commenting on texts

Hi, I have a suggestion.

For those at an intermediate level, it would be nice to have a feature where I could post a text that I've written in the foreign language, and then have a native speaker evaluate the text for grammar, style, semantics, etc. Of course- points would be awarded to contributors based on word count, using a formula that you'd devise. I would think, however, that posting a text for evaluation would cost less than requesting a full translation...

I agree with this completely. I am an English grammar expert, and I have noticed that many of the engliush translations have poor, awkard, or antiquated grammer/vocab. I would like to gain points for "cleaning up" the English translations. This would improve the quality of all translations, and also allow more folks to participate in this great website.

Thanks for your suggestions messieurs!

proofreaders?

About literary texts it is conceivable, but you certainly noticed already we translate a lot of texts that are coming from the chat areas or even messages that are sent from a cellphone and most often not very well written, this is about a big percentage of the texts we have on

Maybe this feature will be implemented one day.
Until now, some of the experts already worked on it, and our webmaster is quite busy at the moment, which is important, as he's the only one who can implement new features on the site.

I'd like to see some of those translations you're talking about, bdwhitney, so please could you copy-paste a few url in here? Thanks a lot!

CC: lilian canale

There are lots, here are some random ones i just found:

"I only see an enormous amount of wind" is a strange translation, as wind cannot be "seen". Perhaps "feel" instead of "see".

"my love, your little one won't be here anymore" is awkward. Perhaps: "your child will be gone, my love".

"I don't mind my speaking English anymore." should be: "I no longer mind speaking English."

There are examples of missing commas, such as "As long as I breathe I hope." comma should be after "breathe".

Thanks bdwhitney, maybe I expressed myself uncorrectly, because it would be better if you just copy the address of the page from the address bar, (eg : "http://www.cucumis.org/forum_1_f/read_rs_0_2996.html#last" for this page) so that we can have a look to the original text as well, and check other details on it.

My point is that proofreading for points is a good idea, especially for longer pieces of text, where context becomes more important to the wording.

Yes I agree proofreading large text should be rewarded. Once we authorized a "translation" from "english" to "english", which was a kind of proofreading. But it was earning the same amount of points as a normal translation. It's hard to tell how many points deserve a proofreading, maybe half points ?

Anyway this is not authorized anymore to make an "english/english" request. Maybe i could authoirze it again if I have time to implement this semi-reward system.

I find something very funny about proofreading.
In the examples above there is:
"my love, your little one won't be here anymore" is awkward. Perhaps: "your child will be gone, my love".

I think "little one" are kind words her lover used to tell her. If the text would have been modified like bdwhitney suggested ("your child will be gone, my love", then sentence would have got a different meaning. Was she pregnant and his child will be gone? It is confusing.

I think proofreading without being able to understand the source text might be misleading.
I think the "help us" process is better.
After all, Cucumis encourages people to translate in their native language. (except for languages like latin, ancient greece, etc.)
There are english experts who accept or not translations into english.

One good point I see in this is the proposal of people who have some knowledge of English, yet are not proficient (like me). They might request improvement of text translated by themselves, without coming from any other language.

I want to translate my things into English and someone to correct my writings.
And this can be of use for any other language, I think.

I don't want someone to twist the meaning of already aproved translation because he/she thinks it might sound strange. The source might have been strange too.