[sword-devel] Japanese Bibles in Beta and some other stuff

[Michael H]

This is an honor culture issue... (which Peter has previously sent me
useful, if a little off-target, info on.)

My understanding about ruby in Japanese (which is limited to a few
conversations and having been cc'd on emails which danced around the issue
among others like leading and the need for monospaced type...) is that ruby
is perceived as a low literacy thing. That is, whether it's helpful or not,
admitting it's helpful puts one in a place of disadvantage: Saying "yes" is
like saying "I can't read." So, in an honor culture like Japan, it's better
to have glosses on by default, and gauge the negative feedback about how
much it interferes with advanced level reading, than it is to ask "should
ruby be on?" which creates an honor barrier. (to a very low degree.)

To explain a little further.

In biblical contexts, many of the words will be unusual for those without a
biblical background, and not just gradeschoolers. depending on the
ideagrams chosen for thing like "temple" and "christ", even university
grads with no exposure to Christianity are stumped by some of the words. So
the 'right' answer is that ruby on by default will help many more people,
especially students and those being reached in evangelism.

Even knowing this, the 'correct' answer you may get if you ask theologians
is "no", because admitting ruby is needed is saying negative things..
However, "No" in an Honor culture is an answer that is hard to give. You
just don't say no. It's like being rude, but to yourself.  It's a cultural
taboo. So if you do ask, phrase it as an option b or option a question, and
not as a Yes/No question.

And again, I really don't get this honor culture thing, because it's
specific context varies across asia, but that's the understanding I have.

On Mon, Aug 21, 2017 at 5:31 PM, Peter von Kaehne <refdoc at gmx.net> wrote:

> On Mon, 2017-08-21 at 15:19 -0400, Karl Kleinpaste wrote:
> > On 08/20/2017 04:25 PM, DM Smith wrote:
> > > The markup is using OSIS in a standard way.
> >  Should glosses be a "default on" kind of option?
>
> >
> > Do Japanese glosses fit under a similar "really, everybody wants
> > this" category?
>
> I am asking just now. I guess I will have an answer tomorrow.
>
> Peter
>
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