needs to eat a metric fuckton of grain, but the guy feeding horses couldn’t recognize what he has on his hands without a metric fuckton of help. Hence this horse, though it has such enormous potential, never eats its fill, never unlocks its true power, it never gets a chance to shine and it gets assigned scrub tier on the Horse Leaderboards; who’d look for top talent in the bronze league? You whip it wantonly, you don’t feed it enough to reach its potential, it cries out to you and you just crack the whip again, grumbling “there ain’t a damn decent horse on this earth;” is it really the horse, or is it your neurotypical ass?
(long text warning) The Tang dynasty poet Han Yu (768–824) wrote a well-known fable about Bole and qianlima. Only when an era has a man like Po-le are there thousand-li horses. Thousand-li horses are common, but Po-les, on the other hand, are rare. Thus even though there may be famous horses, they only become abused under the hand of the man to whom they are enslaved, and they die in the stables—never having been recognized as thousand-li horses. Thousand-li horses at times consume a whole dan [approximately 60 kg] of grain in one feeding. If the one who feeds them does so without knowing they are capable of a thousand-li, then even though they may have the ability to go so far, they, having not eaten their fill, are lacking in strength, and their talent and beauty are not apparent. Moreover, if one wanted to rank them with regular horses, they would not make the grade. How then could they be asked to have the ability of going a thousand li? They are whipped inappropriately and fed in such a way that they cannot fulfil their innate talents. Yet when they cry out, they cannot be understood. With whip in hand the man approaches them and says, "There are not any good horses in the empire." Alas! Is it that there are really no good horses or is it perhaps that there is no one who really understands horses?
(long text warning) The Tang dynasty poet Han Yu (768–824) wrote a well-known fable about Bole and qianlima. Only when an era has a man like Po-le are there thousand-li horses. Thousand-li horses are common, but Po-les, on the other hand, are rare. Thus even though there may be famous horses, they only become abused under the hand of the man to whom they are enslaved, and they die in the stables—never having been recognized as thousand-li horses. Thousand-li horses at times consume a whole dan [approximately 60 kg] of grain in one feeding. If the one who feeds them does so without knowing they are capable of a thousand-li, then even though they may have the ability to go so far, they, having not eaten their fill, are lacking in strength, and their talent and beauty are not apparent. Moreover, if one wanted to rank them with regular horses, they would not make the grade. How then could they be asked to have the ability of going a thousand li? They are whipped inappropriately and fed in such a way that they cannot fulfil their innate talents. Yet when they cry out, they cannot be understood. With whip in hand the man approaches them and says, "There are not any good horses in the empire." Alas! Is it that there are really no good horses or is it perhaps that there is no one who really understands horses?
(long text warning) The Tang dynasty poet Han Yu (768–824) wrote a well-known fable about Bole and qianlima. Only when an era has a man like Po-le are there thousand-li horses. Thousand-li horses are common, but Po-les, on the other hand, are rare. Thus even though there may be famous horses, they only become abused under the hand of the man to whom they are enslaved, and they die in the stables—never having been recognized as thousand-li horses. Thousand-li horses at times consume a whole dan [approximately 60 kg] of grain in one feeding. If the one who feeds them does so without knowing they are capable of a thousand-li, then even though they may have the ability to go so far, they, having not eaten their fill, are lacking in strength, and their talent and beauty are not apparent. Moreover, if one wanted to rank them with regular horses, they would not make the grade. How then could they be asked to have the ability of going a thousand li? They are whipped inappropriately and fed in such a way that they cannot fulfil their innate talents. Yet when they cry out, they cannot be understood. With whip in hand the man approaches them and says, "There are not any good horses in the empire." Alas! Is it that there are really no good horses or is it perhaps that there is no one who really understands horses?
abadidea
@0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago

In all seriousness, people's ability to connect emotionally with ancient cultures is heavily impeded by stuffy academic translations that follow form over meaning. For example, the translation on wikipedia falls for the classic pitfall of being overly invested in the exact units of measurement given, even though "a thousand li" and "a whole dan" are very much vibes-based, not precise measurements in a mathematical treatise.

