Loomio
Mon 2 Sep 2013 11:57AM

Using "diaspora*" in non-Roman alphabets

G goob Public Seen by 96

I've just noticed that in the Greek translation of the project site, they have kept "diaspora*" in its Roman form.

Especially in Greek - the origin of the word "diaspora" - this seems a bit odd.

Should we encourage communities whose language uses a non-Roman alphabet to transliterate "diaspora*" into their alphabet?

(I've also noticed "pod" used in other languages, where it would seem better to me to use the word for "[plant] pod" in their language - a separate but related issue.)

F

Flaburgan Mon 2 Sep 2013 12:10PM

diaspora* is our brand, I don't think we should change it: it would confuse the users. By the way, they even don't do the relation in their mind (diaspora is the same word in french, and no friends notice that it comes from that).

The same goes for pod: we can't translate it everywhere so the user would asking himself "is that the same or a different thing?". We should keep it.

PH

Paul Hill Mon 2 Sep 2013 12:28PM

keep as is to stop fragmentation of the name. Having different pods is already going to be confusing to novices.

MM

Marek Marecki Mon 2 Sep 2013 12:49PM

I've the same opinion as @flaburgan.

G

goob Mon 2 Sep 2013 12:54PM

Even "Coca-Cola" is transliterated into other alphabets!

Fla, you misunderstand me: I'm talking about transliteration, not translation, of the word. The word in Greek is διασπορά, and as that is where the word in French, English etc comes from, it seems odd to have it presented in Greek as diaspora* and not διασπορά*. (With the asterisk it makes it distinctive in any alphabet, just as it does in the Roman alphabet.).

I want to get away from the hegemony of the English language and its Roman alphabet, to that speakers of each language have diaspora*'s interface in their language 'natively'.

It seems that diaspora* is transliterated into Arabic in that translation, so it's only some languages which are not transliterating the word into their alphabets.

T

Torsti Mon 2 Sep 2013 6:35PM

At least Wikipedia transliterates its logo into other scripts, so that is a precedent from a project with what I'd think are similar values.

S

Shmerl Tue 3 Sep 2013 3:48PM

I think there is no point in translating names.

G

goob Tue 3 Sep 2013 4:49PM

Transliterating, not translating, Shmerl.

M

Maciek Łoziński Sat 14 Sep 2013 10:07AM

I think transliteration or not is greatly dependant on specific language, in one language it will be ok to transliterate, in other not. I would let translators decide.

G

goob Sat 14 Sep 2013 10:35AM

I think that's a fair point, Maciek, that it should be whatever works best in that language. However, if the translators of some languages are under the (incorrect) impression that they must keep 'diaspora*' in Roman characters, we should tell them that they can transliterate it into their alphabet, if they wish - and if that is what we decide.

G

goob Sat 14 Sep 2013 10:40AM

Here's 'Coca Cola' in a few different alphabets - just to show it can be done without weakening the brand. The name remains the same, and legible to speakers of languages with non-Roman alphabets.

Coca Cola logos

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