> The general idea is that you visit any country (even if it's Lojbanistan),
> open two columns (in your mother tongue) and in the language of the country
> you are visiting. The phrasebook must give you the ability to speak
> (given that you have some knowledge of the language).
This seems to be a trend with amateur translators in our community.
If you translate, please read what I am saying very carefully and make sure everybody knows this.
Translate the intent of the original text, not the words.
Sure. This must be applied to all columns, not only lojbanic one.
If you translate it word-by-word to Lojban, it is bad.
If you don't believe me, translate something said by a jbocre word-for-word into English.
Ridiculous, isn't it?