So, around a month and a half ago, I posted a nice, long, elaborate post detailing my transition to Linux. It was nice, long, teary-eyed, and idealistic, and I’ve been using Linux on my home built computer ever since.

Well, I’m here today at a bittersweet moment. I’ve determined that Linux alone just won’t cut it for me. So, Apple, allow me to submit a conditional surrender.

Pros and Cons of Linux:

Linux, you’ve come a long way. You’re almost good enough for me to use as my full computer, and the main issues aren’t necessarily your fault. You’ve got some great programs, like Amarok, Akregator and TA-Spring. You’ve got some great features, and your customizability is insane. Some things are blindingly easy, but some things are incredibly tough. Plugging in a Mac hard drive on Kubuntu edgy results in instant recognition, but a USB Compact Flash reader doesn’t do a thing. Installing a new program is easier than OSX has ever made it, but trying to get your scroll wheel working on your mouse requires manual editing of the xorg.conf file, several restarts (with or without a working window system) and hours of frustration. This will all be changed with time, and Linux will improve all of these things, I’m sure. Finally, for a Linguist, Linux just can’t cut it. There’s no decent way (outside of LaTeX) to input IPA, and on my machine, Praat doesn’t work well (I think it’s a Graphics issue), and sound recording was pretty bad without paying for a dedicated sound card. Also, programs like Elan, Wavesurfer, and even Ladefoged’s Phonetics Textbook CD don’t work particularly well (or at all).
Unfortunately, dear Linux, your biggest problems aren’t even your fault.

ATI, your support for Linux is pretty deplorable. I’ve got a reasonable Graphics card, but your closed-source drivers don’t support recent versions of the X-Windows compositing system. Also, it’s a nice touch that since the last upgrade through Kubuntu, your Closed-Source drivers cause my computer to freeze on shutdown. Just nice. Sadly, open source alternatives can’t get frame-rates for anything more than a terminal past acceptable, so I’m kinda trapped between a rock and a hard place. Do I shell out $300 for a good NVidia card, or do I watch as my perfectly good card is badly supported? I didn’t have a choice (due to the deal I got) as to the graphics card I get, but unless it’s included, it’s doubtless that I’ll ever select an ATI card again.

In my other, non-academic life, I also work for my family’s printing business, and unfortunately, Linux isn’t ready for showtime here, either. We use all Macs (11 of them, at last count), and for me to be the only Linux box there would be a major task, even if the software were up to snuff. Unfortunately, there are a few critical missing components.

There’s not a hint of color-correction software available for Linux, there’s no good graphics software that’s compatible with my family’s Photoshop workflow (No, the Gimp doesn’t work for what we need to do), and Camera RAW support is lacking. Finally, there’s no good way to run and maintain Epson printers with a Linux box (you can print to them, but God help you if you need a nozzle check and cleaning). So, once again, it’s not Linux’s fault, but the lack of third-party software still stops me from using it full time.

So, Linux might work great for somebody who doesn’t need Linguistics tools, who doesn’t need games and graphics, and who doesn’t need any sort of high-end graphics tools. Given a few more years, even I might be able to better use Linux. However, that time has not yet arrived for me, so thus, I must make my surrender.

An Open Letter to Apple:

Apple: Unfortunately, everything I said about you earlier was true. You are in bed with the RIAA/MPAA, and altogether too interested in DRM and protecting the pocketbooks of the Copyright Oligarchs who likely deserve every bit of robbery they’ve been getting. I still don’t care for the Intel Chips, and would still love nothing more than a new line of PPC Macs, produced by Apple Computers, which would ideally be split off from Apple Music Whoring™. You’re still likely going to sell out my privacy, and your service is still headed downhill. You will grow more and more locked down, and you’ll slowly become Microsoft. However, you’re not there yet, which is why I’m back here.

