OR Translators

Ranger of Gondor · **Posted:** Wed Apr 22, 2009 2:23 pm

Everyone says that the OR is an international website and hosts people from around the world. But if that is so, why are all the guides only in English? I suggest we create an OR Translators Group, made of people who know different languages. Possibly a project of one such group would be to translate all the articles in our library... (It'd take very long but would be only beneficial to the website and its community) Then maybe visitors and members would be able to choose their language before reading a guide

Another job could be translating the website into different languages so people could pick their language before entering (although I'm not so sure about that because it'd mean having access to the website's encoding, although I have another idea that could make this work)
I for one am for this, and wouldn't mind being part of the French translators team if this would actually happen...
Who's with me? :-D

Dorthonion · **Posted:** Wed Apr 22, 2009 5:57 pm

Unfortunately I can only translate into gibberish... :rofl:

Ranger of Gondor · **Posted:** Wed Apr 22, 2009 6:35 pm

Gboalsjdf asdfjlbulta? :rofl:

gaarew · **Posted:** Wed Apr 22, 2009 6:37 pm

Ranger of Gondor wrote:

Gboalsjdf asdfjlbulta? :rofl:

He said 'into', not 'from'...

:no:

LotrCrown · **Posted:** Wed Apr 22, 2009 6:59 pm

i speak spanglish and pig latin oooh i do speak some portugreek aswell

Amarthadan · **Posted:** Wed Apr 22, 2009 8:53 pm

Well I do think some people would benefit from it, but I mean it just wouldn't be the same seeing OR in dutch for example.:p

I don't know it's just a feeling.:p

Joansean · **Joined:** Mon Feb 19, 2007 12:23 pm **Posts:** 760

Amarthadan wrote:

Well I do think some people would benefit from it, but I mean it just wouldn't be the same seeing OR in dutch for example.:p

True.

I think that having the site in English stimulates the members who are not as grammatically versed as the natives or other fluent speakers on here to advance on their language, and it will help them now and further on in life. My English has developed to the standard of a native, partially due to this site.

Besides, if people do not understand some words in a guide, they could always pm someone to ask. I, for one, am glad to function as a translator.

:-D

Ranger of Gondor · **Posted:** Wed Apr 22, 2009 9:11 pm

Amarthadan wrote:

Well I do think some people would benefit from it, but I mean it just wouldn't be the same seeing OR in dutch for example.:p

Well of course, the default language would be English, but there could be options for people who know nothing of the English language... plus I think it'd attract many more members from around the world as they wouldn't have to go through the hassle of learning English before using the site...

gaarew · **Posted:** Wed Apr 22, 2009 9:14 pm

I don't think that overall, and in the long run, that it's a good idea.

What we have here, is a very close-knit community, and I think that, by splitting things into different languages, those members who do not speak all the languages used, will be missing out.

If a guide is written in Dutch, for example, then presumably, all the comments/responses/feedback, would be in Dutch, excluding any non-Dutch speakers from participating.

The upshot would either be, multiple threads with the same content, which is IMO a waste of space. If you speak Italian, English and French, you'd then have to make the same post three times, or else, just the one, and that would leave people who do not speak that language without your input.

As it stands at the moment, all the comments/criticisms/pertinent information is contained in one place, with regards to the topic, giving all members equal access. That is what makes us an international community, as we all gather together to discuss the games/minis we all love in a way we all understand. Everyone's opinion is collected together.

By splitting things into different languages, you really do run the risk of destroying the close-knit nature of the community.

Also, there are numerous online translators, some of which are better than others, nothing is stopping our members from using them if they feel that they do not fully understand what is presented in an article.

Ranger of Gondor · **Posted:** Wed Apr 22, 2009 9:38 pm

I think I'm going to have to agree... I didn't see the negative effects that this would bring! The OR is perfect as it is :-D

Admin can lock this thread if they want.

DurinsBane · **Posted:** Thu Apr 23, 2009 8:42 am

From an Admins Point of View

The main language spoke around the globe is English.

This is a website that has to be moderated. One Ring in my oppinion is the best site of its kind, due to our strict Moderating Guidlines.

The original person that created this site was Scottish (1st language English), the site was then passed over to Alan (Dagorlad) 1st language English, and then Alan brought me onboard (1st language English).

As far as I am aware, none of us speak a second language fluently and therefore we do not allow anything to be written here in any other language, purely because of the 'Moderating Issue'.

If someone writes something here in a foriegn language and no-one speaks that language fluently, then we simply can not moderate what is being said.

We have a Portuguese Moderator, a Belgian one etc, however we simply can not allow more than 1 language, as if we allowed Portuguese and Belgian, but not French or German etc, based on the fact we have no-one who can moderate it, then we are biast towards the countries who speak other languages...in simple terms, multiple languages would be a Moderators nightmare :shock:

We apologise if this offends anyone, however we have a site to run here, a site that has built a very unique and polite community/family and that is
our intent for the foreseeable future.

Dagorlad · **Posted:** Thu Apr 23, 2009 9:47 am

Ich spreche Deutsch perfekt, gleich ein Deutscher.

