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

Hi everybody,

searching the fora of house rules and moderation for "foreign languages" (as a term, not as a fact) I found that you (the staff) are already accepting languages other than English, namely German and Bubblish. Can anyone tell me who is/are the German Moderator/s (Researcher ID/s)?

In a different thread I found you are having moderators employed working at home. Can you tell me more about that (by email, for example?!?)

Thanks,

HP
»--.

Hi there

We've managed to process a few of the German posts, using the Babel fish, and our moderators are allowed to process posts in a foreign language if they speak it to a high standard. We haven't set the full translation system into effect at the moment, first we need to get the moderation system working efficiently in English.

Bubblish, well, Ms Abi Sawyer has been tasked with and accepted the role of Bubblish Liason Co-ordinator.

The home moderators are employed by an external moderation company. I'm having a meeting with them later this week, I'll ask if they're looking for more staff, if they are, then I'll come back to you and ask you to contact me by email for more details. Okay?

Hi Peta,

Okay!

Let me warn (again ) you of using the Babelfish translation machine, or any other! This may work for looking up individual words or groups of words - but it won't work for correct translation of sentences. And it does of course not know about hidden meanings! As a German I have the feeling that - how somebody else put it - h2g2 is UK-centric and I don't get everything (the hidden English or British meanings).

BTW, in Germany somebody recently published a book called "Vor Gebrauch kräftig schütteln" which makes use of translation machines. But the artist used it twice translating German phrases into English and back again. The sentence in quotes above would be some advise on juice bottles to shake them properly before opening and drinking. As the translation would not result in a more or less sensefull English, like above, the re-translation would even be worse - but fun, of course.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

HP
»--.

Hi,

I agree to HollePolle and I also reopened the little german Cafe. It contains a little descrption in english and so I hope it will work. I do understand your problems, but PLEASE dont let H2G2 become to "UKcentric" (as HP said) ...or you will miss a lot .

AXR

Does this mean that the growing Scandinavian community is not allowed to use their native language?
No more Polyglot Plaza? I don't think that's fair.

The Scandinavians will be allowed to speak Scandinavian, when I've employed some translators. But in the meantime it'd be easier if everyone speaks in English if they can, because I'm having to hide foreign language posts until they're translated.

Hmmmm - and while we're waiting for the translators to be employed, why not look for volunteers among us Scandinavians to help translating? Or even trust us to translate our own postings? (I tried that recently, still awaiting the result of the moderation).
I have not even once read a posting in any Scandinavian language that has been offensive in any way!

*feeling a bit annoyed, because so often, the people living in the north of Europe are overlooked, and everything just seems to be focused on the centre of Europe, and, when it comes to languages; English, French and German*

...and I just LOVE the Google search - not only can I search in Swedish, Norwegian and Danish, but in almost ANY European language!

Have you been to the Terran Embassy (A473898/U160465) lately, Peta? The BBC takeover will mean the end to that, I'm afraid. Which is a shame, if you ask me!! But see the potential, we are some researchers out here, who are quite serious about this. Yes, you already know! ;-) I wouldn't mind your comment on http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/F52345?thread=100703&post=845174 ;-) And I could need a new job... :-D

Peta, I am SO pleased that h2g2 is looking for ways to integrate the contributions of researchers of ALL languages. I've said it before, and I'll say it again--h2g2 will never be an "Earth guide" if all persons on Earth don't have the means to represent themselves here. Thank you for looking into the matter, and let us know if you need any help.

This is the place where I shall apologise for getting narky about German being deleted with a sledgehammer and state that I do realise the rules say that foreign languages are suspect and all that.

Others are just as cross about no pictures. We all react differently.

But don't say we haven't offered to help with translation of the German. And now I think I'll translate all my English postings into German like I have started doing with the German ones. So you can see how much it hampers communication.

Also hier ist wohl die Stelle, wo ich mich entschuldige f r meine ungehaltene Reaktion bez glich der Strechung aller Beitr ge in deutscher Sprache - das ist ja auch gem den Regeln, da alle u erungen in Fremdsprachen nat rlich verd chtige Aussagen enthalten.

Andere sind genau so emp rt, da sie keine Grafiken mehr haben d rfen. Alle reagieren wir unterschiedlich auf die einzelnen Punkte.

Es soll aber keiner sagen, da wir nie angeboten h tten, mit bersetzungen auszuhelfen. Und jetzt werde ich das alles nochmal in Deutsch schreiben, damit jeder sieht, wie hinderlich eine zweisprachige Nachricht f r die Kommunikation ist.

Wow, now I'm REALLY curious about that.

...so am I...

Whoops - I've got a feeling it was mine. You see, I had decided in protest to translate all my postings into German and to write them twice, so to speak, so you can see what a bind it is the other way round, when we want to talk German to each other, but aren't allowed to. So I was adding an English translation at the bottom of all my German posts. Then it occurred to me, or rather someone said, that English is the foreign language here (in Germany), so I thought I ought to start translating my English posts into German. Adding, of course, that no one knows if the translation I give is a correct translation.

Looks like they didn't trust me.

I would still like to know, when they finally get round to satisfying themselves that not all German statements are rude or neonazi propaganda, what happens to the translations. Are they posted instead of the original, beside or under the original, or are they just scribbled on scraps of paper which are then thrown away when the post has been passed.

Now I really have stumbled upon a mystery. Why do umlauts (a, o, u with two dots over them) and double s (similar to beta in the greek alphabet) as well as all the Scandinavian special letters etc., not appear any more in forums. And then, suddenly, in some they do http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/F19585?thread=97248&latest=1 I type them anyway, as they are integral parts of the German keyboard. Pot luck if they show up or not - or what? Here are some words with umlauts to see if they work here: D�sseldorf, Schr�der, Doppelg�nger. If they don't, why don't they? They are needed when writing in English too - or is it forbidden to mention the German Chancellor?

There was a bug, it's now fixed & they should display.

;^)#

Beth am ysgrifennu yn y Gymraeg? Nid yw pawb sy'n byw yn y Deurnas Unedig yn sairad Saesneg fel eu hiaith gyntaf!

What about Welsh postings? Not everybody who lives in the United Kingdom has English as their first language!

There's another thread about this topic, at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/F63189?thread=100017 Quoting posting 171: > The Welsh Language Act 1993 places a duty on > the public sector to treat Welsh and English > on an equal basis, when providing services > to the public in Wales. So there /is/ a work-around for non-british researchers: Grant your homeplace to the Queen, ask for british citizenship and then either - claim to be dealt with under the Welsh Language Act 1993 or - call it racism if your language isn't supported and point the BBC to their own T&C. Simple thing, isn't it?

I am with Bossel the whole way.

BTW Bruce - take a look at my personal page. We have Engländer in the GMC - at least one person with an umlaut in his name. In the text the Ä's are missing, whereas in the links list on the right (in goo) the ä's are still in there. So is that bug fixed or are there still some loopholes?