Friday, 17 October 2008
Language and culture
Often when I edit texts for other people it is about correcting syntax and grammar. But sometimes there are references that don't translate very well unless you understand the context. "Land-based agriculture" is one such phrase widely used by the Dutch. When I first saw it, it seemed a tautology - but in the Dutch situation, where intensive pig, poultry and dairy farming and glasshouses play such a large role there can be a real need to distinguish between agriculture that is still primarily based on land resources and that which is primarily based on other, bought-in, resources. 'Nature development' is another example that came up today. It seems like an oxymoron - until you realise that most nature here has been created from land that has been bought back from agriculture to be used for ecological or recreational purposes. To an English speaker 'developing nature' sounds contradictory. To a Dutchman it is completely logical
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4 comments:
Is there a difference between syntax and grammar?
Is there one between pots and pans?
Right I've looked it up. Grammar consists of a description of all the elements in a language - its sounds, words, meaningful elements, and utterances - and syntax focuses on the utterances, particularly on the relationships between the words that determine their order in sentences and other units of speech. Thus, grammar refers to the entire study, syntax to one part of it. Thank you, Urdang.
Pots and pans - dunno. I think of pans as having handles and pots not, but could be wrong.
You learn something new every day. Thanks for turning my flippant remark into something cosntructive. I had a few too many things to do today to think about deep questions on which I should be able to profess knowledge. (My Dutch teacher despairs that I don't automatically know the difference between a trasitive and an intransitive verb). But my white board is starting to look clear again.
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