Translation and country specificity

[DegrangeM]

(Just some though, I don't plan to translate those course for the moment)

• In France, we start our sequence at rank 0 (which simplify a lots of formula !).
  When translating, should the translater rewrite the course so that sequence start at rank 0 to follow french way to do ? What about Canada (which also have french as main language), I checked really quick but it seems that they start their sequence at rank 1. I think french course should follow France guideline and start at rank 0.

• In France, in reccurcive formula, we usually give u(n+1) in function of u(n) instead of giving u(n) in function of u(n-1). What should the translator do ? I Think u(n) in function of u(n-1) is easier to understand, but it would then means that student have different reccursive formula than formula at their school (which shouldn't be a problem if they really understand what the formula means but this might still bug lots of students).

• More problematic, we (but France is pronanly not be the only country to do that) also have a totally different definition for limit. We say that « f tends to L as x tends to a if for every ɛ>0 there exists δ>0 such that for every x in the domain of f, |x - a| ≤ δ implies that |f(x) - L| ≤ ɛ » while your definition also require that 0 < | x - a |. So some function might have limit with english definition but not with french definition. Again, what the translator should do ?

I repeat, it's just some though, I don't plan to translate those course for the moment.

[plegner]

Really useful feedback! I would think that:

• The English and translated versions don't have to be exactly the same, so it's absolutely fine to change small things like this based on the country. However…
• I think, we should find the best way to teach something, irrespective of a specific country or curriculum. In this case, the French version seems much more sensible, so I would lean towards changing the English version to match (but there might be other topics where it's the other way round).
• I'm working on a new syntax for annotating small differences within a language (e.g. American vs British English), and this can also be used for France vs Canada. However, it's not entirely trivial to build, and I don't think it's a huge priority.