Datheron

And the feat itself isn't as impressive as it might sound. After all, English, Italian, French, etc. are all Romance languages, derived from the same Latin. They are compatible on many levels, and there is actually usually very little that gets in the way of a direct translation, which is perhaps why many papers have gone over to English quite well.

What I'd like to see is a translation from English to an Eastern language, or vice versa. From cultural differences alone, it is hard to relate directly. Speakers of both will also know that the grammar patterns, structure, and tones are also quite different, and while a translation between that would not really mean anything other than that the person is multilingual, it would at least be a bit more credible than going between multiple Romance languages.

WJ

Hi Mike!

Just to prove you don't know what you're talking about, to be frank, you said I was a theist.

How do you know that? I could be an Atheist playing devil's advocate. Or I could be a religious existentialist. Or I could be a post modernist. Or I could be a phenomenologist. Or I could be an impiricist. Or...

Your epistemology is about as accurate as your assertion that one can objectivly describe the truth without personal experience and come across as knowledgable. My poor friend, if you were a teacher,coach, or in any position of authority, you would know that credibility problems pervade the profession.

Make sense?


Walrus
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Atheists must have 'God issues'. Yikes.

Wyrdsmyth

Half-Life,

The first thing you have to ask when you are taught something is a 'well-documented miracle' is: who documented it? Do you have the whole names of the people who claimed to document this? The dates they documented Padre Pio's translation? A transcription of the event, and the process which was used to test his 'power'? Did they bring in linguists and scientists to rigorously test his alleged power to speak in tongues? Did this 'power' of tongues work with any two languages?

Hmmm... why is it that all of these miracles, speaking in tongues, stigmatas, crying virgin statues and so forth always occur in some other part of the world, far away from me? Someone tell God that Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has a dearth of miracles. The Immaculate Reception was thirty years ago now. I think we're due, here in the Steel City.

Godless Dave

Datheron, I hate to nitpick, but I already set myself up as an expert and I don't want anyone calling me on it. English isn't a Romance language, but it does have quite a bit of Latin-derived vocabulary, most of which it got from medieval Norman French, and some directly from Latin.

The Other Michael

Hello WJ,

I don't know if that is directed to me, since you referred to "Mike" and my name is Michael, but if it is you should go back and look at my comment, because I never said anything about you being a theist.

This does seem to refer to my comment in re parachuting sans parachute.

I see no problem with applying physics to a situation that I've never experienced first hand. And I also see no problem with applying reason to a situation that I've never had first hand experience of. People do that every day when they react to new situations based on prior experience or knowledge.

Someone who has never been on a basketball court could watch the movements of a particular player, compare them with the movements of other players, analyze the data, and quite possibly discover something in the player's game that could be changed to improve the game. And if the player made the suggested change the data resulting from that could be integrated into the previous data to validate it or refine it where it isn't accurate.

The idea that "those who can't do, teach" is, I think, not always true (I'm not about to claim that clueless teachers don't exist). If the teaching is in a physical activity you might have a person who lacks the motor skills to apply the techniques, but has a superior mental understanding of the activity which allows them to offer sound advice to others who do possess the requisite motor skills.

cheers,
Michael

WJ

Hi Mike!

I certainly understand your line of logic, but objective truth, deduction (from general to particular) and all the other impersonal tools that human's have at their disposal cannot take the place of personal experience viz. Being and 'knowing'.

"People do that every day when they react to new situations based on prior experience or knowledge."

I think if you thought about that statement a bit you would see the problem with deduction.

Make sense?

Walrus

Datheron

Of course. No one-upmanship here.

SmashingIdols

My taxi driver on my last trip to Mexico spoke in tongues! I need to document the case and send it to the vatican..

First, he spoke only Spanish, and we spoke only English. HE HAD NEVER STUDIED ENGLISH. WE HAD NEVER STUDIED SPANISH. AMAZING!

But when we would yell "STOP STOP STOP." He would hit the breaks and stop! He would say things to us that we knew were "I am taking you to the best shop" or "Taking you to the best restaraunt." AMAZING! Yet he spoke ONLY SPANISH. We spoke ONLY ENGLISH! We would tell him WAIT RIGHT HERE and show him an American Twenty Dollar Bill, pointing at the spot. We would come out, and AMAZING. THERE HE WAS WAITING FOR US!

We didn't even understand his language, but due to his Gift of Tongues (and some hand gestures thrown in, cleary the sign of deep prayer) we understood it well enough to:

Get great margaritas!
Get great dinner!
Buy some really funny trinkets and baubles!
Have a great time!
Get back to the border before dark!

Should I contact the pope immediately? This person was clearly a saint - because he NEVER TOLD US HIS NAME!

Maybe it was JUAN DIEGO driving our cab!

SIMPLY AMAZING!