As much as I’d like to deny it, you’ve made some good hardware and some great software. Above and beyond that, there’s lots of great, open-source mac software. Finally, even if at the expense of customization, you’ve made it so things just work. After the 6 hour quest for a scroll wheel, I realize that when I buy OS X, part of what I’m paying is a salary for somebody else to go through the 6 hour configuration on my mouse, so I don’t have to. Quite frankly, I think that’s partially worth it, right there. For things to be supported by the manufacturers, processed such that they “just work”, and for the hardware to be certified to work with all the little gadgets and dongles, that’s going to take money or time. With Linux, you pay that in time, and do those things yourself. With OS X, you pay for it with the “Apple Tax”, the markup on every bit of hardware and Apple Software that you buy. Although it can be fun (and educational) to mess around with Linux and break-then-unbreak the various facets of things, when I actually have to get work done, those little failures are a much bigger problem, and not always as entertaining. So, yeah, I’ll pay the Apple tax, and I’ll put up with the lack of customization. However, my surrender is not unconditional.

Terms of Surrender:

I, Will, do hereby surrender control of my data to an Apple Powerbook, administered by OS X, on this, the Twenty-Seventh of November, 2006, on the following terms:

1) I will avoid Apple’s iTunes software whenever possible. No need to encourage Apple’s chief violator of privacy, efficiency, and consumer rights. Also, the iTunes Music Store won’t get a dime out of me until they start letting artists sell straight through, without major record labels stealing their cut.

2) I will attempt to use Open Source projects whenever possible, through MacPorts and Independent developers.

3) I will refuse to purchase MS Office for OS X. It’s a crappy port of crappy software, and should be picked up by any OS X virus scanner.

4) I will to maintain a 15GB Linux Partition on my Hard Drive. Speaking of which, Apple, you should work on supporting reading from some Linux HD formats.

5) I won’t be purchasing iLife ’0x any time soon. iMovie and iDVD are nice, but they’re buggy in project-killing sorts of ways, and iPhoto is nothing compared to the might of Photoshop. Same goes for .Mac.

6) I will be allowed to maintain my prior sentiments that iTunes, Spotlight, iChat, and, most importantly, the Intel Switch, suck.

Signed, regretfully,

Will

Final Statement by the defeated:

I originally compared Linux to an escape capsule, and I think the comparison is still valid. Linux will be my escape pod when Apple becomes intolerable. However, for now, I need the amenities of the full ship, and there’s no sense in computational asceticism when I need to get things done.

Knowing then what I know now, would I still have taken the plunge? I think so. The whole experiment wasn’t too costly. I still have a working, $212 computer, which is in good enough shape for any variety of uses (and to test other distros, without much in the way of Data on them), and it might even serve as a print server at home. I’ve still got my Powerbook, in full working order, and most importantly, I’ve learned a lot about both OS X and Linux. I’m more comfortable now when the GUI breaks down, when the computer won’t boot, and when the stuff hits the fan.
I know now that Linux isn’t perfect, but damnit, it’s a lot closer than I used to think. It won’t work for me, but it might work for you. Download a LiveCD, try an install, and see if you need the closed-source world. It’s quite possible that you do the sort of computing it supports, and have the time to support it. For me, it’s not enough, but I hope it’ll work for you.

So, onward I go, defeated, but not broken, away from the illusory world of Open-Source only computing, and back towards the land of corporate domination. I hope that someday, I might return and find pristine fields of open computing where there once were canyons of unsupported programs, and find a true home, but for now, I shall continue my path as I must, pressing on, against the tide of DRM and Trustless computing, and find my way in this world.

(…and that should about do it for the melodrama. Thanks for reading, and I hope you learned something from all this. :))

Tagged with Computers and Software, Notes, Tirades | 12 Comments


I’ve been doing a fair amount of research on translation theory recently, and it’s really a fascinating field. There are as many facets and complexities as colors in a sunset, but at its core, it does have any number of interesting and easily understandable aspects. Since I’ve been looking around at different sorts of translation, I think it’s time to discuss one of the more basic choices that translators make (and one of the ones that most affects the readers): source and target language bias.

So, let’s say that I wanted to translate a modern Spanish novel into English. For the purposes of this article, I’ll be using the terms “source text/language” to refer to the Spanish version, and using “target language/text” to refer to the English translation.
Translation would be far more simple if all languages were identical, abstract sets of words, used identically by everybody. If this were the case, every word construction, tense, or framing would have an exact duplicate in every other language in the world. The English word ‘Table’ would be exactly the same as the Spanish ‘Mesa’, and every time you saw ‘Table’, you could just switch it out with ‘mesa’. So, ideally, I would sit down with my dictionary and my reference grammar and start replacing English words, sentences, and paragraphs with their Spanish “equivalents”. Once this substitution was complete, I would have a perfectly accurate copy of the original text which was completely understandable to a speaker of the target language.

