Need help with phrases for Spanish-language mailing list

On 09/09/06, Mario Rodriguez <biomates at telefonica.net> wrote:
> The word 'discusi??n' has some negative connotations,

Really? Here in .mx we can use that word without the negative
connotations. Interesting. :-)

> In this case, the pronounciation of M??xima is closer to English. But I
> still prefer Maxima in Spanish documents, and write it as in English.

The Royal Academy recommends using Spanish accents in foreign words
whenever the phonology of the foreign word allows it, especially with
words of Latin origin as Maxima is:
     http://www.rae.es/rae/gestores/gespub000001.nsf/(voanexos)/arch9E7D58ED6C5CBB54C1256E670038B91C/$FILE/Ortografia.pdf

The relevant recommendation is in page 39 of the pdf, corresponding to
page 31 of its own internal numbering.

On 10/09/06, Vadim V. Zhytnikov <vvzhy at mail.ru> wrote:
> Maxima is the _name_ of the program.
> So IMHO the good style is to keep all such names as it is
> and don't try to translate them.
> Translated or nationally-adapted names may create some confusion.
> For example the name of other CAS Mathematica sound precisely
> like Russian word "mathematics".

This is a distinctly Russian tradition, but for Spanish, the
translateable is usually translated. I just had this discussion with a
Russian colleague. For example, in Spanish we would hardly ever say
"??????????????" or "????????", but always "impresora" for the former, making the
same analogy in English between a device attached to a computer that
spits out paper with writing on it and the device that Gutenberg
invented, and "archivo" or "fichero" for the latter (yes, and we do
use different computing terms in different Spanish-speaking
countries), thinking of police files or files stored in folders in
drawers.

If English and Spanish used a different alphabet, I will wager
anything that Spanish-speakers would never leave any term
untransliterated as it often happens in Russian, but this is because
English and Spanish have a different diplomatic relationship than
English and Russian. Also, for official purposes it's traditional in
Spanish to adhere to the recommendations of the Royal Spanish Academy
inasmuch as possible, which has become quite liberal in recent years
and shifted (imho) from prescriptive grammars to more descriptive
ones.

Language politics are all fun and games until someone's country gets
its eye poked out. ;-)

- Jordi G. H.