Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!lll-tis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!nosc!humu!uhccux!lee From: lee@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu (Greg Lee) Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Re: Soundex algorithm Message-ID: <2050@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu> Date: 15 Jul 88 05:01:47 GMT References: <460001@hp-sde.SDE.HP.COM> Organization: University of Hawaii Lines: 22 From article <460001@hp-sde.SDE.HP.COM>, by wunder@hp-sde.SDE.HP.COM (Walter Underwood): " > The table has L=4, R=6; I find this surprising, as both R and L are " > semivowels and they are easily confused by those who did not grow up " > with the distinction (e.g., some Orientals). " > " > In-Real-Life: Chris Torek " " Things get even worse when you translate Chinese names into English " and look them up with Soundex. You get Every Lee, Li, etc., in the " book, because English does not include phonitic distinctions that " exist in Chinese. It's a plausible idea that such differences in spellings of names might be due to distinctions in the original language. It's not so, however. " So, Soundex is a quick hack, and we probably should live with the " limitations. A better solution is probably much more complex. A better solution to what, I wonder. If soundex is used to collect names in a bibliography, say, which might represent alternate spellings of the same pronunciation, we'd like to identify r/l when some of the people who made up those spellings speak languages that merge r/l. This is how I've used it.