This should obviously be confusing at least for beginners, but I was just wondering why the Russian translation of "Tell Me", literally requiring the user to be prepared to turn on their microphone and SPEAK rather than type, as suggested, is still used this way ;-)
I have consulted a Russian native speaker who is familiar with the software (not the translator) and he has a different view to you. He would say that if this is an issue in Russian then it's same issue in English. This actually makes sense to me because now that I think about it "tell me" in English doesn't mean type either. Literally speaking it would mean you speak rather than type. I think you need to think about it in this way... "tell me" is a feature in Studio and it's similar to "tell me what you want to do today". This can be achieved by typing too.
If you still feel strongly this is wrong then I would suggest you add your feedback as an idea here:
http://ideas.sdl.com
If you get some support from other Russian speakers then perhaps the product management team will change it. I'd recommend you also provide the alternative translation that you believe works here.
Paul Filkin | RWS
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Hi Paul,
Thank you for the feedback. "He would say that if this is an issue in Russian then it's same issue in English." I strongly disagree with this. That native speaker might not feel the difference. The connotation of "tell" in this case is "to make the software do something", which isn't the case with the Russian "tell", which ONLY means a verbal, articulated command to do something. There is a common root for the words "tell" and "say" in Russian, by the way, with the latter definitely being not a written instruction. I would at least recommend using "Ask Me" in Russian, "Sprosi Menya", which fits with this situation, where the user may communicate with the software using the suggested way.
Hi Paul,
Thank you for the feedback. "He would say that if this is an issue in Russian then it's same issue in English." I strongly disagree with this. That native speaker might not feel the difference. The connotation of "tell" in this case is "to make the software do something", which isn't the case with the Russian "tell", which ONLY means a verbal, articulated command to do something. There is a common root for the words "tell" and "say" in Russian, by the way, with the latter definitely being not a written instruction. I would at least recommend using "Ask Me" in Russian, "Sprosi Menya", which fits with this situation, where the user may communicate with the software using the suggested way.
I strongly disagree with this. That native speaker might not feel the difference.
In which case I recommend you create the idea as I suggested. A lone voice on this one is unlikely to cause a change, but if others agree with you then you have proved your point.
Paul Filkin | RWS
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No, thanks, I can live with that. Moreover, if your experts feel they are right why should I prove my own point?
Moreover, if your experts feel they are right why should I prove my own point?
Fair enough. I asked one person who happens to be a native Russian speaker. You are also one person. Not making a change is less work for us and as a 50:50 split with yours being the only complaint we have seen about this translation how do we know who's really right? It's been there for years already.
I assumed, as you took the time to post in here, that this was something you felt strongly about and on that basis if it was me I'd create the idea. But no problem... we can live with that too.
Paul Filkin | RWS
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