[hackerspaces] Translating word 'hackerspace' to other languages?

Sat Aug 28 16:22:55 CEST 2010

Quoting Chris Weiss <cweiss at gmail.com>:

> this may be way to obvious, but since you didn't mention it, what's
> the finnish word for a hacker, or what is the type of person usually
> called?

Typical or direct (and official) translation is "hakkeri".
>
> And does it have to be 1 word?  on a pure technical standpoint,
> "hackerspace" is an abuse of English, it should be 2 words, but it
> being a sort of proper noun allows the liberty to taken and accepted.
>
Didn't know this :) It would be more practical if it would be just one  
word. But as you said it, two words might be the best choice. We have  
one already "yhteisöllinen työpaja". Which roughly is "community based  
workspace" or something. The problem is that it includes 'work' (in  
Finnish 'työ'). This should be about having fun and if the first word  
we say about hackerspaces includes connotation to work, it's not good.

> I don't know the first thing about finnish, but a quick play with a
> english-finnish dictionary lead me to hakka paikka which, in my head,
> has a nice alliteration to it
>
The direct translation to hackerspace is "hakkeriavaruus" or  
"hakkeritila", but both of them are ridiculous. Obviously those not  
Finnish speaking might not see the clumsiness of those two words. What  
dictionary gives you word "hakka" as Finnish? :) Just joking, but it's  
not a word with meaning. Besides it always come to avoiding the word  
hacker in some contexts. But that's probably another issue.

> another option would be to take it apart and back to the roots, maybe
> as far back as latin, and see if you can bring it forward to finnish
> in a sensible way.
>
We have taken this path, but the ideas are still hidden. At this  
point, after several hours of thinking about this translation issue,  
it seems more and more unimportant. Maybe it's better just let go and  
see what the future brings.

Thanks for your ideas anyway.

cheers,
Jarkko

> On Sat, Aug 28, 2010 at 7:35 AM, Jarkko Moilanen  
> <Jarkko.Moilanen at uta.fi> wrote:
>> Thanks for the answers. The option not to translate is a bit difficult in
>> Finnish (probably in some other languages as well), since we have 15
>> conjugation forms which does not consist of two or more words (like in
>> English), instead it is always one word. The conjugation is added as suffix.
>> So, in brief it sounds so ridiculous to add Finnish suffixes to English
>> word. But I think it's just one of those things we have to live with :)
>>
>> Jarkko
>>
>> Quoting Yves Quemener <quemener.yves at free.fr>:
>>
>>> Here in Grenoble, France, when we want to avoid to put 'hacker', we call
>>> it
>>> a "laboratoire ouvert" (open laboratory) but usually "hackerspace" is a
>>> far
>>> superior way of opening the discussion :-)
>>>
>>> On 08/28/2010 01:46 PM, das ende der nahrungskette wrote:
>>>>
>>>> in german we don't translate it... it's still hackerspace.
>>>> i mean, we also don't translate basketball or cursor. and if people do it
>>>> it just sounds silly.
>>>> the benefit of language is its ability to adapt. and if a foreign term
>>>> makes sense you don't need to find a local one...
>>>>
>>>> Sent via Brain-Computer Interface.
>>>>
>>>> On 28.08.2010, at 13:32, Jarkko Moilanen <Jarkko.Moilanen at uta.fi> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>
>>>>> The following might sound childish, but respecting own language (as well
>>>>> as other languages) is fundamental to some of us, at least for me.
>>>>>
>>>>> I was wondering how people from non-English speaking countries have
>>>>> translated the word 'hackerspace'? The issue has been around  
>>>>> among Finnish
>>>>> hackers for several months and we can't seem to find a solution  
>>>>> to this. We
>>>>> need to talk about hackerspaces is Finnish to non-hackers and alike and a
>>>>> good word is definitely needed. Some Finnish hackers use term  
>>>>> 'hacklab' but
>>>>> it is not Finnish. Everyone knows that direct translation hardly  
>>>>> ever works.
>>>>>
>>>>> How to translate hackerspace to single and similar striking word in
>>>>> other languages? Of course we can use longer term or give an explanation,
>>>>> which we do, but that is not ideal. I bet others have found solutions to
>>>>> this situation. Could you give us some light or direction how to  
>>>>> solve this
>>>>> issue? Or is it just a question of time; a suitable word will  
>>>>> just pop up?
>>>>>
>>>>> Oh! and sorry if I wasted your time (and inbox space) with this
>>>>> ridiculous non-technical question ;)
>>>>>
>>>>> cheers,
>>>>> Jarkko
>>>>>
>>>>> ****************************
>>>>> Jarkko Moilanen (phone: +358 46 640 8339)
>>>>> M.Soc.Sc. (Political Science)
>>>>> PhD Student, Information studies, University of Tampere
>>>>> Blog: Extreme activities in cyberspace - http://extreme.ajatukseni.net/
>>>>> -------------------------
>>>>> Founder of Hackerspace 5w, Finland, Tampere - 5w.fi
>>>>> ****************************
>>>>> <mime-attachment>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Discuss mailing list
>>>>> Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
>>>>> http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>>>>
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>>
>>
>>
>> ****************************
>>  Jarkko Moilanen (phone: +358 46 640 8339)
>>  M.Soc.Sc. (Political Science)
>>  PhD Student, Information studies, University of Tampere
>>  Blog: Extreme activities in cyberspace - http://extreme.ajatukseni.net/
>>  -------------------------
>>  Founder of Hackerspace 5w, Finland, Tampere - 5w.fi
>> ****************************
>>
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>>
> _______________________________________________
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> Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
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>

****************************
  Jarkko Moilanen (phone: +358 46 640 8339)
  M.Soc.Sc. (Political Science)
  PhD Student, Information studies, University of Tampere
  Blog: Extreme activities in cyberspace - http://extreme.ajatukseni.net/
  -------------------------
  Founder of Hackerspace 5w, Finland, Tampere - 5w.fi
****************************
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