No there aren't translations available for articles prior to April 2005 - in the early years of La Guinguette weren't provided.
Going back and translating the older articles is something we have on our "list of things to do" - but it does I'm afraid always seem to get pushed down the priority order.
Now if there were some volunteers amongst La Guinguette readers, to do say one article each... that would speed things up???
Another way to do it is to go to Google Translate (http://www.google.com/translate_t). Highlight the French text of the Guinguette article you want and paste it in the box under "Original text". Choose "French to English" and click on "Translate". It works!
I think that this is an interesting idea. Are you interested in coordinating the efforts of volunteer translators? We should also ask Richard if he will publish them, if someone else writes them. I would be happy to translate a few too.
Would I be willing to coordinate the volunteers? Sure, why not? I would keep it simple:
make a list of the articles needing translation
keep track of who is volunteering for which article (people can send me a message when they've picked one, when it's done, etc)
This is a win-win idea -- those who have a higher level can tackle the in-depth reading of an article (and wow, I learned a lot yesterday. working on the one I'd picked), and provide the translation to those who need it.
In another thread there is a discussion on the difference between a literal translation and a more "natural" English translation. Yesterday, working on my translation, I tried for more word-for-word with the more normal English in parentheses.
Well in that case, I volunteer to do one from November 2003 about the disovery of some Roman boats in Lyon. I choose this, as it was the first one I read!
If you could forward a couple of the articles you want translated I will work on them. My brother-in-law is very good at this, so I will translate them and have him check my work.
I am delighted that Robert wishes to take part in the translation project. That brings the number of translators to 10. There is a statistics table on the web at the following address: http://www.alistairmills.com/French/LaGuinguette/stats.html
