People with special needs - Languages other than English

[amanbhai]

Is there anything (in the elsmar cove) for people who's 1st language is not english or cannot speak/understand/write english properly. etc

[D.Scott]

We used to have a Forum specifically for our Spanish speaking members but I haven't seen that for a long while. A major problem when trying to facilitate non-English threads is that you lose one of the features of the Cove. The people with the answers may not be the people who can speak Spanish - or another language. The poster ends up posting a question in Spanish (ex.) and a large number of contributors can't answer it even if they knew the answer.

I know it is awfully narrow minded but even the worst English is sometimes better than posting in another language. We can always work on clarifications and explanations once the concept of the original question is known. Another advantage to posting in English is that I, who can't speak Spanish, might be able to answer the question and someone who can speak Spanish sees it and thinks "Maybe I can send a translation that conveys Dave's answer".

One thing I will promise - if a person knows enough English to find us and recognize we are a quality forum, we should be able to figure out their question. I, and I am sure most here, will not hold poor English against anyone. I admire that they can at least try to communicate in another language. I consider myself disadvantaged by only being able to speak English. Truth be known, there are times when I mess that up too.

On a side note, if you or someone else were proficient in another language and wanted to serve as an interpreter, I am sure Marc would listen to a suggestion of opening up a special facility. Alternative language posters could post there, an interpreter could translate and post to the English forum then work in reverse when an answer is posted. It sounds like a lot of work but if there is a need, it may be a good idea. I wish there were a way we could poll a need but then if you could read the poll the need is gone. Hmmm, catch 22 I guess.

Anyone have any ideas or comments?

Dave

[Marc]

I don't have any ideas. Yes - I did have a Spanish forum for a while but it wasn't popular. I don't mind if someone posts in a different language, but their expectaions of receiving and answer to their question or post should not be high because there are a lot of threads in these forums for alturnate language threads to get lost in.

The bottom line is this is a mostly English language forum. For translations, and I've seldom been satisfied with them, you can use a translation site. I think Google has one, but it has been a while. In fact, I used to have a translation page which directed people to a translation site. But that was some years back, that site folded and I've never looked for another translation site.

The current one I know of is Babel Fish Translation

[Marc]

There is a 'language' option for the vBulletin software and quite a few languages have been translated. However, it does NOT interpret post / thread contents. It will only 'translate' button text and other software specific 'phrases'.

There is no problem with people posting in non-English here as far as I am concerned (within the limitations of the software - For example right to left and top to bottom formats are NOT supported). In fact, there was a recent thread which was originally titled something like 'SPANISH POST'.

If someone posts in a language other than English, it might be well to put 'Espanol' or such in the thread title, but also putting in a Spanish thread title which addresses the content.

There are so many different languages around the world (not to mention dialects), I obviously cannot accomodate every language here.

Current commentary welcomed.

[Howard Atkins]

Originally Posted by Marc

There is a 'language' option for the vBulletin software and quite a few languages have been translated. However, it does NOT interpret post / thread contents. It will only 'translate' button text and other software specific 'phrases'.

There is no problem with people posting in non-English here as far as I am concerned (within the limitations of the software - For example right to left and top to bottom formats are NOT supported). In fact, there was a recent thread which was originally titled something like 'SPANISH POST'.

If someone posts in a language other than English, it might be well to put 'Espanol' or such in the thread title, but also putting in a Spanish thread title which addresses the content.

There are so many different languages around the world (not to mention dialects), I obviously cannot accomodate every language here.

Current commentary welcomed.

מי אומר שאני לא יכול להדפיס מימין לשמול

Who says that I cannot print from right to left

[Raymond]

Hi, I wish you all the best for the next 10 years , and my suggestion is to add a specific area, where you can download all kind of things (sample files, informations etc) .

[Howard Atkins]

Welcome to the cove

There are files here
http://elsmar.com/Forums/fileslist.php
and
http://elsmar.com/pdf_files/
feel free to search the cove and find all the actitvities here