[ruby-talk:15313] Off topic, languages

> The role of a word in the sentence is
> determined from the ending of the word, and not the position of
> the word in the sentence.
Not exactly, the part of the sentance that describes its syntaxic function
in Japanese
is distinct from the noun which is modified and can apply to a noun group
not just a noun.

>
> Thus while there may be an order that people usually use, it is
> not required.
>
> What this also means is that any German who wants could put the
> verb earlier in the sentence and make translators happy.  But
> no, they just have to be difficult about it... :-)
As far as German is concerned the position of the verb is not free floating
like you seem to imply, it is very strict,
the verb (or at least the auxiliary like be or have ...) of the principal
proposition is after the subject group, all the verbs
of the other proposition (including the participe part of the principals
verbal form) are stringed at the end of the sentence.
>
> Cheers,
> Ben
>
Cheers
Benoit
PS:
I hope I was clear, I don't usually have english vocabulary problems but I
don't know the linguistic vocabulary that much, I used the words I thought
were OK from my knowledge of the same words in french.