Tag Archives: proper noun

Proper nouns: handling some false positives

Now handling some kind of false positives related to proper nouns translation. As this type of error is somewhat widespread, it could result in a 0.2% increase in overall accuracy.

Of interest in the present case:

  • recall that ‘détroit’ is French name for strittonu (straight, i.e. the straight of Gibraltar)
  • ‘Tours’ (the French city of) is also left untranslated, also being ambiguous with torri (towers) or ghjiri (turns)
  • 12th Street riot, Michigan are left untranslated
  • self-evaluation finds erroneously 2 vocabulary errors : riot and ‘th’ in 12th

Proper nouns: false positives again

Now we face false positives again: French proper noun ‘Détroit’ is translated erroneously into Strittonu when it shouls have been left untradslated, being a proper noun.  The ambiguity of ‘Détroit’ lies in the fact that it can be translated either into:

  • Détroit, the city
  • Strittonu, the Corsican word strittonu/strittone being the corresponding word for French noun ‘détroit’ (strait, i.e. the strait of Messina).

This raises the general issue of the proper disambiguation of proper nouns.