All translation is interpretation; if someone wants no interpretation between them and the text, then they have to knuckle down and learn the original language (hey, that's what I'm doing right now). Being afraid to actually speak the idiom of your audience in your translation only strangles it into a lifeless lump lying between languages, lacking the spark that drove someone to write it and others to preserve it.

#translation #localization
abadidea
@0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago

the translation on Wikipedia vs my New Living Internet Translation. 🐴

#chinese #classicalchinese #translation #localization #autism #actuallyautistic #horses

(long text warning) When the world is graced by people with Horse Autism, then we also have Thousand Mile Horses. Such horses are actually quite common; it’s having enough Horse Autism to recognize them that’s rare. Hence, though a horse may be an S-Rank pull, it is humiliated at the hands of a filthy casual, dying in a stable without ever being recognized as a horse that can run a thousand miles. Such a horse needs to eat a metric fuckton of grain, but the guy feeding horses couldn’t recognize what he has on his hands without a metric fuckton of help. Hence this horse, though it has such enormous potential, never eats its fill, never unlocks its true power, it never gets a chance to shine and it gets assigned scrub tier on the Horse Leaderboards; who’d look for top talent in the bronze league? You whip it wantonly, you don’t feed it enough to reach its potential, it cries out to you and you just crack the whip again, grumbling “there ain’t a damn decent horse on this earth;” is it really the horse, or is it your neurotypical ass?
(long text warning) When the world is graced by people with Horse Autism, then we also have Thousand Mile Horses. Such horses are actually quite common; it’s having enough Horse Autism to recognize them that’s rare. Hence, though a horse may be an S-Rank pull, it is humiliated at the hands of a filthy casual, dying in a stable without ever being recognized as a horse that can run a thousand miles. Such a horse needs to eat a metric fuckton of grain, but the guy feeding horses couldn’t recognize what he has on his hands without a metric fuckton of help. Hence this horse, though it has such enormous potential, never eats its fill, never unlocks its true power, it never gets a chance to shine and it gets assigned scrub tier on the Horse Leaderboards; who’d look for top talent in the bronze league? You whip it wantonly, you don’t feed it enough to reach its potential, it cries out to you and you just crack the whip again, grumbling “there ain’t a damn decent horse on this earth;” is it really the horse, or is it your neurotypical ass?
(long text warning) When the world is graced by people with Horse Autism, then we also have Thousand Mile Horses. Such horses are actually quite common; it’s having enough Horse Autism to recognize them that’s rare. Hence, though a horse may be an S-Rank pull, it is humiliated at the hands of a filthy casual, dying in a stable without ever being recognized as a horse that can run a thousand miles. Such a horse needs to eat a metric fuckton of grain, but the guy feeding horses couldn’t recognize what he has on his hands without a metric fuckton of help. Hence this horse, though it has such enormous potential, never eats its fill, never unlocks its true power, it never gets a chance to shine and it gets assigned scrub tier on the Horse Leaderboards; who’d look for top talent in the bronze league? You whip it wantonly, you don’t feed it enough to reach its potential, it cries out to you and you just crack the whip again, grumbling “there ain’t a damn decent horse on this earth;” is it really the horse, or is it your neurotypical ass?
