Dear Contributors of Friendly Error Translation

What makes the p5.js editor's Error System "Friendly"? What are the modes of being “Friendly” and what could be their consequences?

Friendly? 🤔 Deconstructing “Friendly”

According to the Korean dictionary, “Friendly” translates into three meanings: “friend-like”, “intimate”, “kind”, and maybe more. The three (or more) meanings of “Friendly” have similar contexts to one another, in that they are the notions built within social contexts. Yet, they also are delicately distinguished from one another depending on such contexts. In fact, the concepts of being “friend-like”, “intimate” and “kind” may be interpreted differently by different people. In my case, “friend” means someone I have known and trusted for a long time; “intimacy” means being both physically and psychologically attached to someone; “kindness” means a friendly attitude. How does "Friendly" mean to you? The answer to this question may be a first step to FES translation.

What renders the translation "Friendly"?

What makes the Korean translation of p5.js editor Error System "Friendly"? The translation should help users clearly understand the error message and terms, aided with highly readable sentence structure. If necessary, more detailed explanations can be provided. In addition, Korean has different honorifics and endings compared to English, and the expression also varies depending on the spoken or written language, the speaker/writer, and the listener/reader. Non-English-speaking FES translation contributors, who have to do cultural translation to ensure that the “Friendly”ness of the original English text is delivered to non-English speaking users, becomes even more troublesome.

In this regard, our FES Korean translation team gathered each other's concerns and opinions. The authors, who occupy different positions on the spectrum between Korean and English, have in common that they were born with Korean as their first language, but their opinions were as follows:

What kind of ‘kindness’ can Korean language have?

1. An euphemism that doesn't hurt feelings = kindness in the 'process'. Although it is gentle and considerate of the other party, it has the disadvantage of impairing accurate understanding.
2. A short message that solves the other person's concerns as simply as possible = kindness as a result of 'results'. There is ‘kindness’ that reduces the waste of time of the other person, but in terms of ‘emotion’, it can be blunt (= unkind).

We agree that both can be different aspects of “kindness,” and that neither can be definitive. Recognizing that ‘kindness’ can be expressed in different directions depending on the translator’s inclination, we also agreed with the opinion that keeping an open mind about valuation is another ‘kindness’ that FES can show.

“Friend-like,” “friendly,” and “friendly” are all built up and dismantled in my relationship with others and society. So, the aspect in which “Friendly” is revealed will also be very personal and universal experiences. Sometimes it occurs in an equal relationship, sometimes even in a hierarchical relationship, and it can be a matter of “trying to look good” or a matter of “serving well”. Also, it can be a means to protect yourself or protect others. Kindness is both an excess and a deficiency in all of us.

For whom are we translating friendly error messages?

For the above reasons, it is thought that it is (impossible) impossible to define exactly what “friendly” is, and what exactly is “friend-like”, “friendly” and “friendly” that are only dictionary translations of it. Because kindness can take many forms. In other words, FES is already always “un-friendly”, at least to someone, and implies the possibility of “unfriendly”, “unfriendly” and “unfriendly”. It's like trying to reduce the use of negative sentences to stay "friendly", and the message becomes verbose and complicated. Conversely, no matter how friendly-looking a sentence may be, it won't be read as a direct-to-skin speech to screen reader users.

For which users do you want to translate the “friendly” error messages, specifically? Or, who do you want to send a “friendly” error message to? In the case of p5.js FES, the prior knowledge or understanding of users as message recipients is different. As such, it is difficult to assume the degree of “friendly”. Translating Western computer programming and graphics jargon is a classic example of a headache. Typically, these terms tend to be translated transliteration into English. This is to prevent loss of the original meaning and context of the term, and to maintain communication at the global level. However, for FES translation contributors, it is difficult to decide whether to keep the transliteration of these terms or to translate them directly. The latter is important in terms of language preservation, but can be an over-translation for those already accustomed to foreign language expressions as general use cases. On the other hand, transliteration can be a barrier for those unfamiliar with English or industry usage.

Also, within the FES Korean translation team, there was an opinion that the expected “friendly” guidance method would be different depending on the level of proficiency of the readership. For example, wouldn't a true beginner want to learn kindly, and an intermediate who struggles for a while wants to get the point across? As suggested internally, as translation contributors, we are just 'rough' guessing what type of "friendly" each FES user might want.

So, "Friendly" is a niche that emerges in the interaction between a user and a machine experiencing a programming language. "Friendly" exists as an excess and deficiency in a system that is inherently imperfect but hopes to be perfect. ⊕Despite the incompleteness of “Friendly”, why did the p5.js implement the Friendly Error System? Learn more about the history of the project via “🌸 p5.js Friendly Error System (FES)” and interviews from our previous contributors Alm Chung and Akshay Padte.