Post Axfghy85PryT3O52Nk by LucasWerkmeister@wikis.world
 (DIR) More posts by LucasWerkmeister@wikis.world
 (DIR) Post #AxfghtM5APCOFLae0G by aharoni@wikis.world
       2025-08-29T15:18:41Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       When I translate from English into Hebrew, I often find myself writing not only letters, but also words in a different direction.Take this sentence from @mediawiki user interface: "The wikitext request body parameter must be provided". In English grammar, "wikitext request body parameter" is a four-word compound noun. In a way, it actually has five words, because "wikitext" is written as one word, but it is clearly made up of two words.
       
 (DIR) Post #AxfghukZyoO8Zc3ipE by aharoni@wikis.world
       2025-08-29T15:19:11Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       In English, the head noun is usually in the end of the compound noun. Here, it's "parameter". All the words before it are modifiers.There is a somewhat similar construct in Hebrew, in which one noun is modified by other nouns. It's usually called "construct state" in English descriptions of Semitic languages.In Hebrew, however, it goes in the other direction: the head noun is in the beginning, and the modifier nouns are after it.
       
 (DIR) Post #Axfghw5X0Ok4isry7c by LucasWerkmeister@wikis.world
       2025-08-29T17:10:53Z
       
       1 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @aharoni I always enjoy finding acronyms like NATO/OTAN as well :3(or UNO/ONU, though enwiki wants to call UNO a “misnomer” apparently)
       
 (DIR) Post #Axfghx8l5suxzBO3n6 by tamzin@wikis.world
       2025-08-29T18:55:50Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @LucasWerkmeister @aharoni At my bilingual high school, it was a running joke to invert all abbreviations in French, regardless of whether it made sense.Qui a établit l'ONU ? Président RDF, bien sûr.
       
 (DIR) Post #Axfghy85PryT3O52Nk by LucasWerkmeister@wikis.world
       2025-08-29T18:56:54Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @tamzin @aharoni the RDF president?? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_Description_Framework
       
 (DIR) Post #AxfghygpKhlOn8KmX2 by aharoni@wikis.world
       2025-08-29T19:13:11Z
       
       1 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @LucasWerkmeister @tamzin I love how UTC is intentionally wrong in both English and French.
       
 (DIR) Post #Axfgi2B4MijlbnVTaS by aharoni@wikis.world
       2025-08-29T15:19:24Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       So when I have to translate an English compound noun that has more than two words into Hebrew, most of the time I identify the whole compound noun and translate it backwards. The sequence of words in Hebrew would be "parameter body request code wiki" (Hebrew Wikipedians usually use the term "kod viki" for "wikitext", and "kod" is "code", of course).
       
 (DIR) Post #Axfgi9vlXVFVeePMqO by aharoni@wikis.world
       2025-08-29T15:20:11Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       Finally, I have to mention that luckily, that phrase won't be seen by many users in any language, including English, because it's from the API documentation—a part of the software that is mostly intended for programmers. I do translate those parts, too, not just because I am a completist, but also because I know for fact that there are Hebrew-speaking programmers who use these translations. But usually I do it only after I translated all the parts that are intended for the non-programmer users.
       
 (DIR) Post #AxfgiHwljenyW4wHWC by aharoni@wikis.world
       2025-08-29T15:21:12Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       Arabians learn ArabianWith the speed of summer lightning,The Hebrews learn it backwards,Which is absolutely frightening. (Alan Jay Lerner, "My Fair Lady")