Languages

[Kriton Kyrimis]

SPREA:

Let me begin by stating that I have a nasty feeling that the more I
elaborate on this, the more offensive I get against what, after all, was
a well-intentioned effort, so I apologize if I seem to be a little harsh.

With this in mind, let me elaborate a bit further:  ;-)


> So, report typos to me. I'm sure there are hundreds.

Like I said, it's more a matter of requiring an almost total re-write.
Pointing out individual typos may well prove to be more work than a
re-write. :(  Perhaps some young enthusiastic Greek list member might
want to volunteer for the latter.

> That's a convertion problem, Im sure we can keep that title in "English",
> "x" included.

The problem with that particular title (which I believe should be
translated, after all, although I am unable to check, as I don't have
that album), is that it was apparently transcribed mechanically (by a
program?), without any understanding of what was being translated!
It would be like reading "10x10" as "ten ex ten" in English!

> Actually we were told that Greeks *don't* care either, that accents are
> old-fashioned,

There are three kinds of Greeks:

1. Those who'd much rather they spoke English, if only their English
   wasn't even worse than their Greek. Often recognized by being unable
   to utter a single phrase without using at least one English word,
   and by the erroneous Anglicization of their names from, say Dimitris
   to Jim, or Vasilis to Bill. I don't think there are any such people
   on this list, and you should obviously ignore any input on the Greek
   language that you get from such people if you happen to encounter them.

2. Those who use the current simplified spelling of modern Greek,
   as taught in Greek schools since the eighties, which has one accent
   mark and no aspiration marks. These are the majority of modern
   Greeks. They might omit the occasional accent mark out of haste or
   laziness, but if asked to write properly, they'll definitely use
   accents. Often recognized by a desire to improve their Greek.

3. Certain old fogies, like myself, who believe that the simplification
   of modern Greek grammar in the 80s was too drastic and that it
   proved to be a tragic mistake. Such people use two or three accent
   marks and the two abolished aspiration marks. Use your judgment when
   talking to such people. Their views may either be well-informed, or
   simply the result of prejudice. Often recognized by their tendency
   to pontificate.  ;-)

My guess is that you either spoke to someone from group #1, or, more
likely, you misunderstood the extent of the simplifications that group
#2 uses.

> Dealing with a more complex transitteration table would increase the work by
> at least an order of magnitude, we probably wouldn't even have an index in
> that case, no time.

It is my sense that as long as things are set up correctly (which may or
may not require a bit of extra work to do so), a Greek-speaking indexer
(Greek or otherwise) would not require any extra time to index stories in
correctly typed Greek. In fact, since support for Greek characters appears
to be already in place, it would take more time for this hypothetical
indexer to enter data without accents, than with accents; typing the
accents may be extra work, but the attention he would have to pay,
to make sure that he doesn't type them instinctively, is even more costly.

In any case, I don't know how useful a Greek index in its present
form would be to a non-Greek. Speaking for myself as a Greek, however,
I don't think I could use it.

	Kriton	(e-mail: kyrimis at cti.gr)
	      	(WWW:    http://dias.cti.gr/~kyrimis)
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"One always has choices.  Whether one chooses to see them or not is,
 in itself, its own choice."
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