Linear algebra explains why some words are effectively untranslatable
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Re: Linear algebra explains why some words are effectively untranslatable
#2> I hope these rather unorthodox leaps between linguistics and mathematics helped make it almost obvious that some words and ideas are untranslatable in practice. I also hope you don't take the analogy too seriously, because it won't go much further than this.
Phew! Thanks for clarifying.
Re: Linear algebra explains why some words are effectively untranslatable
#3Are they multiplying a 3x3 matrix by a 2 component vector ?
Re: Linear algebra explains why some words are effectively untranslatable
#4Communication/language depends on shared context. The more context you share the shorter the trigger for evoking that thing and that context. And if you share no context communication becomes very difficult.
I wasn't aware that that idea was in dispute.
Re: Linear algebra explains why some words are effectively untranslatable
#5The article seems to think that a word is untranslateable if there is no single word in the target language. If I'm not misreading the article, then this is completely obvious -- just consider the number of words in English and the number of words in almost any other language, and you will find that there are more English words than the other language. It is now clear that there exist English words that don't correspond to a single word in the other language.
Re: Linear algebra explains why some words are effectively untranslatable
#6The article seems to think that a word is untranslateable if there is no single word in the target language. If I'm not misreading the article, then this is completely obvious -- just consider the number of words in English and the number of words in almost any other language, and you will find that there are more English words than the other language. It is now clear that there exist English words that don't corresp…
That isn’t a proof. Synonyms can bolster the enumeration sans augmenting novelty.
Re: Linear algebra explains why some words are effectively untranslatable
#7The article seems to think that a word is untranslateable if there is no single word in the target language. If I'm not misreading the article, then this is completely obvious -- just consider the number of words in English and the number of words in almost any other language, and you will find that there are more English words than the other language. It is now clear that there exist English words that don't corresp…
Yeah, I was interpreting 'untranslatable' to mean what it says, but they meant 'untranslatable with only a couple words', which is a very different claim.
Re: Linear algebra explains why some words are effectively untranslatable
#8Communication/language depends on shared context. The more context you share the shorter the trigger for evoking that thing and that context. And if you share no context communication becomes very difficult. I wasn't aware that that idea was in dispute.
And honestly, without a lot more communication even with a person that speaks your language you have no idea if you actually have a shared context. While an American from NYC and one from some backwater town in Kansas share a lot of context but there is a lot of context they don't, so as communication becomes more detailed between them it's very likely that 'translation' between each other will be somewhat incorrect.
This is also why lawyer speak is so particular. Language is fuzzy in most cases. Only language that relates to discrete physical objects gets closer to the binary state of exactness described in the article.
Re: Linear algebra explains why some words are effectively untranslatable
#9The article seems to think that a word is untranslateable if there is no single word in the target language. If I'm not misreading the article, then this is completely obvious -- just consider the number of words in English and the number of words in almost any other language, and you will find that there are more English words than the other language. It is now clear that there exist English words that don't corresp…
Not sure this approach really accounts for the difference between a language like German where you have one compound word for a concept that would require multiple words in English. For one good example, the German "Nomenkompositum" is "compound noun" in English.
Re: Linear algebra explains why some words are effectively untranslatable
#10Tangent: I really like vornoi diagrams and part of me thinks there's a hidden, precious concept they represent. I didn't get their relation to the article but was wondering if they have applications in engineering/sciences.