<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>Arabic-L: Fri 01 Oct 2010<br>Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <<a href="mailto:dil@byu.edu">dil@byu.edu</a>><br>[To post messages to the list, send them to arabic-l@byu.edu]<br>[To unsubscribe, send message from same address you subscribed from to<br><a href="mailto:listserv@byu.edu">listserv@byu.edu</a> with first line reading:<br> unsubscribe arabic-l ]<br><br>-------------------------Directory------------------------------------<br><br>1) Subject: Indo-European Language Transcription Database-Request for Collaboration<br><br>-------------------------Messages-----------------------------------<br>1)<br>Date: 01 Oct 2010<br>From: Joel Shapiro <<a href="mailto:jrs_14618@yahoo.com">jrs_14618@yahoo.com</a>><br>Subject: Indo-European Language Transcription Database-Request for Collaboration<br><br><div>Indo-European Language Transcription Database - Request For Collaboration/Help To Create It</div><div> </div><div>Assalamu Alaikum, Salaam, Hello All,</div><div> </div><div>My name is Joel Shapiro. I am a long time subscriber to the Arabic-L forum and infrequent poster</div><div>to it.</div><div> </div><div>In the past few years I have developed some unique language tools; utilities and applications;</div><div>transcription veracity verification currently only "tooled" for Arabic and most recently and</div><div>my current focus a utility to search in all native language character sets or alphabets present</div><div>on the Internet to an unprecedented degree of precision, accuracy, flexibility and</div><div>"seamlessness". </div><div> </div><div>My forte is Semitic languages and to a lesser extent but the same genre or "ballpark" Indo-European</div><div>(i.e. -as you know- Pashto, Farsi/Dari, Urdu, Khowar etc.)</div><div> </div><div>Following is a note I posted to one Urdu speaking source but I have not received any further</div><div>response.</div><div> </div><div>To date I've found it very hard to find it very hard to find and then contact Indo-European speakers</div><div>or experts and what English <---> Indo-European dictionaries or translations listings that I've found</div><div>online are primarily "regular" words and proportionally very few phonetic transcriptions which is my</div><div>objective.</div><div> </div><div>Google indeed does have an impressive "transcription engine" for a host of what I personally term</div><div>"estoteric languages"; those which are just beginning to have a substantial presence on the Internet:</div><div> </div><div><a href="http://www.google.com/transliterate">http://www.google.com/transliterate</a></div><div> </div><div>One of the language options is Persian (i.e. Farsi/Dari) which of course uses the extended Arabic</div><div>character set, but not to the extent of Pashto and Urdu where instances of "Arabic characters with</div><div>rings" become prevalent. I think of it as an "extended extended" Arabic character set use.</div><div> </div><div>Those of you reading this versed in Pashto and/or Urdu know or recognize exactly what I'm</div><div>referring to here.</div><div> </div><div>My search utility is especially "tuned" or my programming infrastructure is all in place for such</div><div>fine, subtle distinctions.</div><div> </div><div>You have my word I will act as a clearinghouse for your verified, attested transcriptions and</div><div>I intend to post the (hopefully) ongoing, ever-growing database from all contributors that I</div><div>strongly contend is useful in own right for (your) manual native text searches ... sans my</div><div>utility.</div><div> </div><div>I vigorously contend robust transcription databases can be tremendously helpful in many</div><div>circumstances and contexts although at first glance it may not appear so.</div><div><br></div><div>Sta na shukria, Tashakkur, Shukriya, Thank you all for your interest and consideration.</div><div> </div><div>Joel S.</div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div>Assalamu Alaikum *******: Perhaps my work can help your fellow countrymen ...</div><div><br></div><div>I just left a voicemail to you where I stated I was going to send you an E-mail describing my</div><div>specialized multilingual work that may be useful for helping out in the dire situation in Pakistan</div><div>for gleaning information, finding where it is lacking and perhaps most important of all correcting</div><div>things that are incorrect. e.g. medical information, dosages etc.</div><div><br></div><div>My forte is the subtleties and nuances of phonetics and transcriptions of Semitic and Indo-European</div><div>languages which directly applies to the very high precision searches and "Internet scraping" I can</div><div>perform with the Python programming application or utility I have developed ... completely on my own.</div><div><br></div><div>It functions better than I ever anticipated it would when I started working on it for almost a year now.</div><div> </div><div>Where my conversational expertise is Hebrew I'd say on an intermediate level, I am very familiar with</div><div>hundreds of Arabic words and many basic sayings, greetings etc. However, from a spelling respect,</div><div>I feel confident declaring my expertise is on on par or in many contexts native Arabic and Farsi</div><div>speakers.</div><div><br></div><div>My search utility is a "local" application (i.e. it just resides on my computer). The background</div><div>programming for it is far too complex to convert it to a web page as simply web tools don't have</div><div>the comprehensive esoteric "ingredients" I need as does Python.</div><div><br></div><div>Without going into detail and specifics I have thrown the "kitchen sink" into my application where</div><div>I understand Farsi and Pashto uses an extended Arabic character set and very subtle differences</div><div>in spelling and characters used within Arabic and Farsi and subtle differences between the</div><div>languages make all the difference in the world.</div><div><br></div><div>You can see a good example of my work on my Arabic transcription veracity verification web page:</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://enartrans.com">http://enartrans.com</a></div><div><a href="http://enartrans.com/transcription">http://enartrans.com/transcription</a></div><div><br></div><div>and my datasets; the end result of my utility processing:</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://infochimps.org/datasets/arabic-internet-footprint-of-the-brookings-institute-middle-east">http://infochimps.org/datasets/arabic-internet-footprint-of-the-brookings-institute-middle-east</a></div><div><br></div><div>Attached are a couple posts I made to a couple other sources in the same regard or genre.</div><div><br></div><div>My inclination or objective is to perhaps glean information unlike anyone else that could be</div><div>instrumental in saving some lives but here with the flooding the scope is orders of magnitude</div><div>greater.</div><div><br></div><div>All the specialized language programming and experience I have is directly applicable. I could</div><div>start doing specialized searches with regard to this humanitarian crisis straight away.</div><div><br></div><div>My thinking is I would/could devote some extensive searching for free; gratis with the caveat it</div><div>would reference my work where it would be on a for pay or fee basis. I think it would be great</div><div>free advertising all the while doing something beneficial.</div><div><br></div><div>I was wondering if you have been approached in light of this crisis for your lingual and intellectual</div><div>abilities and if you have any ideas, references or suggestions for me.</div><div><br></div><div>From the work I have developed I really feel I have become apolitical. I just want to make it a</div><div>better place and provide for my family like anybody else. If anything else I just want to extend</div><div>to you my sympathy and condolences to you for people you knew that have died or are in</div><div>dire straits.</div><div><br></div><div>I welcome and look forward to hearing from you.</div><div><br></div><div>-Salam,</div><div><br></div><div>Joel S.</div><div><br></div><div>Joel Shapiro</div><div>Rochester, New York 14618</div><div>(585) 255-0997 (Cell - Call anytime - best to reach me)</div><div>(585) 473-7013 (Home - 9:30 to 22:00 EDT/EST)</div><div><br></div><div><a href="mailto:jrs_14618@yahoo.com">jrs_14618@yahoo.com</a></div><div>-or-</div><div><a href="mailto:cshapiro@rochester.rr.com">cshapiro@rochester.rr.com</a></div><div> </div><div><a href="http://enartrans.com/">http://enartrans.com/</a></div><div><br></div>--------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>End of Arabic-L: 01 Oct 2010</body></html>