(long text warning) The Tang dynasty poet Han Yu (768–824) wrote a well-known fable about Bole and qianlima. Only when an era has a man like Po-le are there thousand-li horses. Thousand-li horses are common, but Po-les, on the other hand, are rare. Thus even though there may be famous horses, they only become abused under the hand of the man to whom they are enslaved, and they die in the stables—never having been recognized as thousand-li horses. Thousand-li horses at times consume a whole dan [approximately 60 kg] of grain in one feeding. If the one who feeds them does so without knowing they are capable of a thousand-li, then even though they may have the ability to go so far, they, having not eaten their fill, are lacking in strength, and their talent and beauty are not apparent. Moreover, if one wanted to rank them with regular horses, they would not make the grade. How then could they be asked to have the ability of going a thousand li? They are whipped inappropriately and fed in such a way that they cannot fulfil their innate talents. Yet when they cry out, they cannot be understood. With whip in hand the man approaches them and says, "There are not any good horses in the empire." Alas! Is it that there are really no good horses or is it perhaps that there is no one who really understands horses?
(long text warning) The Tang dynasty poet Han Yu (768–824) wrote a well-known fable about Bole and qianlima. Only when an era has a man like Po-le are there thousand-li horses. Thousand-li horses are common, but Po-les, on the other hand, are rare. Thus even though there may be famous horses, they only become abused under the hand of the man to whom they are enslaved, and they die in the stables—never having been recognized as thousand-li horses. Thousand-li horses at times consume a whole dan [approximately 60 kg] of grain in one feeding. If the one who feeds them does so without knowing they are capable of a thousand-li, then even though they may have the ability to go so far, they, having not eaten their fill, are lacking in strength, and their talent and beauty are not apparent. Moreover, if one wanted to rank them with regular horses, they would not make the grade. How then could they be asked to have the ability of going a thousand li? They are whipped inappropriately and fed in such a way that they cannot fulfil their innate talents. Yet when they cry out, they cannot be understood. With whip in hand the man approaches them and says, "There are not any good horses in the empire." Alas! Is it that there are really no good horses or is it perhaps that there is no one who really understands horses?
(long text warning) The Tang dynasty poet Han Yu (768–824) wrote a well-known fable about Bole and qianlima. Only when an era has a man like Po-le are there thousand-li horses. Thousand-li horses are common, but Po-les, on the other hand, are rare. Thus even though there may be famous horses, they only become abused under the hand of the man to whom they are enslaved, and they die in the stables—never having been recognized as thousand-li horses. Thousand-li horses at times consume a whole dan [approximately 60 kg] of grain in one feeding. If the one who feeds them does so without knowing they are capable of a thousand-li, then even though they may have the ability to go so far, they, having not eaten their fill, are lacking in strength, and their talent and beauty are not apparent. Moreover, if one wanted to rank them with regular horses, they would not make the grade. How then could they be asked to have the ability of going a thousand li? They are whipped inappropriately and fed in such a way that they cannot fulfil their innate talents. Yet when they cry out, they cannot be understood. With whip in hand the man approaches them and says, "There are not any good horses in the empire." Alas! Is it that there are really no good horses or is it perhaps that there is no one who really understands horses?
Mayel
ivan
Nicolas Fressengeas
Mayel and 3 others boosted
Bonfire
@bonfire@indieweb.social  ·  activity timestamp 3 months ago

