h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Nice to see that some websites and mod's still take their job
seriously...
I'm do not completely understand why the language-rules are installed.
Ain't this supposed to be international? (i do like my native language, you know.)
Couldn't you get some modswith knowledge of foreign languages???

There are occasional pieces of non-English text on h2g2 (eg German and French). The ones I read seemed harmless, so I assume that's why the mods left them. Of course the BBC may have a secret agenda to promote English on h2g2 (as with the world service on radio). However, English does seem to be the current international language. Greek, Latin and French all had their turn in previous eras. Besides which the mods already have to translate American, Scottish, digibox/txt-msg, gibberish, dyslexic and geek. That's probably enough to be getting on with.

You can/used to be able to (can't remeber which) speak, i think it was, german, because they had a mod that could understand it. There was a plan to get volunteer translators to help, don't know what happened with that

Tango

I think that the issue of language is probably the joint most important thing at the moment alongside the issue of updates.

Whoami?

Because the BBC is funded by the licence fee paying public in the UK, it has a duty to be accessible to all their audiences in the UK. Which means that they tend to stick to English.

It would be impossible to ask our contractors to provide Moderators that speak all the languages that are likely to appear on h2g2, there are too many.
We did have a pilot translation scheme, which is why some languages are on the site, but it was wasn't very successful. It's possible that we will try again at a later date, but I can't guarantee that.

How about a specific Babel-fish page/area on h2g2 - linked to automatic language translators off-site if the BBC don't own such and can't afford human translators. That would at least be amusing (because of the sorts of errors which tend to occur) and potentially useful if/when it does work.

I'm not sure how that would work?

Nor me.

Which bit? I assume you have come across automatic translators before. I wasn't being specific on how the BBC might implement the idea but here are some options on how it might work in practice if that is what you couldn't imagine:

- Have an article page which provides external (or internal?) links to various language translator sites/programs. People would have to feed the text they want to convert in themselves. Or it could become a forum under which people ask language related questions (similar to but separate from the general Askh2g2). These are the simplest to implement interpretations of the idea.

- Have a babel fish sub-skin available to researchers so that page content is filtered through an automatic translator before being output for their browser. This would be the most similar to the original babel fish.

- Have a babel fish icon/option somewhere on the page so that people can click and get a quick translation. A menu bar click and point would be similar to the way question-mark help is often implemented. It may be hard to do in this case as it may possibly need to include some drag or select to identify text if it isn't conceptualised as a single object by the server. However, a babel fish button could even be next to individual postings like the yikes button and bring up a pop-up of just that contents by going via an auto-translator (settings either predetermined in preferences or selected from drop-down list on the fly).

Isn't that working it the wrong way round? The moderators could use an automatic translator, but they're (the automatic translators, not the mods) not reliable enough even to handle a proper sentence at GCSE-level ['bar' talk]...

Keeping to a common language has its distinct advantages in terms of making sure that everyone using the site (who will therefore need to speak English) can understand the knowledge contributed...

Whoami?

Just to stick my nose in

I don't think any of the currently available on-line automatic translating programmes are really up to the job yet... maybe in 5 or 10 years, but as yet they're just not up to the task of ensuring that each and every foreign language post on h2g2 is within the house rules...

I think that was what I said wasn't it? Simulpost?

Whoami?

Nope, not a simulpost, just me not reading the entire backlog

I was deliberately putting it that way round. I think there are very good reasons why all of h2g2 should be stored in English internally. Consider it's space-time co-ordinates. It is hosted in an English-speaking company/country and at a time in Earth's history when the international language is English (however many tantrums the French may have about this). I was using the babel fish in its original HHGTTG sense - it translates for the hearer (or in this case the foreign viewer).

Now, it might be interesting to attach a translator to post submissions too - especially if the preview button showed how it would actually turn out on site. But the object would still be to translate foreign languages into native h2g2 English for storage and not to place text in foreign languages into h2g2.

Incidentally, I happened to try an auto-translator on the internet just before xmas. They already seem a lot better than they used to be. In this case I was double-checking a German joke I had written to go with one of my community artist test articles. The translator agreed with me but in the end I didn't use the caption on an illustrative cartoon I'd planned but went with the more symbolic motorway/autobahn symbol on a flag background.

Everyone on h2g2 must speak english to use the site, so they might as well talk in english. It is too complicated to setup translations. That's my

Tango

Oops, simulpost and insufficient previewing! Oh well, it should be pretty obvious to which points I was replying and what I meant.

OK. If someone wants to contribute to a site whose content is stored and viewed in English, then they'll surely need to be able to type English too. I still don't see your point, I'm afraid...

BTW, that was a simulpost agreeing with Tango.

Simulpost! I assumed you meant altavista's babel fish!

Tango

Yay! Simulpost!