And most importantly, how are people okay with the state things are now? — Seth72
Is choosing an universal language and sticking to it really so hard? Can't we create a language that uses very few vocal sounds so that everyone can become fluent in it, and is made to be internally consistent? And most importantly, how are people okay with the state things are now? — Seth72
Maybe the solution to the babble of languages at CERN is to provide everyone with a Babel-fish. :grin:Is choosing an universal language and sticking to it really so hard? — Seth72
Is choosing an universal language and sticking to it really so hard? Can't we create a language that uses very few vocal sounds so that everyone can become fluent in it, and is made to be internally consistent? And most importantly, how are people okay with the state things are now? — Seth72
And translation in general is a mess. Not just the grammatical errors, but some statements become clearly ambiguous — Seth72
. . . all words used in science are given precising definitions - no room their for ambiguity, my friend. — TheMadFool
In math, as I have mentioned, there can be ambiguity regarding a word. Once it's placed in context such ambiguities may disappear — jgill
Wiki: "In mathematical contexts, duality has numerous meanings[1] although it is "a very pervasive and important concept in (modern) mathematics"[2] and "an important general theme that has manifestations in almost every area of mathematics".
Varieties in algebraic discussions.
From Stackexchange, when asked, What do mathematicians mean by "form"?
" 'Form' doesn't really mean anything on its own. It's a historical label that got attached to a few things and then got attached to a few other things by analogy. Forms are usually like functions, but not quite, or something. I wouldn't worry too much about it. – Qiaochu Yuan Jul 20 '16 at 7:36
It would be interesting to track down specific first occurences (of "differential form", "modular form" and the like). For example, in Classical Invariant Theory, "form" more or less meant "homogeneous polynomial". I'm ready to believe that this meaning was influential in the naming of differential forms, or modular forms, but a serious historical inquiry would be necessary to establish that..."
Different authors use terms their own ways at times. I recently used "form" while discussing linear fractional transformations in a specific context, but others haven't.
Things are not quite as precise and tight in the general math community as one might suspect. But inside a particular sub-discipline they usually are. — jgill
Is this a reply to my question? If it is, it mustn't have escaped your notice that this ambiguity is within a given language and not a result of translation from one language to another. — TheMadFool
Compounding this situation is that even in a discipline there may be differing definitions of a single word. For instance, in math, varieties can mean several (but closely related) things in abstract algebra, and duality can mean various things. — jgill
As far as I know, although scientific language is a subset of ordinary language, all words used in science are given precising definitions - no room their for ambiguity — TheMadFool
Do you think the formulations would get better if they translated their thoughts on the fly? Imagine taking notes during a phone-call - might be better that even a single exact version of the note exists I guess (no matter in what language). In that case, if something is unclear, your colleague might be able to figure out what he meant by looking up in his original notes. If the ambiguous version is all that is left, then... good luck.From what I understand, most reports are standardized to be written in English, but this only means that most scientists hastily translate their words into the standard language. And translation in general is a mess. Not just the grammatical errors, but some statements become clearly ambiguous. Different languages do not have a direct word-to-word translation to other languages. — Seth72
Like you said, I doubt there's an easy way to fix this. Personally, my problem with this is that one is forced to consider politics and the random whims of society even when they choose to work with something that is supposed to be purely scientific. CERN, or any other institution for that matter, is not disconnected from these matters. — Seth72
Actually I think I would be much better off working for something outside the realm of science altogether. At least there, all of this is par for the course. Humanity as of now is incapable of creating a purely scientific environment. — Seth72
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