[FOM] ACA0, PA, PA'

[Adrian-Richard-David Mathias]

On Sun, 11 May 2003, Dean Buckner wrote:

> If I assent to a proposition
> expressed in one language, then I assent to exactly the same
> proposition expressed in another language.  

That seems rash. 

"Isaac Newton is English" translates into French unproblematically 
as "Isaac Newton est anglais". 

"This sentence is in English": should that be "Cette phrase est en
anglais" or "Cette phrase est en francais", assuming that you wish to 
preserve truth-values ? 

The colloquial equivalent of "I like her" seems to be "Elle me plait" but
there has been a change of subject. 

Indeed after twelve years of living in countries where the local language
has been, variously, Polish, German, Catalan, Welsh, Castilian and French,
I start to wonder if translation between languages of any but the simplest
statements is at all possible.  

A.R.D.Mathias, 
   Professeur de Mathématiques Pures

Département de Mathématiques et Informatique,
Université de la Réunion
15, Avenue René Cassin BP 7151
97715 St Denis de la Réunion, Messagerie 9,
France

bureau:     00262 262 93 82 88
télécopie:  00262 262 93 82 60