Well, ok, no, not even close.

I agree with what Brian said - it's mostly about the moderation of the site - we would need specialist moderators to handle those non-English forums.

I have sometimes thought about doing multi-language versions of the buttons and menu items offering the choice of presenting the site in a language of your choice. It is technically possible to do so.

The reason behind such thoughts are that I didn't want to exclude members based on the fact that their first language wasn't the same as mine. I have often felt that native English-speaking people are poorly educated compared to other cultures when it comes to languages and seem to expect everyone else to speak their tongue.

But the fact of the matter is that the site is primarily aimed at English-speaking people and, thankfully, other nations (especially European) teach English to their kids at school. England and Australia - can't speak for the US or Canada - don't place much emphasis on teaching other languages to their children. A shame really, because speaking another language is such a wonderful thing to be able to do (I especially love swearing in German - sounds wicked!)

But offering another language in parts of the site would exclude a lot of our members from those forums.

We do have several of our articles translated into other languages on other sites - I know a number of mine have been translated into Polish, French, and German (which is soooo cool)!

mitch_rohan · **Posted:** Thu Apr 23, 2009 12:01 pm

sounds like a good idea. what about instead we have a like i dunno a section which lists all people who can translate and want to so lets say if you need help with something on the site just write in the section i need help with this etc can someone please translate or something along the lines of that possibly a section in the off topic forum or something. but i do agree though that this is an english speaking site and mostly everyone here speaks english, and creating whole nother sort of thing would be a bit annoying as knowing would really no whats going on especially if there were bullying or something. but i also do think that a small section somewhere where any perso who could translate small parts for people who dont particullarly understand something such as sayings and the way things are spelt ( people have sometimes no idea what i ramble on about ( aussie)

Ranger of Gondor · **Posted:** Thu Apr 23, 2009 2:39 pm

Mitch, have you ever heard of capitalization and punctuation?

Joansean · **Joined:** Mon Feb 19, 2007 12:23 pm **Posts:** 760

Ranger of Gondor wrote:

Mitch, have you ever heard of capitalization and punctuation?

Which brings me to another point. To be a translator, you must have total control of a language. most people on here are not fully bilingual, and that could be problematic with helping other people understand a text.

Dorthonion · **Posted:** Thu Apr 23, 2009 3:19 pm

DurinsBane growled (in English):

Quote:

As far as I am aware, none of us speak a second language fluently

What about the first language? :lol:

Seriously though (Dorth waits for them to stop laughing), I can see the point of avoiding fracturing of the One-Ring community. It has endured primarily in English for years now, and we are always willing to help people with any questions (in whatever language). I am not 100% convinced by online translators - I ran some stuff through a few of them and had to stop as my sides were hurting from laughing....

And if you are confused, just put Nescio quid dicas and we'll see what we can do to help! :-D

Ranger of Gondor · **Posted:** Thu Apr 23, 2009 5:20 pm

...you speak Latin? :lol:

gaarew · **Posted:** Thu Apr 23, 2009 5:40 pm

Joansean wrote:

Ranger of Gondor wrote:

Mitch, have you ever heard of capitalization and punctuation?

Which brings me to another point. To be a translator, you must have total control of a language. most people on here are not fully bilingual, and that could be problematic with helping other people understand a text.

Jeez, most people on here, irrelevant of where they come from, have seemingly very little control of English.

And I'm talking about those that use it as a first language.

Captain Ingold · **Posted:** Thu Apr 23, 2009 6:46 pm

There's also another problem: If the forum would be available in other languages, it implies that the posts in English (ie. all of them) would not be readable on, say, the Dutch version. Someone would have to translate EVERY post made. If someone says "Yes, it's a good idea" about a WiP, does a mod have to put it into 6,500 different languages so that all the members can read it? Look at the site's URL, 'http://www.one-ring.co.uk'. The UK bit means it's a British site, in other words, it's intended for those from Britain. Obviously it's expanded, to include Belgians, Australians, Americans, etc., but the primary language here is still English. I'd say well over half of the active members speak it as their first language. As pointed out by, well, everybody, finding those willing to spend their time translating threads at a time would be a nightmare.

And just to seal my case, here's a little gift that'll save everyone the trouble:

(Click on the Smiley)

gaarew · **Posted:** Thu Apr 23, 2009 6:59 pm

gaarew wrote:

If a guide is written in Dutch, for example, then presumably, all the comments/responses/feedback, would be in Dutch, excluding any non-Dutch speakers from participating.

The upshot would either be, multiple threads with the same content, which is IMO a waste of space. If you speak Italian, English and French, you'd then have to make the same post three times, or else, just the one, and that would leave people who do not speak that language without your input.

Captain Ingold wrote:

There's also another problem: If the forum would be available in other languages, it implies that the posts in English (ie. all of them) would not be readable on, say, the Dutch version. Someone would have to translate EVERY post made.

Actually, that has already been mentioned...

I think that, by now, it must be obvious that there are already enough problems with comprehension with the site solely in English, without diversifying into other languages...

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