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11/27/2006 05:40:31 AM · #1 |
Just wanted to make a small remark related to several comments Giorgio got for his submission "Transilvania" to Postcard II. Well, those comments were about how he misspelled the title, and how that one should probably be "Transsylvanya" or what-so-ever (they weren't very sure either about the correct form of the word, but they KNEW it was misspelled).
Well, if you'd take the time to check, in Romania we do call that part of our country "Transilvania", so it was NOT misspelled in ROMANIAN. So for those who left the comments, since you probably do not speak romanian, then you are in no place to judge if the word was misspelled or not and you should realize that not everything is written in English and that there are other languages in this wide world.
And above all, this was a challenge about postcards from all over the world, so I should find it normal that you put on the postcard the "original" name (in the local language) if you want to.
I hope I didn't offend anyone, but since I am romanian myself, I didn't appreciate that kind of comments.
Cheers everyone,
Bianca
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11/27/2006 05:45:46 AM · #2 |
| Well put, Bianca! We are not all English speakers around here! |
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11/27/2006 05:49:18 AM · #3 |
It's understandable that these comments are upsetting when you know that the spelling is correct for the native language. Keep in mind, though, that the commentors are very unlikely to have a Romanian background, so it's natural that they thought it was misspelled. It's probably not realistic to expect that voters will research title spellings, however if they are commenting on the spelling, I too would hope that they would do the research.
Don't take the comments too seriously. It's natural that between languages we will have some spelling misinterpretations. In this case, the Romanian name is so close to the English name that some mistakes in interpretation are almost a given. |
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11/27/2006 05:53:20 AM · #4 |
Bianca, there were three (!) comments about spelling, two of them just asked (!) if the spelling was correct. One of those was mine, and I guarantee I didn't vote it any lower. Don't take things so seriously.
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11/27/2006 05:53:54 AM · #5 |
| I don't know any Romanian, but I was able to figure out that Transylvania is an English spelling and probably not the native spelling. I didn't need to go research the Romanian spelling. All I had to do was apply a little common sense and give the photographer the benefit of the doubt. |
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11/27/2006 05:54:13 AM · #6 |
Thank you and I agree. English is not the native language of many here. I have lived extensively for many many years in several different countries and I sometimes find myself making mistakes based on different ways of spelling. I do not care if spelling is wrong, this is a photography site not a journalism site. I know many get real upset at spelling errors here, oh well, they need to learn to look at the photo or comment on what is important.
Almost the same goes for challenge titles, many vote on the title as much as the photo. Sure would like to see some basic and advanced challenges that cannot have titles, would be most interesting if they are specific subject type challenges. Then spelling and grammar would have no impact, the photo would stand on their own.
Still others enjoy requesting DQ's and don't have the nerve to contact the photog and explain why after the challenge is over and the identity is then known.
Sometimes it's real "Shallow Hal" here, most of the time it's great. |
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11/27/2006 05:55:32 AM · #7 |
One thing everyone learns at some point, play to the crowd. Do I agree with the comments? No.
But, as a competitor, one might consider the thoughtless xenophobic voter when going for a ribbon.
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11/27/2006 05:59:22 AM · #8 |
I DQ'd my postcard because I *am* a native English speaker and foolishly tried to convert to German. Next time I'll stick to the language I know or ask someone who can help me with the proper use of a foreign language.
That said, I really enjoyed the postcard challenge - what a delight it was to vote in! (And I didn't "deduct" for misspelling or fonts, either.) |
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11/27/2006 06:03:36 AM · #9 |
Originally posted by eyewave:
Bianca, there were three (!) comments about spelling, two of them just asked (!) if the spelling was correct. One of those was mine, and I guarantee I didn't vote it any lower. Don't take things so seriously. |
I wasn't taking it "too seriously", but I'd like people to give the benefit of the doubt to the photographer and not trying to nitpick on everything, especially since it was a Postcard contest, so as I said "original" names seemed more than fit.
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11/27/2006 06:40:21 AM · #10 |
| I was just disappointed that it wasn't a shot of Dracula's castle on top of a mountain during a lightning storm. |
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11/27/2006 07:30:08 AM · #11 |
and while we're on the topic of spelling, next person who puts a comment on my image that says it has nice "colour"... why... i'm just gonna go vote their image a 1 for spite.
i mean... the nerve of putting a "u" where it don't belong...
*huffs*
*puffs*
*blows house down*
(truthfully, i'm a big fan of creative spelling cause i couldn't ever get the knack of it... good thing someone told me about the spell check in the google toolbar...)
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11/27/2006 07:35:47 AM · #12 |
| Kudos to the people who took the time and effort to leave comments at all. |
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11/27/2006 08:14:57 AM · #13 |
Originally posted by mk:
Kudos to the people who took the time and effort to leave comments at all. |
AMEN Sista! And people wonder why voters arent leaving comments when they score lower then the person who submitted it thinks it should be. Its posts like this that kept me from posting comments when I did score a shot low.
MattO
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11/27/2006 08:18:18 AM · #14 |
| Aw c'mon - comment if you want to comment. Don't worry 'bout what people say. The OP's post was more of an info type thing than a bashing type thing IMO. In fact it was a nice thing to pass along - kind of world-lesson type thing. Learn, move on, and keep commenting. If no one had noticed the to-the-English-speaking-world misspelling, none of us would know it wasn't misspelled! |
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11/27/2006 08:25:10 AM · #15 |
Originally posted by MattO:
Originally posted by mk:
Kudos to the people who took the time and effort to leave comments at all. |
AMEN Sista! And people wonder why voters arent leaving comments when they score lower then the person who submitted it thinks it should be. Its posts like this that kept me from posting comments when I did score a shot low.