As convenient as that would be, it’s not remotely true. Even in our quick example, ‘Table’ in English has a number of different meanings, and not all are covered by the Spanish ‘mesa’ (ranging from a Data Table, to “tabling” a resolutions). No two languages are exactly equivalent, and although some words might have quick and easy equivalents in both the source and target language, the vast majority of words and constructions will require the translator to make some decisions.

When these decisions start being made, there’s an opportunity for bias. Let’s say I come across the Spanish phrase “Mas vale pajaro en mano que ciento volando” in the novel. I need to make a choice here, as to how to translate it. Literally, it means “A bird in the hand is worth more than a hundred flying.” However, English does have a very, very similar expression, “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”. So, I can translate literally, and favor the Source Language (Spanish) phrasing, or I can translate using the English idiom, and favor the Target Language.

In this case, the main difference will be in terms of native target language speaker’s perception. Using the literal Spanish would be what translators often refer to as a “difference” preference or “favoring the source language “, the choice to use different phrasing and, even through the translation, emphasize that the source language and the author’s words are different than how an English speaker might have written things. On the other side, using the English idiom might be referred to as “identity” preference (or “favoring the target language”), where the translator tries to make the target language text as accessible, understandable, and familiar as possible to target language readers.

This example is fairly simple, in that really, a native English speaker will understand what the phrase means even if it’s translated literally. However, imagine you’re given an idiom like “Estar como perro en barrio ajeno”, literally, “to be like a dog in a neighbor’s yard”. If one were to translate that literally, the target language readers might understand the words, but miss the meaning entirely. However, Ii one translated it (more accurately) as “to be like a fish out of water”, the target language reader would have a much easier grasp on the meaning behind it.

There are always other factors at play in the decision of translating certain phrases. I’ve been learning about translation theory with one of the professors in my department, and he recently made a very interesting comment about the translation of Native American stories and literatures. We were going through one of his translations of an Arapaho speech, and we stumbled across a particularly colorful phrase (along the lines of “walking into the other group’s camp”). He translated it literally for me, but he put it into the English version as a single English word, “assimilation”. When I asked why, he explained that he didn’t want to make it sound like the stereotypical, disney-style Native American speech. He said that although the Arapaho often do use metaphors related to the Old Ways, hunting and nature, he often chooses not to translate them literally, because he feels it really just reinforces the stereotype of how their language sounds, rather than the actual message of the story or speech.

So, every translation has a bit of bias. However, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. This is a choice, and a tool in the hands of a skilled translator, and very seldom is a translation done favoring ONLY the target or source languages. Although translation theorists will likely argue this point, I suspect that the most accurate translation will likely fall somewhere in the middle, with a mix of difference and identity.
Sometimes, you need to favor the target language, to make the book clear, understandable, and readable to the readers, but sometimes you need to favor the source language, if for no other reason, just to remind the reader that the original work wasn’t written two weeks ago in Des Moines.

Suggested Readings:

Introducing Translation Studies by Jeremy Munday : A good primer on translation theory and many of the issues discussed here (albeit with a generalized target language bias)

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Pevear and Volokhonsky translation: A great book, and a more Target language biased translation.

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Constance Garnett translation: The same great book, but this is a more source language favoring translation.

Tagged with Conventional Linguistics, High Precision Language, Language Usage, Language in Fiction, Translation and Translation Theory | 3 Comments


So, today, my girlfriend sent me a link to this comic by XKCD (CAUTION: Not Safe for Work language, namely, the F-Bomb). What’s funny about it is not so much the content, but the fact that they’re ripping not only on Linguistics, but specifically on computational linguistics. Having done a bit of corpus linguistics myself, I couldn’t help but laugh, and, quite frankly, he does have a bit of a point at times. So, I applaud him for taking a strong stand.

As a counterstrike, I propose that some bored Computational Linguist create a corpus of all the text from XKCD’s website. That way, no matter their feelings, fears, or secret desires, XKCD will always be aiding the cause of Computational Linguistics. Our revenge will be swift and searchable.

Tagged with Computational Linguistics, Language Humor, Notes, Tirades | 2 Comments

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