How kosher is posting websites in languages other than English?

April 28, 2003 10:26 AM

How kosher is posting websites in languages other than English? Aren't we missing out on a sizeable - and valuable - part of the Web? The available online translation machines I've tried so far (Babel Fish et al.) are dreadful and hinder more than they help, but I've recently found WorldLingo to be appreciably less bad. MetaFilter users seem, to me at least, to be very interested in - and open to - "foreign" languages. Should posters risk posting a machine translation along with a link to a website in a non-English language, for instance?
posted by MiguelCardoso to MetaFilter-related at 10:26 AM (17 comments total)

I say, if it meets the link guidelines, post it-- if it is in a language you understand and the majority of MeFi users will not, a (more inside) with a 'sketch' translation would be a great benefit.
posted by cell divide at 10:27 AM on April 28, 2003

Only in cases where the site content involves bunnies with things balanced on their heads.
posted by jonson at 10:36 AM on April 28, 2003

If it's an interesting site on it's own, yes. if it's an interesting news item from Le Monde or Pravda or the Swansea Gwynmdrrwlch, I'd lean towards no.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 10:36 AM on April 28, 2003

Aren't we missing out on a sizeable - and valuable - part of the Web?

Absolutely. This is just the discussion I needed. Most of the stuff Ive been looking at recently has been in foreign languages- strange, fascinating stuff.

Ive been afraid to post on Metafilter and get jumped on or have people focus on how "funny" the Google translation is.

Maybe I'll go ahead and be a canary.
posted by vacapinta at 11:34 AM on April 28, 2003

Maybe I'll go ahead and be a canary.

Please do. This post (confirmed by others) convinced me you could do no wrong.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 11:54 AM on April 28, 2003

Translated from the Portuguese:

To that they had always liked to play with the fire, ignoring
olimpicamente maternal acknowledgments of certain pees in a bed, the
challenge seats that nor an asbestos glove - that they say the
MAÇARIQUEIROS and STOKERS to it OF BOILERS the VAPOR, that forge
careers the high temperatures.
posted by konolia at 12:30 PM on April 28, 2003

The couple of times I've posted links to French sources, I've been pleased that the other Francophones on the list noticed, commented, and read the link. The languages are another nice overlay on the larger Metafilter community, which can be sliced an infinite number of ways.

I say, go for it. But make a valiant effort to find similar or supplemental content in English, or do a little bit of translating so others are completely excluded
posted by Mo Nickels at 12:57 PM on April 28, 2003

Recently on PBS (I think the show's name was Big Ideas) this linguist guy was talking about how hundreds of languages nationwide are in danger of becoming extinct, and that the Internet is partially responsible for "homogenizing linguistics in today's world." He didn't like it, but then he's a linguist so naturally he'd want to preserve all these near extinct languages.

I'm just the opposite. Language exists to allow fast communication between individual humans. Different languages formed millenia ago due to cultural segregation among tribes. You didn't want your enemy to be able to eavesdrop but ya wanted your friend to hear what you had to say, so you'd talk in a way your friend understood but your enemy did not.

With technological and geopolitical advances (and blunders and whatnot) the world is getting smaller. When people in Quebec insist on making french their national language, the rest of Canada just scratches their heads and wonders why, because it seems to be an attempt to cling to the past when it really is no longer necessary.

With all that said, if there's a post in MeFi that's in a foreign language, I for one will probably admire glancingly the handiwork and think "gee whut purty wordage" but I won't click on the links and I won't bother venturing into the thread. I won't take it personally, but I will essentially be dissed & alienated. I imagine that the majority of regulars in MeFi will react much the same way. We may be missing out on a valuable part of the Web by making everything english, but we dismiss a larger and more active (in here anyway) part of the Web if we don't stick to english.

But! Crunch all you want. We'll make more.
posted by ZachsMind at 4:06 PM on April 28, 2003

To paraphrase the immortal words of Texas Governor Ferguson:

If English was good enough for Jesus, it ought to be good enough for Metafilter.
posted by Wet Spot at 4:30 PM on April 28, 2003

Different languages formed millenia ago due to cultural segregation among tribes. You didn't want your enemy to be able to eavesdrop but ya wanted your friend to hear what you had to say, so you'd talk in a way your friend understood but your enemy did not.

ZachsMind, all due respect, but this is just silly. It's like saying the earth sits on an elephant which stands on a turtle. If you don't like furrin languages, that's fine, but don't try to justify it with fairy tales. And if you don't want to read "a post in MeFi that's in a foreign language," that's no more reasoned or admirable than not wanting to read a post about a kind of music you don't like, and there's no more reason to feel "dissed & alienated."
posted by languagehat at 5:59 PM on April 28, 2003

When people in Quebec insist on making french their national language, the rest of Canada just scratches their heads and wonders why, because it seems to be an attempt to cling to the past when it really is no longer necessary.

Er, no. When Quebec insists small business follow signage laws the rest of Canada scratches our head. A business with it's signage all in Hebrew or French takes the chance that people will have no idea what it's about, but it also attracts people looking for authenticity.

There's room for everything good on MeFi, we've both said that many times (even if we do disagree about what's good)

That being said, write to your audience. It may be the World Wide Web, but the server still sits in NYC and everyone that comes here reads english.
posted by cCranium at 6:04 PM on April 28, 2003

cCranium: Not so sure your signage theory always works. I found an Italian restaurant in SF a few years ago. The signs were in English and Italian. However, the all Chinese staff spoke neither. Pointing and mimicry was the language of the evening.

ZachsMind: Couldn't you say Americans are just clinging to the past when they want everyone to speak English? For the Francophones in Quebec the quest is to face reality. The majority of the people there speak French...no matter what the rest of Canada would like to believe.

The great thing about the web is that it doesn't matter where the server resides. I say post away. If it is a wonderful site we will find a way to translate it...or enjoy it for the pretty artwork.
posted by ?! at 6:23 PM on April 28, 2003

When people in Quebec insist on making french their national language, the rest of Canada just scratches their heads and wonders why, because it seems to be an attempt to cling to the past when it really is no longer necessary.

Signage aside (and not to pile on BobsMind (heh)), but I think this is an inaccurate characterization of the attitude towards French in the rest of Canada, amongst people of pretty much any socio-liguistic-economic stratum.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:48 PM on April 28, 2003

My .02:

YES!
If it's a good link in another language, post it! We'll work from there. Mefi is somewhat multi-lingual anyway, so there's no shortage of translators for the comments section.
...especially if the link is in French, as I might have a shot at decoding that.
posted by Shane at 6:08 AM on April 29, 2003

MetaFilter: It was good enough for Jesus.
posted by quonsar at 6:15 AM on April 29, 2003

I like being exposed to new things. Bring it on.
posted by iconomy at 6:35 AM on April 29, 2003

second that. Metafilter needs to be more global.
posted by clavdivs at 5:31 PM on April 29, 2003