Raeth wrote:Sometimes I have noticed lag, and other times not. It seemed to come and go, and it wasn't just during the live chat. But, overall, it has never been so omnipresent nor extensive to give me cause for concern or make using the translator inconvenient. So, I am just sharing for informational purposes, not as a complaint.
Indeed the lag is not bad -- just frustrating when I'm under pressure to translate things quickly.
Just to share information, my "workaround" would involve loading the database into your browser memory (after asking for permission, of course; modern browsers won't allow such things without user permission, and limit the storage per-website to 5MB of data stored as {"key": "value"} pairs -- essentially plaintext). This would provide the opportunity to bring back "live search" as-you-type suggestions (like Google does). The speed of the response would only be limited by your computer/browser -- probably less than 100ms (1/10th of a second). The effect would be "instant" search results.
Raeth wrote:The ideas you suggested are kandosii'la, ori'vod. Wish I could help somehow, but I don't even know what you do let alone how to do it.
What I do is not so complex. It took me years to learn, only because I'm not a great student sometimes. Learning to "think like a computer" took a lot of practice for me. The rest is icing. Learning to program in a new language is really just about learning how to express the same concepts in a different language. Just like we're doing here with Mando'a.
The whole translator is just a little PHP script, a MySQL database, some HTML, some CSS, and some JavaScript. The current translator is about 6 months old, and is the third revision of my code (a complete rewrite, actually).
In any case, what I would need the most help with is not the writing of code, but the creation and upkeep of content, such as lesson plans and maintenance of our (curated) "Fando'a" supplementary translator database.
Raeth wrote:I couldn't agree with you more. In some regards, I know this would overlap with what the MMCC Mando'ade do. BUT, I feel like there are still some missing gaps between the language studies at mandoa.org and the costuming of the MMCC. I would imagine there are some inherent challenges in doing things that do NOT infringe upon copyright or invite legal trouble. That said, I would love to see:
--snip--
MMCC does do some language stuff, but that doesn't seem to be their primary focus. I have communicated with Novall Talon (Mand'alor of MMCC) before -- actually when I first put the site online -- and he's actually the one who put me in contact with LFL in order to ask permission to use the original Excel file and create my derivative work.
Preventing copyright infringement is indeed a challenge. I want to DO ALL THE THINGS
but I cannot because I have to respect the intellectual property of Karen Traviss and Lucasfilm/Disney. Toward that end, I have contacted a member of the LFL staff to ensure I still retain permission to run the translator portion of the site, and asked for additional permissions, so I can be absolutely clear on what is and is not allowed -- thus helping me plan for the future of this community and the translator app.
Raeth wrote:- We could start participating in local events - game-cons, costume cons, Star Wars gatherings, etc. - and recruiting.
That might be a good idea. We could maybe cooperate with MMCC on that -- it's unlikely that we'll ever be a primary interest group.
Conlangs require a special kind of nerd; how many Star Trek fans -- even really hardcore ones -- learn Klingon? I spent literally my entire childhood going to every Chicago-area sci-fi convention, and the Klingons never grew much larger than ten people. Klingon love poetry and karaoke were entertaining events, but with few participants -- mostly observers like myself. The same problem applies for Elvish (Quenya/Sindarin/Neo-Sindarin) and Na'vi. Few people are such devoted fans of a fictional universe that they're willing to invest the time and effort into learning a language. Few linguists are so devoted to language that they're willing to invest the time and effort into learning a conlang centered in a universe they may or may not be interested in. We exist at the intersection between Star Wars fans, people with the warrior spirit, and linguistics nerds, and as such attract (comparatively) few devotees over the long run.
Raeth wrote:- We could individually start study/interest groups in our local libraries.
Indeed, once any of our members even live in the same state
Raeth wrote:- We could work with the MMCC (of which, I do want to participate once my beskar'gam is complete) in some manner, perhaps becoming auxiliary to them in some official capacity.
Agreed.
Raeth wrote:- We could create something to 'market'; the MMCC has patches, pendants, and other assorted collectibles, and this not even mentioning the armor; can we do something the same, to celebrate Mando'a? T-shirts with funny Mando'a sayings in the Mando'a script?
I'm not fully clear on the legality of this particular suggestion. I'll have to get back to you on that one. Regardless, it probably won't happen until membership is higher.
Raeth wrote:- A STREAMING INTERNET RADIO/VIDEO/PODCAST PROGRAM IN MANDO'A!!! (Actually, several programs: A Learn Mando'a program, a Mando'a Culture program, a Mando'a lnaguage drama show, and my personal fav', a Mando'a cooking show!)
That would be neat, and I think we should definitely at least record some podcast lessons, maybe even eventually a monthly/bi-monthly/quarterly/annual/whatever community podcast. I'm probably not going to be the one doing it, though -- I'm already doing too many things with my free time.
Raeth wrote:As a question, how do we overlap/interact with the MMCC? I do NOT want to poach their members (since I want to BE one of their members once my beskar'gam is complete) or step on their toes, but is there some way we can work with them and yet provide something beyond what they do?
No need to poach members; we can definitely coexist. I'm not fully up-to-date on the intensity of the language community at MMCC, but it was not very big when I made this site and scooted MsLanna's forum onto my server from where it was originally. (Yes, this forum was started by someone else -- I merely offered to provide free hosting for it and accidentally inherited ownership of it.) I don't see any reason why anyone would have to exclusively patronize MMCC or us; why not both? MMCC for your costuming and community needs, Mando'a.Org for your Mando'a language needs.
RE: cookbook, cooking show, interior design guide, songbook -- I believe those things can come together organically. Perhaps I should start forum sections for such things, and when we get enough things together in one category or another, we can bind them into a volume and publish them, digitally or otherwise. If we do them in print, though, we'll almost definitely require LFL/Disney's blessing).