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You are imposing 21st century english usage on a Greek
Posted on: November 1, 2016 at 21:41:00 CT
JeffB MU
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text from 2,000 years ago.
Language and usage changes.
Look how differently people in the U.S. talk from one culture to another and that's even when they're in the exact same time.
English usage was different even from when I was a kid until now. Read some English texts from the 1500s and you'll have trouble understanding some of it and the idioms and usage are different.
Translating to and from another language is also tricky. I used to think you could just get a dictionary for each language that gave the identical word in English and you could just substitute words.
I quickly found that that is not even close to a good way to read and understand other texts and it is very easy to write/say things that will be taken in the wrong way in another language, as some companies have found out to their dismay. For instance the Chevy Nova wasn't selling well in Japan (or China?) and they couldn't figure out why until someone told them that "Nova" meant "won't go" in that language.
If you combine the differences in language with differences in cultures and differences in usage over thousands of years it can easily create issues such as you mention here. It may be that "I wouldn't say it that way if I meant "X", but the fact of the matter is that may have been the way they talked back then... in that culture.
Language and usage changes.
Look how differently people in the U.S. talk from one culture to another and that's even when they're in the exact same time.
English usage was different even from when I was a kid until now. Read some English texts from the 1500s and you'll have trouble understanding some of it and the idioms and usage are different.
Translating to and from another language is also tricky. I used to think you could just get a dictionary for each language that gave the identical word in English and you could just substitute words.
I quickly found that that is not even close to a good way to read and understand other texts and it is very easy to write/say things that will be taken in the wrong way in another language, as some companies have found out to their dismay. For instance the Chevy Nova wasn't selling well in Japan (or China?) and they couldn't figure out why until someone told them that "Nova" meant "won't go" in that language.
If you combine the differences in language with differences in cultures and differences in usage over thousands of years it can easily create issues such as you mention here. It may be that "I wouldn't say it that way if I meant "X", but the fact of the matter is that may have been the way they talked back then... in that culture.
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You are imposing 21st century english usage on a Greek - JeffB MU - 11/1 21:41:00