Re: language

[Carlo Caballero Carlo.Caballero@xxxxxxxx]

On Mon, 19 Oct 1998, Jonathan Beard wrote:
>
> 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

I think I overgeneralized, yes. The etiquette I referred to comes from my
experience with communications between libraries and museums in Germany,
France, Switerland, Italy, and Spain. Beyond that, I know not. I was
only half-serious, so far as this list goes, anyway, and just wanted to
second Peter Evans delight at the expanding national horizons of this
list....

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