🌐 Can you help translate Bonfire into your language?

We’re looking for translators and bilingual folks to help localise Bonfire extensions and UI into as many languages as possible — especially before the 1.0 release!

No coding needed — just a love of words.

🔥 Join here: https://app.transifex.com/bonfire/bonfire/

P.S. You can also help by translating this very message and/or sharing it! The more communities we reach, the more accessible Bonfire becomes. 🌍💬

#Bonfire#Translation#Localization#FOSS#Fediverse
Miss Gayle
@MissGayle@urbanists.social  ·  activity timestamp 3 months ago

A healthy economy doesn't break if one big conglomerate goes down, for whatever reason.

Our economy is not healthy, but it could be. Local and Regional producers are the key to a sustainable future, not relying on exploitative food and goods shipped halfway around the world.

The caveat is that sweatshop conditions cannot be tolerated. It only works with living wages and reasonable incomes.

Link: https://www.resilience.org/stories/2025-06-23/commoning-diversity-and-small-scale-manufacturing/

#Localization #Community#Sustainability#Economy#DeGrowth#LivingWage #

Commoning, diversity and small-scale manufacturing By Zoe Gilbertson, originally published by Liflad Thoughts June 23, 2025 A healthy ecosystem is diverse and small-scale manufacturing systems have the potential to contain much more diversity than industrial levels of production. I use bread and linen - basic daily items of food and textiles to illustrate this position. Teaser image credit: Bread and linen: Monika Grabkowska via Unsplash. "Diversity in production will not ‘make us money’..." [A decent living for everyone involved is the goal, not any small group getting rich.]
Commoning, diversity and small-scale manufacturing By Zoe Gilbertson, originally published by Liflad Thoughts June 23, 2025 A healthy ecosystem is diverse and small-scale manufacturing systems have the potential to contain much more diversity than industrial levels of production. I use bread and linen - basic daily items of food and textiles to illustrate this position. Teaser image credit: Bread and linen: Monika Grabkowska via Unsplash. "Diversity in production will not ‘make us money’..." [A decent living for everyone involved is the goal, not any small group getting rich.]
Commoning, diversity and small-scale manufacturing By Zoe Gilbertson, originally published by Liflad Thoughts June 23, 2025 A healthy ecosystem is diverse and small-scale manufacturing systems have the potential to contain much more diversity than industrial levels of production. I use bread and linen - basic daily items of food and textiles to illustrate this position. Teaser image credit: Bread and linen: Monika Grabkowska via Unsplash. "Diversity in production will not ‘make us money’..." [A decent living for everyone involved is the goal, not any small group getting rich.]
Bonfire
@bonfire@indieweb.social  ·  activity timestamp 3 months ago

🌐 Can you help translate Bonfire into your language?

We’re looking for translators and bilingual folks to help localise Bonfire extensions and UI into as many languages as possible — especially before the 1.0 release!

No coding needed — just a love of words.

🔥 Join here: https://app.transifex.com/bonfire/bonfire/

P.S. You can also help by translating this very message and/or sharing it! The more communities we reach, the more accessible Bonfire becomes. 🌍💬

#Bonfire#Translation#Localization#FOSS#Fediverse
Stefan Bohacek
@stefan@stefanbohacek.online  ·  activity timestamp 3 months ago

"In Mandarin Chinese, World Wide Web is commonly translated via a phono-semantic matching to wàn wéi wǎng (万维网), which satisfies www and literally means "10,000-dimensional net", a translation that reflects the design concept and proliferation of the World Wide Web."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web

via https://mastodon.social/@mcc/114605076806447333

#internet#TheWeb#WorldWideWeb #chinese #language #linguistics
Stefan Bohacek
@stefan@stefanbohacek.online replied  ·  activity timestamp 3 months ago

Reminds me of the localization efforts on Mozilla's Firefox OS several years ago.

"Ibrahima Sarr, a Senegalese coder, led the translation of Firefox into Fulah, which is spoken by 20m people from Senegal to Nigeria. “Crash” became hookii (a cow falling over but not dying); “timeout” became a honaama (your fish has got away). “Aspect ratio” became jeendondiral, a rebuke from elders when a fishing net is wrongly woven."

https://archive.is/2025.01.09-014218/https://www.economist.com/international/2014/09/27/cookies-caches-and-cows

#technology #language #linguistics #translation #localization
Stefan Bohacek
@stefan@stefanbohacek.online  ·  activity timestamp 11 months ago

EDIT May 2: Thank everyone for sharing, this has all been taken care of!

Could someone who speaks #Arabic, #Chinese, or #Basque help me update the https://jointhefediverse.net site? I'm trying to remove links to joinfirefish.org and want to make sure I do it right.

https://github.com/search?q=repo%3Ajointhefediverse-net%2Fjointhefediverse.net+firefish.org&type=code

Any help would be very appreciated!

#translation #localization#TranslationHelp#LocalizationHelp