MattO |
Oh no, don't come up with this excuse. I am not against people giving comments, good or bad. Criticism is constructive.
But when you say that the misspelling hurt the pic, when it's not misspelling at all, that bothers me and I think I have the right to say it wasn't so. So lets not mix soups over here.
Basically I was trying to say not to vote a picture down, just because you think it's misspelling. I know there were some people saying they thought it was misspelling, but didn't vote down and I appreciate that. So this thread is just to tell them it wasn't misspelling. That's it.
No offense intended.
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11/27/2006 08:26:59 AM · #16 |
Originally posted by Melethia:
Aw c'mon - comment if you want to comment. Don't worry 'bout what people say. The OP's post was more of an info type thing than a bashing type thing IMO. In fact it was a nice thing to pass along - kind of world-lesson type thing. Learn, move on, and keep commenting. If no one had noticed the to-the-English-speaking-world misspelling, none of us would know it wasn't misspelled! |
Thank you Melethia. You were faster that I was with my reply ;-)
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11/27/2006 08:35:59 AM · #17 |
Originally posted by anotherday:
Originally posted by MattO:
Originally posted by mk:
Kudos to the people who took the time and effort to leave comments at all. |
AMEN Sista! And people wonder why voters arent leaving comments when they score lower then the person who submitted it thinks it should be. Its posts like this that kept me from posting comments when I did score a shot low.
MattO |
Oh no, don't come up with this excuse. I am not against people giving comments, good or bad. Criticism is constructive.
But when you say that the misspelling hurt the pic, when it's not misspelling at all, that bothers me and I think I have the right to say it wasn't so. So lets not mix soups over here.
Basically I was trying to say not to vote a picture down, just because you think it's misspelling. I know there were some people saying they thought it was misspelling, but didn't vote down and I appreciate that. So this thread is just to tell them it wasn't misspelling. That's it.
No offense intended. |
Personally, I can appreciate both sides. I think it's good to have a reminder every once in awhile that we are an international site and maybe we need to spend a minute or two considering that before judging. (I also think it's probably beneficial to remember that even though we are an international body of people, this site is based on American English and that people aren't up on their Romanian spellings shouldn't be surprising.)
I also think it can be hurtful, regardless of how politely phrased the post is, to have individual comments called out as being wrong and for the commenter to be told that they have no place to judge (which isn't true). Every day on this site, we have thread after thread thrashing the comments that people leave (I'm speaking in general here), followed by threads wondering why more people don't comment. I see no harm in expressing an appreciation for the people who take the time and make the effort to comment in spite of all of this, even if their comments aren't always spot on. That's all. :) |
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11/27/2006 08:37:27 AM · #18 |
Originally posted by kudzu:
and while we're on the topic of spelling, next person who puts a comment on my image that says it has nice "colour"... why... i'm just gonna go vote their image a 1 for spite.
i mean... the nerve of putting a "u" where it don't belong...
*huffs*
*puffs*
*blows house down*
(truthfully, i'm a big fan of creative spelling cause i couldn't ever get the knack of it... good thing someone told me about the spell check in the google toolbar...) |
Here in NZ we think you spell it wrong without the u?
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11/27/2006 08:50:59 AM · #19 |
It appears that most viewers of this picture "got" the alternate spelling. They also appeared to like this submission quite a bit:
Place: 47 out of 265
Avg (all users): 6.3803
Avg (commenters): 6.6923
Avg (camera): 6.3803
Avg (no camera): 0.0000
Views since voting: 126
Views during voting: 333
Votes: 213
Comments: 17
Favorites: 1 (view)
There were only 7 votes below 5 and no 1's or 2's. I really don't think Giorgio's submission suffered from any sort of Western biased spelling here. And to you silly American's, there is actually such a thing as UK spelling which a lot of countries (such as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) adhere to.
BAH! =)
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11/27/2006 08:54:53 AM · #20 |
A comment is simply an expression of the viewer's perception. Just as some titles are misspelled from time to time, some commenters are also mistaken from time to time.
I didn't understand one of  Konador's images once because of my "American" perception. To me, this  appeared to be a passenger in a car rather than a driver, because in my quick viewing of it I failed to notice the side the steering wheel was on and interpreted it as an American driver would. (I've learned to be more careful, since.)
So I was wrong...so what? So "Transilvania" can be correct. So what? It's the perception of the commentor and the fact that they see it that way that is being shared...right or wrong, the viewers' perceptions matter more than the photographer's intentions. The viewer, after all, is the one who must be convinced. |
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11/27/2006 09:24:43 AM · #21 |
Originally posted by Citadel:
It appears that most viewers of this picture "got" the alternate spelling. They also appeared to like this submission quite a bit:
Place: 47 out of 265 |
well... it beat out my picture by 3 places, so i say DQ it for bad spelling... or any other trumped up charge, just so mine will move higher...
Originally posted by Citadel:
And to you silly American's, there is actually such a thing as UK spelling which a lot of countries (such as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) adhere to. |
hey... who invited all these forengers in here... i thought we were building a fence or something to keep them out... what with their weird talkin' and bad spellin' and all...
(obviously, i'm being extremely serious here and in no way could i have possibly ment for this to be construded as sarcasm. you should probably get offended now...)
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11/27/2006 09:29:50 AM · #22 |
Originally posted by wavelength:
But, as a competitor, one might consider the thoughtless xenophobic voter when going for a ribbon. |
Yes, instead of learning from each other, let us all strive for the same level of ignorance! :) |
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