[Freeciv-Dev] Re: [freeciv-data] Re: Re: Translation of Freeciv motto

[Mathias Hasselmann <Mathias.Hasselmann@xxxxxx>]

Daniel Burrows wrote:
> 
> On Sat, Jul 15, 2000 at 05:01:13PM -0400, Jeff Mallatt <jjm@xxxxxxxxxxxx> was 
> heard to say:
> > At 2000/07/15 14:55 , Mathias Hasselmann wrote:
> > >The motto of Freeciv "'Cause civilization(s) should be free!"
> > >contains a little trick which only works in the English
> > >language: Civilization *and* civilizations should be free!
> >
> > "'Cause civilization(s) should be free!" is *not* the standard motto.  The
> > standard motto is "'Cause civilization should be free!" -- without the
> > "(s)".  So, there is no "English language trick".
> 
>   I believe that his point was that the German word for Civilization (the
> product) is Civilization, whereas the German word for civilization (the thing)
> is Zivilisation.  In English, the phrase "Civilization should be free" is
> a pun; in German, this doesn't work because the two words translate
> differently.  (I'm not sure this is a good reason not to translate it, myself;
> it's a pretty feeble pun, but..)

Oh, it's already a pun for native English speakers without the
the parenthetic 's' - I did realized it first with it...

If it is that way we have a serious reason to not translate it:

A translation which leaves away more than half of the content
is not only a bad translation - it is a *horrible* translation.
Since the orignal motto contains statement the current
translations even are a kind of unconscious censorship...

Well, I do not know if it is possible for native speakers of the
localized messages to realize the pron. If not those translations
should be changed in my opinion.


Ciao,
Mathias
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