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Red highlighting of parallel texts in search results


Susan

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This is a follow-up to this pseudo-request that wasn't framed as such or posted in the "feature request" forum. I would like to be able to see the results of a search highlighted in red in parallel texts when both are tagged. This would make it much easier to look through the results of a Greek/Hebrew search and see how a particular word, phrase, or construction is translated. I may be different from other people in that I hate cross-highlighting on mouseover and never have it turned on, but I think being able to scroll through and see the red highlighting in one or more English translations next to my Greek/Hebrew results would add something substantial beyond that.
 
I know nothing about code, but it seems to me that Accordance already "knows" which words correspond (since the cross-highlighting exists) and already "knows" how to make things red (!), so why not?
 
(The place where this would be exceptionally cool would be LXX/HMT cross-referencing, but these texts don't really "correspond" consistently in the way that English translations do, and I don't think they're tagged in a way that would allow that. If data from Tov's MT-LXX parallel could ever be harnessed to accomplish this, that would be great.)

 

 
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Susan, it's certainly possible to code for this, but I think this would confuse a lot of our users. A user searching for "walk" in one English translation may find "live" or "lifestye" highlighted in a parallel translation, since different translators use different words.

 

I've been using the cross-highlighting for many years and been very happy with it. I think most of our users would agree. Could I suggest you turn it on a give it a fair chance?

 

The other possibility is to view the text in interlinear mode, then add your parallel tagged text to the interlinear. That will place the it directly beneath your primary text, making it easy to spot the corresponding words. (And yes, the LXX will appear under the HMT, if you have the parallel database.).

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Thanks for your response, Dr. J.  I can't manage to leave cross-highlighting on for more than 5 minutes without going bonkers, but when I do so anyway, it still doesn't offer me a way to scroll through the results to see how something was translated. If I stop on a verse and hover over the red word, it cross-highlights, but for the most part my brain can pick out a word in translation faster than it can move the mouse into one column and then read in another, so it's not helpful.

 

I don't quite see how this would be confusing (any more so than cross-highlighting is, at least), but if so could it default to only being on for searches run in Greek/Hebrew? (Or default to being off altogether, I don't really care, I just want a way to turn it on.)

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Hmmm..., I hate to suggest this to an original language expert like yourself, but the easiest way to see translated results is to do a Key number search in a tagged Bible. Analysis will give you a nice list, which can be organized in a variety of different ways. Of course, a key number search searches for the lexeme, so this isn't going to work for specific grammatically-tagged forms.

 

You being up an interesting point, though. I hadn't thought about searching an OL text, then producing a list of all the ways a specific translation rendered it. I could see where that might well be useful. The cross-highlighting on/off toggle is an interesting proposal, too.

 

Anyone else interested in something like this?

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Thanks for reminding me about key number searches..... I do tend to forget the option to start the search from English. On the other hand, most of the searching I do is not for a single lexeme but for either an inflected form or a construction, even for things that are too simple for a construct search.  This is particularly true in Hebrew/Aramaic where a lexeme (and I assume key number) search on a verb will find all binyanim.

 

I'll be interested to know if anybody else thinks this would be useful.

Edited by Susan
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I would like to be able to see the results of a search highlighted in red in parallel texts when both are tagged. 
 
(The place where this would be exceptionally cool would be LXX/HMT cross-referencing, but these texts don't really "correspond" consistently in the way that English translations do, and I don't think they're tagged in a way that would allow that. If data from Tov's MT-LXX parallel could ever be harnessed to accomplish this, that would be great.)

 

 

Yes!!!!!

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I thought that a request like this might already have been made (seems to be a fabrication of my memory - can't find it) - I am trying to work out why I don't think I've had much problem with this feature not being present. Perhaps I just use cross-highlighting and I'm ok with it. I certainly do compare different translations to see how something was handled. Maybe I just switch the text in the parallel - I know I do sometimes. I don't personally think it would be confusing but like many things in Acc it could have a pref. to control it.

 

I certainly agree regarding the LXX/HMT but that's a substantial piece of work though it's been discussed here a number of times.

 

Thx

D

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