Words as Common Goods
Language as a public good
Cover
https://scrapbox.io/files/658b0940ed24260024935d46.png
self-introduction
Company: Cybozu
"selling productivity software"
Menishio.icon: Researcher in Cybozu Labs.
Focus: Augmentation of intellectual productivity
Increased intellectual productivity
エンジニアの知的生産術.icon
Why: Improving individual intellectual productivity leads to better teamwork.
Increased individual intellectual productivity leads to better teamwork
The "Plurality" Book
https://gyazo.com/db7d3abd4175a35c53bb84d1e3c069cd
Glen Weyl and Audrey Tang
Technology
Collaborative Diversity
nishio.iconOh, it's about Technology to "Build a society brimming with teamwork" !
Concept of "broad listening"
"people can hear the distilled essence of the distribution of opinion of their peers, empowering democratic deliberation at scale"
nishio.icon Oh, this is a technology that augment the ability to understand the opinions of many other people. It is augmentation of intellectual productivity!
Japanese Translation Community
Forum for free discussion:
Good undestanding is the foundation of good translation
Translation is a distant goal
The bottom line has yet to be determined.
More and more peripheral information is being translated into Japanese.
Plurality Seoul, for example.
To make good understanding
shared understanding
How?
Building Network of knowledge
Example
https://scrapbox.io/files/65893a9df67b660023d01437.png
It links to:
https://gyazo.com/c2eaaaa4ccbb9eb1b9a53327a35bcc94
And then:
https://gyazo.com/806a35c3a06432a2eb3d974fc5066387
By storing associations as links, roads are created. Then those roads help the understanding of those who come later.
I'm leading the way to understanding.
Help me understand.
Common goods
road
infrastructure
Cultivating a world of knowledge.
Two languages
https://gyazo.com/83a6a253607b64e2baf5e25a730acc39
I noticed something interesting during the translation process.
Often, translating from Mandarin into Japanese results in more natural Japanese than translating from English.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F8ndxAZagAAVmZ6?format=jpg&name=medium#.png
Mandarin and Japanese have common characters
https://gyazo.com/de347eda3d590bd920becba5de33c861
Common ideograms become "paths" that convey meaning.
A common set of ideographic characters becomes the 'road' to convey meaning.
https://scrapbox.io/files/658b0940ed24260024935d46.png
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ftf1qwnacAc9yIV.jpg
Multiverse Division!
Japanese can understand the meaning!
https://gyazo.com/1d5fbfe84d13dc19722dd2a5d3898225
When I first saw this poem in English, I didn't quite understand it.
It became clearer to me after seeing the Mandarin version.
"Plural languages" help my understanding!
Whether one subscribes to versions of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, according to which some thoughts are unthinkable in some languages, or softer accounts, clearly some languages are better adapted to expressing certain thoughts than are others, so these linguistic differences matter in some ways and reflect the conditions of the societies that host them. Unlike English, Russian makes an obligatory distinction between lighter blues (“goluboy”) and darker blues (“siniy”)... Russian speakers were faster to discriminate two colors when they fell into different linguistic categories in Russian...
Sometimes a word one language have no corresponding word in thr other language
Example:
In a discussion on democratic processes at Code for Japan, a participant expressed the opinion:
"Democratic process is a process that generates as much Nattoku-kan as possible among a wide range of people."
I felt convinced on the opinion.
But... How to translate conviction into English?
There is a void in English.
Erin Meyer found that Japan is a hierarchical, consensus-oriented culture of extremes. https://gyazo.com/d04ca9be867c45bfa8029d1001d8c6a2
We are building a special society, observing special events, and developing a special vocabulary.
"We are building a unique society, observing unique phenomena, and developing a unique vocabulary."
Our traditional (or outdated) culture
Many Japanese consider this culture outdated in an era of global communication with people from diverse backgrounds.
I agree. We need to change our behavior and mindset.
However, the vocabulary we've created in the past can help understand the world in higher resolution.
some languages are better adapted to expressing certain thoughts than are others
Let's stop waiting for the translation.
Let's participate in the thoughts that are currently emerging.
Your words can become common goods and help people around the world.
Cooperative Learning Experience Human Interaction
Open the gate and build a car. You'll come to me.
Door is open. Let's join to create a car.
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This page is auto-translated from /nishio/Words as Common Goods using DeepL. If you looks something interesting but the auto-translated English is not good enough to understand it, feel free to let me know at @nishio_en. I'm very happy to spread my thought to non-Japanese readers.