# Italian, German, Russian and now Greek ...



## MacManiac (Jan 25, 2012)

My plea for help in providing Italian, German and Russian translation for the website I am working on, for a friend who runs a local tavern in Polis, was answered in full. My thanks to those generous people who answered the call and I hope to have the website live by the end of this week.

However I have run into trouble with the Greek text. My "Home Page" should be in English, which I wrote, Russian, German and Italian (written by those generous people above) but I have been unable to find someone to write that text in Greek. Many Greek Cypriots have offered to help, but ultimately their grasp of written English was not good enough to enable them to help (and it should be said their English is far, far better than my fledgling Greek).

I wondered whether anyone on the forum would be able to help. The text is about half an A4 page so not too onerous but completely beyond me.


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## PeteandSylv (Sep 24, 2008)

Can't you work through it with Miki?

Pete


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## MacManiac (Jan 25, 2012)

MacManiac said:


> My plea for help in providing Italian, German and Russian translation for the website I am working on, for a friend who runs a local tavern in Polis, was answered in full. My thanks to those generous people who answered the call and I hope to have the website live by the end of this week.
> 
> However I have run into trouble with the Greek text. My "Home Page" should be in English, which I wrote, Russian, German and Italian (written by those generous people above) but I have been unable to find someone to write that text in Greek. Many Greek Cypriots have offered to help, but ultimately their grasp of written English was not good enough to enable them to help (and it should be said their English is far, far better than my fledgling Greek).
> 
> I wondered whether anyone on the forum would be able to help. The text is about half an A4 page so not too onerous but completely beyond me.


You would think so but he doesn't seem to be able to. It doesn't help that neither he nor Antonia have any computer skills, and it would take forever to transcribe handwritten Greek onto a computer for me. It was just a thought - but all sorts of Greek Cypriots have looked at it and decided it was beyond them.


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## PeteandSylv (Sep 24, 2008)

MacManiac said:


> You would think so but he doesn't seem to be able to. It doesn't help that neither he nor Antonia have any computer skills, and it would take forever to transcribe handwritten Greek onto a computer for me. It was just a thought - but all sorts of Greek Cypriots have looked at it and decided it was beyond them.


Transcribing Greek onto a computer is not as difficult as you might think if you use a neat little program called Frontype. This will put a translucent Greek keyboard layout overlaying your screen to help find the correct keys on a non-Greek keyboard. It is surprising how quickly you can learn the letter positions.

Pete


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## MacManiac (Jan 25, 2012)

I've got a Greek keyboard on my iMac (it comes as standard) and appreciate what you say but Miki's eyes glazed over when I suggested that approach. Perhaps it was the Zivania


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## PeteandSylv (Sep 24, 2008)

Yes, Zivania can cause that problem in too small a quantity !!!

Pete


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## MacManiac (Jan 25, 2012)

I've never tasted it - perhaps the next time we get together


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## cds usa (Jan 4, 2011)

How much work is it? I'm fluent in both Greek and English, if its not a lot I may be able to help.


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## MacManiac (Jan 25, 2012)

cds usa said:


> How much work is it? I'm fluent in both Greek and English, if its not a lot I may be able to help.


Hi,

There are two parts to the problem. I have written about four or five short paragraphs of English for the first page of the website, which need translating into Greek. That's the important bit. The other part is checking the menu items, which are in Greek to ensure they are accurate. Most are (I am told) but one or two may be ridiculous errors on my part.

With the German, Italian and Russian texts, I sent out a MS Word table with the English on the left and a space for the other language on the right. As far as the menu items are concerned, I just need to know whether I have made any laughable errors.

If you could help, that would be great. Best thing would be to PM your email address. I can send you the document. If it's too much, please let me know. If not, brilliant.


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## cds usa (Jan 4, 2011)

I'll pm you my email, seems easy enough


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## Guest (May 21, 2013)

MacManiac said:


> Hi,
> 
> There are two parts to the problem. I have written about four or five short paragraphs of English for the first page of the website, which need translating into Greek. That's the important bit. The other part is checking the menu items, which are in Greek to ensure they are accurate. Most are (I am told) but one or two may be ridiculous errors on my part.
> 
> ...


Hi Martin!
You know all the big multi-language websites use Google to automatically translate the page. Perhaps you should have a go...:ranger:

Anders


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## MacManiac (Jan 25, 2012)

Vegaanders said:


> Hi Martin!
> You know all the big multi-language websites use Google to automatically translate the page. Perhaps you should have a go...:ranger:
> 
> Anders


I did, and showed the result to my Greek Cypriot neighbours, who almost p****d themselves laughing.


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## MacManiac (Jan 25, 2012)

An enormous thank you to those forum members and their wives who have helped get this website off the ground. You know who you are.

Just to get the ball rolling, and I am aware that there are still some rough edges to smooth over - and some additional content which is being developed - the website can be found at

Miki's Tavern | Fish Restaurant | Bar | Wine Bar | Coffee Bar | Polis Chrysochous | Paphos | Cyprus

For some reason it does not render well on iPads and presumably other tablets and smartphones but that will hopefully be resolved.


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## PeteandSylv (Sep 24, 2008)

Would you like a bug/problem/issue report on the site?

Pete


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## cds usa (Jan 4, 2011)

Vegaanders said:


> Hi Martin!
> You know all the big multi-language websites use Google to automatically translate the page. Perhaps you should have a go...:ranger:
> 
> Anders


Google can translate very well and it's useful for when you come across a site that's not in your language, it wil help you get the gist of it. It's not good enough for published text, formal use though.
Two examples from this particular project 
Specialties of the house got translated to specialties of the parliament, squash drinks to pumpkin drinks


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## MacManiac (Jan 25, 2012)

PeteandSylv said:


> Would you like a bug/problem/issue report on the site?
> 
> Pete


Any bugs, problems, or issues I would love to hear about. Email would be best, as the forum is not necessarily the place to debate such things. It would be great to make the site perfect - not that I am a perfectionist, of course.


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## Guest (May 31, 2013)

cds usa said:


> Google can translate very well and it's useful for when you come across a site that's not in your language, it wil help you get the gist of it. It's not good enough for published text, formal use though.
> Two examples from this particular project
> Specialties of the house got translated to specialties of the parliament, squash drinks to pumpkin drinks


I don't really know if you are serious or not. At least the languages we use in the business, Swedish, German, Russian and Chinese are hardly understandable translated into from English. Of course a private way to try to understand a text its ok, but as many big websites try to use it as a way to get a multi language site is a disaster. My wife has tried to read a lot of property descriptions made by Google and it is just not possible to get any meaning in the text

Anders


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## cds usa (Jan 4, 2011)

You suggested it, I thought you were being serious! It's better than nothing but not good enough


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