Haunted by the Chatham Chatlist

Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2018 08:00:05 -0400
From: Tarus BALOG
Subject: Re: Translations on the Chatlist

On 04/10/2018 02:34 AM, Gene Galin wrote:

> Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2018 11:45:17 -0400
> From: Cecelia King
> Subject: Re: Chatham Chatlist #6098
>
> Gene,
>
> Thank you for posting about the Fishing Fiesta for April 21st.
> Did you purposely remove the Spanish translation of the post?
> The event is intended to be inclusive of all Chatham residents.
> I was very sorry to see the Spanish version deleted.
> Perhaps there is an automated part of the system that did it.
> Can you help me understand?   Thank you.
>
> – Cecelia

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Cecelia et al –

It’s very simple.

Unlike the old days there are now numerous language translation apps
available, so that just about anyone can read an entire Chatlist in the
language of their choice.

Isn’t it awesome that modern technology allows the Chatham Chatlist to
be all-inclusive no matter what someone’s language of choice may be?

Wow. I usually read the Chatlist upon waking up and checking my mail, and that insensitive and snide comment will haunt me the rest of my day.

Translation apps are notoriously wrong[1]. At best they manipulate symbols that sometimes result in meaning. If a poster is willing to take the time to include a Spanish translation, I see no problem in including
it in the list e-mail due to the fact that a large portion of people in Chatham County speak Spanish. It’s not like it costs paper to print, and it is a nice gesture. Plus, people who speak Spanish and are trying to
learn English would benefit from seeing both texts next to each other.

A similar analogy would be that we don’t need the Chatlist because we have Facebook and Twitter. I still find it valuable, despite the occasional missteps by the moderator (grin).

[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/01/the-shallowness-of-google-translate/551570/

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Tarus –

Bless your heart! (grin)

Gene
Chatlist Administrator
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