UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum - View Single Post - Building a 5 valve A.C. amplifier from scratch

terrykc · 30th Nov 2019, 12:43 am

It is very noticeable that the OP has remained very silent during this lengthy discussion. I wonder if, perhaps, he is completely confused by it. [1]

Perhaps he would like to tell us what his thoughts are on the way this thread has developed.

[1] Back in the 70s I was instructed by my employer to follow the development of Teletext and its application to our system - a 22 channel cable TV system to provide live Stock Exchange prices around the City of London.

Communications facilities were improving and several of the largest users were moving all of their non-trading business away from the City so that the eventual system adopted was a Viewdata system.

The Belgian company BARCO produced our first terminals. Apart from their engineering capabilities, ability to communicate in four languages was essential for employment!

English is widely spoken in Flanders and Barco's location in close proximity to the French border and the 'invisible' frontier which separates Dutch speaking Flanders from French speaking Wallonia didn't make this as difficult as it sounds!

However, this can lead to complacency. Technical descriptions do not necessarily translate into another language easily.

After a meeting in their factory in Kortrijk, I and a colleague were waiting for a car to take us to Lille airport for our flight home and I spotted a large Teletext poster on the wall, purporting to be in English.

I looked at it and asked my colleague to join me. Neither of us could understand it! I picked a short paragraph at random and we 'decoded' it.

When a senior manager popped his head in the door to tell us our transport had arrived we pointed to the poster and translated the gobbledegook into English!

A couple of months later I went to a trade exhibition at Olympia and spotted the Barco stand across the hall - with the Teletext poster on the back wall. I made a beeline for it and found that they had taken our comments on board and employed a technical translator - it was all now in comprehensible English!

Sorry for the lengthy post but something to bear in mind when discussing technical details with someone whose first language is not English!

30th Nov 2019, 12:43 am	#23
terrykc Rest in Peace Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: North Hykeham, Lincolnshire, UK. Posts: 515	Re: Building a 5 valve A.C. amplifier from scratch It is very noticeable that the OP has remained very silent during this lengthy discussion. I wonder if, perhaps, he is completely confused by it. [1] Perhaps he would like to tell us what his thoughts are on the way this thread has developed. [1] Back in the 70s I was instructed by my employer to follow the development of Teletext and its application to our system - a 22 channel cable TV system to provide live Stock Exchange prices around the City of London. Communications facilities were improving and several of the largest users were moving all of their non-trading business away from the City so that the eventual system adopted was a Viewdata system. The Belgian company BARCO produced our first terminals. Apart from their engineering capabilities, ability to communicate in four languages was essential for employment! English is widely spoken in Flanders and Barco's location in close proximity to the French border and the 'invisible' frontier which separates Dutch speaking Flanders from French speaking Wallonia didn't make this as difficult as it sounds! However, this can lead to complacency. Technical descriptions do not necessarily translate into another language easily. After a meeting in their factory in Kortrijk, I and a colleague were waiting for a car to take us to Lille airport for our flight home and I spotted a large Teletext poster on the wall, purporting to be in English. I looked at it and asked my colleague to join me. Neither of us could understand it! I picked a short paragraph at random and we 'decoded' it. When a senior manager popped his head in the door to tell us our transport had arrived we pointed to the poster and translated the gobbledegook into English! A couple of months later I went to a trade exhibition at Olympia and spotted the Barco stand across the hall - with the Teletext poster on the back wall. I made a beeline for it and found that they had taken our comments on board and employed a technical translator - it was all now in comprehensible English! Sorry for the lengthy post but something to bear in mind when discussing technical details with someone whose first language is not English!