Hello Roger. These are apparently very separate locations in a wide area, Krasnaya Polyana being a ski resort. A Google map shows the area in the West Caucasus. Russian place names are not transliterated uniformly or in the same manner due to the differencces in British and American English . (See similar problems in Pakistani and Hindi transliterations with different letter substitutions. or early and Later Chinese and Arabic translations of place names. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rodger Whitlock" <totototo@telus.net> To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 3:11 PM Subject: Re: [pbs] Amaryllidaceae website > On 19 Jan 2010, at 14:54, Justin Smith wrote: > >> Google translate must to pretty good because even I could understand >> most of it. > > Google translate is surprisingly good, in fact. I've been using it to > explore Russian online content relating to cyclamen of the Caucasus, > with excellent results. > > But sometimes the translation leaves one wondering. At > > http://www.ciklameny.ru/99.php > > the Russian text is > >> В России распространен в Краснодарском крае: в окрестностях Красной >> Поляны, в ущелье Ахцу, Хосте, южнее Туапсе, в окрестностях Камышановой >> поляны Апшеронского района. Кроме того, встречается в >> Карачаево-Черкесской республике, Грузии и Азербайджане, в Восточном >> Средиземноморье, на Балканах, в Малой Азии. > > which Google translates as > >> In Russia it is distributed in the Krasnodar region: in the vicinity >> of Krasnaya Polyana, in the gorge Ahtsu, Khost, south of Tuapse in the >> vicinity of Kamyshanovoy clearing Absheron district. In addition, >> occurs in Karachay-Cherkessia republic, Georgia and Azerbaijan, in the >> eastern Mediterranean, the Balkans, in Asia Minor. > > which left me wonder if the text "in the gorge Ahtsu, Khost, south of > Tuapse in the vicinity of Kamyshanovoy clearing Absheron district" > refers to distinct locations Ahtsu gorge; Khost; south of Tuapse; in the > vicinity of Kamyshanovoy; and "clearing Absheron district", or whether > it's all one location carefully specified with respect to nearby > locations. I suspect it's a list of distinct locations. > > Google Translate is much like the little girl of legend: when it's good, > it's very good, but when it's bad, it's awful. > > Incidentally, if anyone is fluent in Russian *and* has a good grip of > Caucasian geography, I'd be grateful if you would tell me how to > interpret that text. > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/