h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Wording changed.

I think this entry is fine, just fine

Pimms

*smug *

Sorry for posting as a New Conversation before - I'm new to this malarkey and sometimes I find that the user interface doesn't quite help. (Like, why can't the "Peer Review" link say "Click here to contribute to the peer review". And why can't it be repeated at the bottom, next to new conversation link?).

Anyhow, what I've done is to repeat:
>My comments
>>Your reply to my comments
Then I've tagged on my reply to your reply

>I've often pondered over the uselessness of translations of this phrase. In my experience, it's much more useful to say it in English. A much more useful phrase would be "Sorry, I don't understand much Polish"
>>Hmm, I don't quite understand this "I don't speak English" suggestion of yours since there is no such phrase in the entry. Could you explain again?

What I meant is that in live situations you almost never have to say "Do you speak English", whether in Polish/French/Hindi/Twi/Inuktituk or any language. If the other person speaks English, they will understand it when you say it in English. If not, you'll have to carry on in the other language anyway, so there was no point in asking. But for some reason it's one of those "my postillion has been struck by lightning" phrases that has infected almost every phrasebook in the world.

>My only other comment is that the footnoted bits would be better put in brackets after the words.
>>On the aforementioned thread I wrote that I'd rather keep the pronunciation examples hidden in the footnotes because they are so rough.
Fair enough. I personally think you need the pronunciation up there next to the word you're trying to say.

>Also...is stress important in Polish. I know that in Czech, stress is always on the first syllable, wheras in Russian it is highly variable. Correct stress does seem to be particularly important in language comprehension - as you'd appreciate if you'd ever heard an Italian giving a speech in word-perfect but improperly stressed English. You could indicate the stressed syllables either in bold or upper case.
>>In the entry just before the phrases I mention that in Polish the stress is always on the second-to-last syllable. But is it difficult (for a beginner) divide the words into syllables?
Sorry. So you do. Yes, it is difficult to separate an unfamilar language into it's component syllables, and the way you've done your pro'nun'ci'a'tion guides is a great help here. It might be added value if you wrote them thus: pro'nun'ci'A'tion (or, even better, used bold, which I can't do in this forum

Good stuff, though! A last thought: I'm always interested in "fun phrases". I keep a running list of the best things I've said in foreign languages. In German, I once came out with "I am not a delegate at this conference, nevertheless I would like a penguin." And a Czech friend once forged a restaurant receipt for me which included the dish "Elephant in a bicycle sauce." Here's some more examples from another guy's site: http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/useful.htm and http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/hovercraft.htm

I just think it's more polite to ask in the local language if people speak English. That way people who don't understand English still understand what you're asking. It's just nicer.

I kinda like the idea of stressed syllables in bold - does anybody oppose?

Oh and thanks Edward for the contribution!

Stressed syllables in bold sounds a great idea to me- you could even incorporate this into the actual spellings, not just in the pronunciations. How would that look? It may help in the identification of syllables.

Pimms

I was thinking about putting the stresses in the actual spellings, but then thought that it would be confusing to have some of the pronunciation advice to be in the spelled form and some in the footnotes.

Haven't quite made up my mind.

Added the stresses in the footnotes.

Well done Aina. The only drawback I can see is that you can't hover over the footnote and see the formatting of it, so the bold stressed syllable is only visible if you actually click on the footnote to zip to the bottom.

However this quibble I don't think is worth adjusting your entry for .

Pimms

So...

How about someone picking this up?

patience young padawan It's not unusual for a perfectly good entry to wait a week or two after all suggestions have been acted on before a scout recommends it - I think my two entires in PR are ready to go, but ....

Fingers crossed

Pimms

Your Guide Entry has just been picked from Peer Review by one of our Scouts, and is now heading off into the Editorial Process, which ends with publication in the Edited Guide. We've therefore moved this Review Conversation out of Peer Review and to the entry itself.

If you'd like to know what happens now, check out the page on 'What Happens after your Entry has been Recommended?' at EditedGuide-Process. We hope this explains everything.

Thanks for contributing to the Edited Guide!

Congratulations!

Thank you, thank you!

Me first edited entry, I'm so proud. all around!

Thank you everybody for your helpful suggestions!

Well Done Aina.

Pimms
(now be prepared for a wait while it is subbed and goes in queue to appear on Front Page, you can check on its progress by going to ComingUp The sub will probably post on this thread when they've had a look at the entry, but you can find the EG copy of this entry at A2982314. This original version will remain unedited by anyone else - it is all covered in <./>EditedGuide-Process</.&gt