Foreign languages on the O2 Community

[Toby]

Hi guys,

There have been some recent discussions regarding the use of foreign languages on the O2 Community by members from around the world. There have been some interesting views on how to manage this such as:

- Allowing OPs to be written in a foreign language and then translated by the first replier along with the advice they want to give

- To remove all foreign content. The Community Team will then contact said members to ask them to post in English

We don't want to inhibit members getting, but we also want everyone to be able to understand what they are discussing or offering advice on.

Its not an issue that crops up often at all, but its an important one so Id love to hear all of your thoughts! 

[Cleoriff]

Anyway...point made I think. Google translate provides a quick and easy way to reply IF the need arises...

And for anyone who wants to undertake the occasional reply ...:smileywink:

[jonsie]

Well @Toby I think public opinion is all in favour of allowing this as long as some form of guideline is followed.

Back on the old forum we had a big issue with foreign spam but I'm sure any of us would flag that type of post for removal once it has been checked using one of the language translators easily available online. I'm sure we are all adult enough to know what sort of post should or should not be allowed on here.

[cyrillicguy]

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@Cleoriff wrote:

And , well, well ... to you @cyrillicguy  Oh and it was Russian

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Actually it's more like "Ah well, that's ok then...". Google Translator rocks!

[Cleoriff]

Checked and only copied half of your Russian sentence @cyrillicguy ...but I wasn't undertaking any type of exam on this particular thread...

[cyrillicguy]

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@Cleoriff wrote:

Checked and only copied half of your Russian sentence @cyrillicguy ...but I wasn't undertaking any type of exam on this particular thread...

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Didn't mean to come across as being patronizing or anything Obv, I use Google Translator left, right and center myself for the languages I can't understand, it's just it's quite funny sometimes to read what it comes up with when it comes to translating into the languages you actually know

[perksie]

Sadly it's many of the posts in English that cause the most problems. 

[Cleoriff]

I do take your point with that @cyrillicguy  (about the occasional funny translation) When I did the Slovakian one I checked, double checked and did it again before I posted... I didnt want to end up with egg on my face for my first attempt

And @perksie  I also agree with your comment about many English posts creating problems. There have been one or two on here over the last couple of days...

[Toby]

Great responses guys and good turnout to the discussion

It seems that most are in a semi-agreement about how to go forward with this. This is how I would phrase this as a guideline:

"Please post in English wherever possible on the community. If you see a post written in a foreign language, you can report it to a member of the community team who will contact the author and translate the post. Alternatively, if you are choose to try and help a member who has written in a foreign language, please translate the post and include it in your response as well as the advice you want to give."

As a community manager I would personally not encourage members to respond in the OP's native language, as this could cause certain threads to be posted entirely in foreign languages. How do you feel about this?

With regards to the use of Latin in signatures, could one argue that it should not be classed in the same way as languages that are currently used? To my knowledge, it is not the primary language of any country.

[jonsie]

Sounds very sensible and to be honest it could be months befrore the issue arises again.

[MI5]

Sounds good to me.