Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2012 April 27

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April 27

tiny Chinese characters

(see also Talk:China_Railways_HXD2#HXD2B braking curve, the same question)

The graph at the bottom of http://www.chinacnr.com/p325.aspx?ProductID=916&ParentID=6 - link: http://www.chinacnr.com/Portals/0/BatchImages/2010/1104/634244657287343750.gif -

there are some annotations at the bottom each of which appears to start "251" (probably 25t or 23t) ? then some chinese characters. It would be most helpful if someone can read and translate these. As they are small here is context: It's likely that the terms include references to "tractive effort" "force" "power" "braking" and maybe "ballasted" or "weight". Can anyone see the tiny chinese characters and translate them. Thanks.Oranjblud (talk) 00:34, 27 April 2012 (UTC)

(also if you zoom in on the bottom scale (about 400%) it seems the graph is using some sort of "alien code" for numbers - the first position is "." the second ".." the third a triangle of dots, the fourth a "square U" (of 5 dots) - this might be an artifact - is this something chinese or something else recognisable??)Oranjblud (talk) 00:38, 27 April 2012 (UTC)

There are more, similar charts here. From looking at them and playing with Google Translate it looks like the y-axis is kilonewtons by hundreds (0, 100, 200 etc.) and the x-axis is speed in km/h by tens (0, 10, 20 etc.). I can't read the characters but from the figures at my link it looks like the purple and blue lines are something like "sustained traction" (机车持续制牵引力) for 23t and 25t axle loads respectively; while the red dotted and solid lines are "starting tractive effort" for 23t and 25t axle loads respectively.--Cam (talk) 01:56, 27 April 2012 (UTC)

It reads 制动?性, 制动?性, 牵引?性, 牵引?性.--刻意(Kèyì) 10:36, 27 April 2012 (UTC)

OK thanks. Keyi's characters translate to what I expected - roughly "braking force" and "traction force".

Anyone got a clue on the "alien number scheme"? Oranjblud (talk) 19:19, 27 April 2012 (UTC)

It's neither arabic numerals nor Chinese characters, and I can't think of any reason why anyone would use a system of dots to represent numbers in China. It's telling that both the "zero" point and the first number on the x axis are shown as a single dot, which probably means that they are corruptions of something else. Based on how the rest of the chart looks at that level of magnification, I would say it's almost certainly an artefact of the graphic being converted. --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 13:20, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Connectors in English Grammar (discourse markers?)

I'm looking for the Wikipedia page on Connectors in English Grammar e.g. however, therefore, although, since, yet, on the other hand, firstly, despite

I found the Hebrew page easily http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%AA_%D7%A7%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%A8 I found a non-Wikipedia page on the web http://www.milonit.co.il/kishur_e.htm

All I find in English Wikipedia is "Conjunctions" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjunction_(grammar)because the Hebrew page includes a link to it. But that page is inadequate. (Webmanoffesto (talk) 07:36, 27 April 2012 (UTC)).

In what way is the page inadequate? Is there some information you want that isn't there? --Colapeninsula (talk) 08:59, 27 April 2012 (UTC)

I don't know if this will help, but here's the page on discourse markers. Falconus^{p t c} 09:01, 27 April 2012 (UTC)

interpreting German translation

I have a title relating to an image with description in German. Translation (Google) includes alternate translation which makes interpretation quite ambiguous. I cant decide whether this is a manual for the operation of an aircraft, or a brochure for an aircraft company, or...?
ITEM: Broschuere der Luftfahrzeug-GmbH Berlin (Parseval)
FROM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Parseval-Broschuere-E1.png
~Eric F 98.26.28.41 (talk) 16:54, 27 April 2012 (UTC) [Talk]

It's a page from a brochure for an aircraft company. Marco polo (talk) 17:19, 27 April 2012 (UTC)

Okay, thanks! ~Eric F 17:29, 27 April 2012 (UTC)

Would you interpret "Luftfahrzeug-GmbH" as a general term meaning "aircraft company", and "Parseval" being the specific company, in Berlin? 98.26.28.41 (talk) 17:51, 27 April 2012 (UTC)

No. "Luftfahrzeug-GmbH" is the name of the company. GmbH is "Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung", "Limited Liability Corporation". August von Parseval was one of the owners of the company and the designer of the Parseval airships. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 17:59, 27 April 2012 (UTC)

Got it -- thanks. Btw, somebody fluent in German might want to keep an eye on Willy_Stöwer in case I screw something up. ;) ~Eric F 98.26.28.41 (talk) 20:22, 27 April 2012 (UTC) (Talk) -- Additions / corrections welcome! ~E 20:23, 27 April 2012 (UTC)