Re: language

["Harrison, Shawn" shawn_harrison@xxxxxxxx]

>>Carlo Caballero:
>>>Adriano is very gracious in his consideration for us Anglophone
>>>subscribers to XyWrite. But I would prefer to see subscribers write in
the
>>>language in which they are most comfortable--including Italian. In
Europe
>>>it is usually the custom to write a foreigner in your own
language--and
>>>accept your correspondent's right to do the same.
>>
>>
>>Er det sandt? Det vidste jeg slet ikke. Nu haaber jeg bar at mine
>>finske venner ikke finder ud af dette... :-)
>>
>>--Rene von Rentzell, Tokyo 
>
>Since I use XyWrite 3.54 (and sometimes 4) to translate from 9
>European languages into English, I will render von Rentzell into
>English as: "Is this true? I was not aware of it. I sure hope that
>my Finnish friends do not find out about it....:-)"
>
>He is right that this custom is not equilateral. Danes, Norwegians
>and Swedes can correspond in this manner among themselves, and
>perhaps French and Spanish might be widely accepted. But I know that
>for those whose native language is Portuguese, Dutch or Greek, much
>less Finnish, this does not work with any partner. Jonathan
>Jonathan D. Beard

I had thought originally to keep my nose out of this troublesome debate.
But then I realized the debate would not be happening if we had not
agreed upon some common language for communication.

Shawn

============================
Shawn Harrison
Associate Editor
Tyndale House Publishers
shawn_harrison@xxxxxxxx
============================
"The legal system is not fun, but it *is* an improvement
over duels and feuds." --Harvey Harrison, attorney