Foreign language (non english) posts

[nick]

Just wondered if there was any policy, or if there should be, about posting in languages other than english on the site. I saw a non-english post in p101 yesterday or the day before and it just struck me that I would have absolutely no idea if the content broke any rules and wondered how such posts could be moderated.

[Mr. Smithers]

No, it's not against the rules to post in other languages.

But this is an English language forum, so it would be hard, especially for us staff members to translate what they are saying.

I guess we (staff), would have to translate it, and translate the replies to the users language, and that sounds very complicated.

That's a very good question, but I know we wouldn't just discriminate other languages.

[Cloud]

http://translate.google.com/# and hope to fuck they can spell

[Giles]

I'm with Calum on this one really. This is predominantly English speaking website, so they really should post in the language of the majority.

[Maverick]

This has never really been a problem before but if someone is posting in another language they will definitely be asked to post in English or do a post a translation

[Antares]

I have seen people post in chinese before here but now that google has the "detect language" thing, it would be easy.

If I came across one, I would as a moderator just translate it for them

[ShatteredWings]

it's .. a non issue?

I don't think we should have a rule banning language other than english. Rants, letters, profanity..i don't see why that can't be in another language.

[Perseus]

I have seen people post in chinese before here but now that google has the "detect language" thing, it would be easy.

If I came across one, I would as a moderator just translate it for them

You have to consider idioms. Stuff won't always translate properly and have the right meaning. Like in French, "tu me casse les pieds" literally translated means your breaking my legs, but it's the equivalent to you're annoying me/you're driving me insane, so a translator won't always work. I mean, we have a bunch of idioms in English, too. So they can't just translate and hope for the best.

[Antares]

well, obviously it would be rough translations but it would be translations nevertheless

[Atonement]

I also think with the extensive community here, we have a LOT of people in the community who can personally translate if they felt up to it. I think we should discourage the non-English posting because it can cause problems through moderationa nd what they are saying. To handle it, I think we just translate, and if there is any question, we either find someone to translate or just don't allow it.

[Demyx]

Languages are so interesting!! :D

[CaptainObvious]

I think all posts should be in English. I love languages and respect those who are multilingual, but this forum is a primarily English-language discussion board, and to post in another language creates either a hassle or makes the post unreadable for most posters.

It's not like we'll be forming a lynch mob to find non-English posts, but I think posts should be in English.

[Giles]

it's .. a non issue?

I don't think we should have a rule banning language other than english. Rants, letters, profanity..i don't see why that can't be in another language.

Well I don't see any issue, personally, with the odd word and a few phrases of another language in posts.

Just not entire posts in different languages, in reality it just makes things awkward to moderate and for people to answer effectively when the translation could be rough.

[Jess]

then we should have mods that know different languages?

[Asylum]

people should try to post in English, if they absolutely can't say what language it is so we can translate it. People who don't speak En glish need help too, so we cna't limit the language thing..

[nick]

then we should have mods that know different languages?
Well clearly it would be impossible to have mods to cover every possible language. The post that I saw that made me raise this question was in Bulgarian. I'm not suggesting that there was anything wrong in what was said but I wouldnt know and, I suspect, none of the mods would know either. Therefore it opens up the potential for people to get round the rules not only in posts but in vms and pms too which is quite a serious issue.

I would go as far as to suggest it be added to the rules that this is an english language site so that we can report posts in foreign languages.

C'est tout.