Talk:Arie de Jong

Class of Medical Officer

In the corresponding article in the Volapük Wikipedia from which I'm translating all of this information, it says that Arie de Jong became a first-class medical officer twice, but uses a suffix implying greatness or superiority on the second occasion.

I quote, from the section entitled Yunüp e Karier as Sanan:

Ün 1900 ävedom sanafizir balidkladik; ... 1914 ävedom sanafiziral balidkladik.

I was unsure of how to translate this; I translated it this way:

In 1900, he became a first-class medical officer; ... at the end of 1914 he became a higher-ranked first-class medical officer.

I tried to think of a medical officer class higher than "officer," and among my original thoughts was "lieutenant," but I didn't want to risk historical inaccuracy, if he indeed never became a lieutenant. Chuffable 04:53, 29 July 2007 (UTC)

Hi, I'm the author of the Volapük article you're translating -- thanks for doing this by the way! The suffix -al is supposed to mean not only "higer-" but also "chief", and implies here he had more people now under his authority ("sanafizir" would be a "medical officer", "sanafiziral" would be a "leader/chief of medical officers"; I don't know what the best English term for this would be. --Smeira 18:39, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

Päpänsionom?

I have no idea what this word means, so I left out the phrase it is in. I know it is a verb, I know that the pä- at the beginning makes it passive, I know it is in the imperfect or absolute past tense, I know it is third person singular, but the -pänsi- in the middle is what is bothering me.

There is no online reference I have found that gives an answer to this word's translation. My only guess is on account of an article in Volapük at wikisource, called that is (I think) translated as The Three Hundred Years' "War", the word in quotes being the guess.

I have left it out until a better translation for päpänsionom can be offered. Chuffable 04:53, 29 July 2007 (UTC)

I can help you there. The word is "p-ä-pänsion-om"; "pänsion" (cf. French "pension") is 'retirement', so "päpänsionom" translates as something like: 'retired, was retired'. --Smeira 18:41, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

Cifal Source

On the original version (in Volapük) of this article, there is a source cited at the end of the section entitled Kosäd ko Volapük. I am not sure how to translate it, and I don't see the need for it, so it is excluded from my translation as a whole. Chuffable 05:25, 29 July 2007 (UTC)

Writings Section

I translated the original titles of each man involved with publishing/editing/printing, etc. If Wikipedia doesn't want them translated for copyright reasons (though I'm fairly certain these are all public domain), then the originals are at the Volapük version of the article. Chuffable 05:48, 29 July 2007 (UTC)

Assessment

Assessing per request on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Biography/Assessment. I'm going to mark it as Start, but it's very close to a B, it has a lot of good information, a nice picture, and some section organization. Its two most glaring problems are (and it can probably get a B with just fixing one of them):

• Wikipedia:Verifiable sources. There isn't a single one listed. There are dictionaries he wrote, but surely these don't have his life story. Inline citations, referring to specific sources and page numbers for specific facts are also nice
• A copy edit, desirably by a native English speaker. Awkward phrasing is all over, but some examples include:
  • is justly considered the most important Volapükist of a new age of Volapük history. - reads like puffery
  • was born ... to happy parents - ?
  • briefly afterward, on September 8, he became a university medical doctor - what's a "university medical doctor", and what does briefly mean, did he stop being one after a short time?
  • in 1902, below he was relocated - below what?
  • considering that new treatments and previously denied methods appeared at the turn of the century - considering? previously denied?

Less important things it could still use include:]

• more wikilinks (including WP:DATE issues),
• more section organization,
• and more on his Volapuk work, since that is his most important notability. --AnonEMouse ^(squeak) 14:12, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

Many thanks for the thorough assessment. There is much more to the article than I have translated so far. I hope to finish soon. I will re-read and correct odd phrasing and add more wikilinks. Thank you, AnonEMouse. Chuffable 03:31, 31 July 2007 (UTC)