Just to clarify / amplify - I think there is a general lack of consistency in how we use jargon in the system. In addition to the 'team player' reason given above, I think a large number of terms will disappear once we create the 'common' terms in the acs-kernel and perhaps modify the keys slightly to take advantage. A lot of the terminology in the system was designed to feel colloquial/laid-back/non-stuffy which unfortunately doesn't translate well.
I'm working in Russian and Japanese to make sure I get a fairly broad perspective grammatically before making recommendations. There will always be challenging phrases - a good example in Russian is that some number of nouns change their ending based on the LAST DIGIT of the preceding number, so 1 year, 21 year, 1001 year, nnn[234] year-a, and
a new noun entirely (lyet) if the last digit is 5-9 (well 5 to zero technically). The trick in these cases is to invert word order to avoid such nuisances.
So in other words, what I hope to do is just keep good notes as I go through an entire language - maybe two, so when it's time to redo the english keys and create the common key structure in the acs-kernel, I'll actually know what I'm talking about. I'm hoping that other translators do the same so when it's time to caucus about how to fix the system we have a good dialog. I've been posting my basic thoughts (like ITEM is a vague term) in the forums because it's better than just letting it sit on a scrap of paper here.
In the meantime, I'm being careful but not fussy about what I translate. I think every one of us who takes on a language will have to go back and make all the phrasing consistent after a first pass anyway.
