Re: [edict-jmdict] Non-ASCII characters in glosses

[Glenn Maynard <glenn@********>]

On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 7:01 PM, Jim Breen <jimbreen@gmail.com> wrote:
> I think it's important to record and display variant spellings, both for E->J
> searches

Searching is questionable but at least I can see a reason: for simple
regex-based searches like Jeffrey's, word normalization is difficult.
(Letter normalization is much easier.)

> and for informational purposes. As one correspondent wrote to
> me, it's important for his NSJ wife to get all the possible spellings and
> meanings when looking up a Japanese word; not just those of one group
> of English speakers.

I don't understand the idea that it needs to contain every possible
spelling of the glosses.  That's the job of an English dictionary.

(It doesn't do that, either; recognize/recognise, practice/practise, etc.)

> it would obliterate a whole range of regional and country variants

It's OK to generalize and oversimplify variants of English in a
Japanese dictionary.  The goal isn't to comprehensively say which
regions use each spelling; that'd be the quite complicated task of an
English dictionary project, which is where people should go if they
need that kind of detail on English words.

JMdict categorizes and explains Japanese words, not English words.
The point of tagging glosses with regions isn't to explain the English
word, but to allow better explanation of the Japanese word, by not
having to show all those glosses that are the same word spelled
differently.

I'd also say that regional tags should only be used for clear variants
on the same word.  Use it for "color" vs. "colour".  Don't use it for
"mobile telephone" (UK) vs "cell phone".

-- 
Glenn Maynard