User:Robert Ullmann/TranslationBot

This is just some notes on the problems such a thing would face. Seems like a good idea, but ...


 * major issues
 * 1) translations are often not symmetric (maybe even rarely so if one is precise)
 * 2) the quality of the translations added is questionable
 * 3) parsing the sections can be sticky, but this is mostly a SMOC

Would all result entries have to be checked, and a very large number corrected? Things that ought to be easy and symmetric, like nouns for animals, turn out to be a bit sticky. Random inspection of entries shows a very high percentage with problems.


 * some examples


 * antelope
 * Swahili: pofu, kulungu, pala hala
 * pofu is an eland, kulungu is a bushbuck, palahala is a sable antelope
 * bird
 * Swahili: ndege
 * ndege is a bird or airplane
 * bushbaby
 * Swahili: komba
 * komba is a very common verb, to clean out, hollow out, scrape out; also galago (e.g. bushbaby) and a kind of fish
 * executioner
 * Swahili: mchinja, mchinjaji, mnyongaji
 * mchinja, mchinjaji slaughter, slaughterer, e.g. butcher (of animals); (nyonga strangle, throttle) so mnyongaji strangler (e.g. usually criminal if of a human rather than say, a chicken ...)
 * gazelle
 * Swahili: swala, swara, paa, impala
 * swala is a gazelle, swara no ref, paa small gazelle, but very common verb meaning go up, ascend, and scrape off, scrape up, impala is English
 * hippopotamus
 * Swahili: kiboko
 * kiboko, plural viboko, strip of hippo hide used as a whip; boko, kiboko the animal
 * impala
 * Swahili: swala, pala
 * swala is Grant's gazelle, pala is an antelope, as is an impala and a gazelle, but a gazelle is not an impala
 * vulture
 * CJK Characters: 鷲, 鹫; 雕
 * Chinese: 雕
 * 鷲, 鹫 are vulture, condor, eagle (Japanese); 雕 is "engrave, inlay, carve; exhaust"
 * Swahili: tai, gushu
 * tai is large bird of prey, e.g. eagle or vulture; gushu? (not in reference)