Re: [linuxiran] farsi linux site

[Aryan Ameri]

On Thursday 26 June 2003 16:36, Hooman Baradaran wrote:
> > If Behdad had said this 25 years ago, I would have agreed with him;
> > but not any more. Today the word "Farsi" is a part of the English
> > vocabulary, referring to, well, "Farsi". It is in the latest Oxford
> > Engilish Dictionaries, which is the defacto standard for English
> > usage. That makes it official. It is used as such by VOA, the US
> > State Department, and and a whole raft of other serious
> > institutions. If you don't believe it, do a search for "Farsi" in
> > Google, and see what you come up with.
> >
> > Best regards to all
>
> You're right about Farsi.
> Also (IMO) software should not be translated into "pure" Farsi but
> into an easy to understand Farsi. Google mentioned in many parts of
> their translation pages that the translations should not be too
> formal but the Farsi translation is kind of formal.
> I don't live in Iran and don't like Farsi interfaces at all, even
> though I translated a few small programs before. I think this is
> because it is harder for me to translate those wired translation back
> into technical terms that I understand that just translate them from
> another language (assuming I didn't know much English). Even people
> in Iran who I know have little or no knowledge of English don't use
> those Farsi interfaces. Farsi software is not meant for literature
> professors, it is meant for normal people who either can't speak
> English or just like Persian better. So we should make it easy to
> understand for everybody. I mean for gods sake it's a software not a
> poem! ;-)

Genrally agree.

first of all, about the word farsi, ofcourse there are those who 
diasgree with me, but as anonymous troublemaker notes, "Farsi" is 
nowadays accepted in the the English language. A quick search uisng 
kdict shows that both Webster and Word Net recognize the word Farsi as 
being the language of Iran. The same applies to Oxford dictionary. 

I live in a university, with students from all around the world. From 
different places, Arabs, Africans, Germans, English, Italians, Finns, 
Turks and even Americans are present here. And all of them, refer to 
our language as Farsi. Most of them know that Perisna==Farsi but they 
seldom use the word Persian. Farsi is much more popular.

So if we Iranians call our language Farsi, and everybody else also calls 
it farsi, and it is an accepted word in major english language 
dictionaries, then I can't see what's wrong with using it. 

This word "farsi" was forced into English language, by us. 70 years ago, 
they called our country "Persia" and we spoke "Persian". Then, they 
started calling our country "Iran", but still called our language 
"Persian". From say 25 years ago, they have started using the same word 
for our language that we use, which is Farsi. Persia and Perisan are 
long gone. Those who insist on using these terms, are like those who 
insist that Elvis Presley is alive.

Now, into Hooman's argument. I hated farsi interfaces too. believe me.

But then I realized, that there was nothing wrong with farsi interfaces. 
The problem was with people who translated them. 

I fully agree with you, that currently available farsi translated 
interfaces (google for example) use too formal words, and are very 
"cold". I hated them too. 2 years ago, I never thought that I would use 
a farsi interface myself.

However, after I became part of FarsiKDE, that view changed. As many 
people know, the KDE interface is far from being formal or cold. It is 
very "hackerish". Using words such a Kandalf (refer to Gandalf the 
grey) and playing with english names such as conqueror, contact, etc.

In translating it, we really tried not to bee too formal. For example 
"Kandalf's tips" became "Nasayehe Zal" (Zal father of Rostam). Or for 
example we debated so much over the translation of deamon, in the end 
"Shabah" was chosen, which is far from cold, IMO.

I use FarsiKDE now, as my default (and actually only) graphical 
environment. Translating many things have been very difficult, but 
anyway, it is a job that should be done. Someone has to do it. Farsi 
language is currently very weak when it comes to computer terminology. 
This should be changed. 

Iranians unfortunately are very resistant in using new farsi words. But 
I believe that if we find good "cool" translations for english words, 
and we insist on using them, then why shouldn't people start using 
them?

FarsiKDE is not perfect as it currently stands. But I don't call it cold 
or formal either. If you think that Farsi interfaces are too formal in 
general, then I invite you to join FarsiKDE, and make it "cool". 

We want FarsiKDE to be a really pleasent environment. We want people to 
enjoy using it. Being cool, is also certainly one of our aims. 

PS: I have to mention here, that by being cool, I don't mean being 
informal. I beleive there should be a balance, between being formal, 
and being cool. It is important to find that balance.

Cheers

-- 
/* "It only takes 20 years for a liberal to become a 
conservative without changing a single idea." 
                        --Robert Anton Wilson*/
Aryan Ameri