Message-Id: <199608040710.AAA05712@ccnet4.ccnet.com> Date: Sun, 04 Aug 1996 00:10:53 -0700 To: tenchi@usagi.jrd.dec.com From: Gregory Matteson Subject: Re: Of Facts and Fiction Reply-To: tenchi At 11:49 PM 8/2/96 -0700, you wrote: >At 10:32 PM 8/2/96 -0700, Gregory Matteson wrote: >[snip] > >The best thing would be for us to try and persuade Pioneer/AIC or some other >publisher to publish (Viz, maybe?) an English version of Tenchi 101, which >should be more faithful to the original text, and you wouldn't have to worry >about not knowing much Japanese... > Well, no reason for me to stop trying to learn. Sooner or later I will get more courses, and will improve. Waiting for a corporation might be more futile than me 10 or 20 years from now still trying to learn. >[snip] > >There's nothing wrong with the original structure of this sentence, and >nothing really wrong with the original sentence, nor its translation. To >the native Japanese speaker, I'm sure the text was not ambigious at all, but >remember, that translation you have is a *fan* translation by a person who >is not a native Japanese speaker, and admitted that his knowledge in >Japanese was still lacking. Also in changing the original structure of the >"More Details" section, certain things were omitted. These are the factors >that caused the bulk of the problems in the translation. Many Japanese >sentences will be hard for me, as well as other non-native speakers who are >much, much more knowledgable than I am, to interpret, while being quite easy >and obvious to native speakers (those who buy the book). > > >Glenn Wang http://www.netcom.com/~brief/ I guess that all said and done, niether of us has changed our mind, or at least our stated position, despite a bit of public acrimony. I will recover from any minor bruises, and I certainly have learned a lot more about the thinking, and the material, behind those "The 101 Facts says...." postings. I would find it hard to believe if someone wanted to contend that even an amateurish airing of these issues was inappropriate or harmful. As I said before, I subscribed almost 9 months ago; and it comes as quite a surprise to me that there is a standing opposition to 101 Facts as Canon, (gee...I wonder who they are?), just as the rich supply of exotic information that goes un-asserted was a surprise, and very entertaining to learn. Greg M.