On 1/16/07, Bernhard Eversberg <ev_at_biblio.tu-bs.de> wrote:
> 2. Verbal tags are language-bound, not international. Marc-Speak is.
>
> This is not to say there cannot be a more efficient numbering of
> data elements, but it has to be codes, not words, or you lose those
> two big advantages. But feel free to make suggestions!
> I think it's just a presentation issue! Anyone can display a marc
> record with verbal designations instead of tags to make it
> understood.
And the same could be said for the XML tags. There is no reason a tag
in English can't be displayed (in an XML document or on the screen) in
French instead.
The difference with the numbering is that new catalogers must learn
the codes in addition to what they mean (because there are no
linguistic clues). With a language based designation (presented in
the language of their choice), they just need to learn what the words
mean in the context of the cataloging rules.
Kevin
Received on Tue Jan 16 2007 - 13:26:23 EST