tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post1588689073889710242..comments2024-03-27T06:42:31.956+00:00Comments on Mark Brinkley (aka House 2.0): Lost in TranslationMark Brinkleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03473684038478246288noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-67014300568758868702011-02-17T19:47:15.217+00:002011-02-17T19:47:15.217+00:00There is a great "demotivational poster'&...There is a great "demotivational poster'" on despair.com that says "consultancy, if you are not part of the solution there is money to be made from prolonging the problem".Nick Granthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11949493936074643201noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-21692512029243810552011-02-08T17:32:30.351+00:002011-02-08T17:32:30.351+00:00The Guardian have had a couple of good articles on...The Guardian have had a couple of good articles on this sort of this recently:<br /><br />www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/nov/27/clear-written-communication<br /><br />and<br /><br />www.guardian.co.uk/media/mind-your-language/2010/dec/20/plain-english-metaphors-mind-your-language<br /><br />The second reference refers to George Orwell's Politics and the English Language which is worth a glanceTomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10941207174792378631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-13249129498257609792011-02-08T11:27:55.511+00:002011-02-08T11:27:55.511+00:00I'm with Mark on this. Although not an academ...I'm with Mark on this. Although not an academic, I am asked to review papers for academic journals. Many of the submissions are appallingly written, and get rejected by me because of it. The problem, though, is much wider and more pernicious. People have a vested interest in bamboozling others, in order to create dependencies and 'lock in' - I'm not sure of the current jargon Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-47178232912746596642011-02-08T10:46:05.942+00:002011-02-08T10:46:05.942+00:00'Behavioural economics' seems to be what a...'Behavioural economics' seems to be what any social psychologist could have told you anyway ...<br /><br />I'm afraid I found the first extract perfectly understandable, if rather waffly. This means I've probably read too much social science.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-41428258540151795832011-02-04T15:02:29.945+00:002011-02-04T15:02:29.945+00:00As Anonymous says, "It's unnecessary comp...As Anonymous says, "It's unnecessary complication that's at the heart of it." but to give 'consultants' their due, there are many layers of complexity and finding out wtf they are talking about is just the start.<br /><br />Other layers in no particular order:<br />i)Behavioural Economics is a buzzword in investment and we'll look pretty cool if we give it a nod.<br buildingstoathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05547733565964401449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-21202589329551953982011-02-04T13:51:57.870+00:002011-02-04T13:51:57.870+00:00It's unnecessary complication that's at th...It's unnecessary complication that's at the heart of it. Many have a vested interest in making sure things do not work efficiently and cannot be understood properly. Just look at the ludicrously bad usability of timers and controls, for instance. If you were a conspiracy theorist, you would almost think that they did it deliberately!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-89948464056894525582011-02-04T11:11:15.432+00:002011-02-04T11:11:15.432+00:00I think you are probably right. So the question be...I think you are probably right. So the question becomes - why the hell doesn't it say that? Why the obfuscation (good word that)? There's nothing clever about mangling the English language like this.Mark Brinkleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03473684038478246288noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-30082371743637506532011-02-04T10:17:35.119+00:002011-02-04T10:17:35.119+00:00The first translates as:
"This looks at the ...The first translates as:<br /><br />"This looks at the behaviour of people in houses from the point of view of economic theory which says that people behave rationally. But when they are not sure what to do they resort to rules of thumb which come from their background, the people they know, and their habits. In other words, they do not behave in the way economic theory says they are Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-82473885052358715222011-02-03T18:48:08.108+00:002011-02-03T18:48:08.108+00:00The first one looks like it's been plucked fro...The first one looks like it's been plucked from the pages of Francis Wheen's book 'How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered the World'. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2004/feb/07/highereducation.news1 for a review.<br /><br />A candidate for forwarding to Private Eye magazine.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-52573744821172771642011-02-03T13:19:35.922+00:002011-02-03T13:19:35.922+00:00To be fair, I think the first example is probably ...To be fair, I think the first example is probably the result of a direct Google translation of the original "tlhIngan" (Klingon) text.Mark Tiramaninoreply@blogger.com