Re:Has Google Translate been fixed yet?
by raincole on Thursday August 10, 2023 @04:51AM
(#37073627)
> Do you know? Care to explain?
I'm not a historian. But in the history, actually there was an attempt to "romanize Chinese".[1] And it failed. It's a complex issue, mostly a political one, and to say there is one single reason that it failed would be a gross simplification.
My anecdote is:
1. Chinese is a very "easy-to-read, hard-to-write" writting system. It's compact and information dense compared to alphabet based system.
2. There are too many homophones. In a daily conversation, you provide extra context with body language and your tone. But in a written context you have no such tools. All you have is "icons".
I'm not a historian. But in the history, actually there was an attempt to "romanize Chinese".[1] And it failed. It's a complex issue, mostly a political one, and to say there is one single reason that it failed would be a gross simplification.
My anecdote is:
1. Chinese is a very "easy-to-read, hard-to-write" writting system. It's compact and information dense compared to alphabet based system.
2. There are too many homophones. In a daily conversation, you provide extra context with body language and your tone. But in a written context you have no such tools. All you have is "icons".
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanization_of_Chinese