# Let's organize the "Other Languages" forum!!



## karolus

Hallo

I do think this section of 'Other Languages' is a bit messy.  In  just one
forum are mixed up Japanese, German, Dutch, Greek, Arabic, Chinese, even Sanskrit!, and is difficult to find the information there.
It is common to  find lines like 'any Dutch or Nederlands speaker here?' and
the same for  other languages.

I understand that since they are not so popular languages as English or French, they don't have their own forum. But at least I suggest to cluster them to make more easy to read and post. For instance, after a review of the forum, I propose:

the germanic group (German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, etc),
the  baltic-slavic group (Finnish, Slovenian, Russian, Czech, etc),
the East group  (Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, etc) and finally
Others (Catalan, Greek, Latin,  Sanskrit, etc)

Another reason to cluster them, is that it is quite common  that, for
instance, a Dutch speaker knows German; the Czechs surely are more acquainted than others to Slovak, and so on. I do hope I'm not asking too much, but a bit of order would help really a lot.

I've already sent this request to the WordReference Administrator, Michael Kellogg, and he says that this request might be considered depending upon the answers and interest of the members of this forum, which sounds reasonable to me. 
Anyway, keep in mind that these are languages with less demand than Spanish or French, so do not expect -at least for now- and individual forum for each language but clustered by affinity.

So it is up to you pals, say, what do you think about it?.

Regards
Karl Alarcon

P.S.  Sorry, I've noticed that German has already its own forum


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## Honeylhanz

i agree with you Karl. it is difficult to find certain information in this thread. also
as what i've noticed in this thread there are lot of foreros/as i guess, who are willing/ eager to learn arabic, japanese as well as chinese. so i do suggest to add new threads for this language. 
what a brilliant suggestion you have karl.


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## belén

I just moved it to Comments and Suggestions.


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## Merlin

I definitely agree! Even just a single line to separate languages will do. I wouldn't hurt I think. I noticed that Arabic, Filipino and few more languages are getting more threads and posts each passing day. Hopefully you guys will help us organize the Other Languages Forum. (Also helping Sir Mike). More power Sir Mike!


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## Whodunit

I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with you. I really find the solution to edit thread titles very useful for the Other Languages forum, because - as Jana has already begun - we should write first "Language: Problem/Text line/Question", so we can hold track if we just search for "Arabic" in the appropriate "titles only search" and choose "Other Languages forum" in advanced search. So you'll definitely be lead to all thread dealing with Arabic.

Look at our Other Languages forum now; I really find it very helpful that Jana took the initiative and edited all the threads' titles according to the sample I used above for the first few pages.

I hope you consider that idea and take a look in the concerning forum: There is already an ordering, which is actually totally clearly arranged, so that you'll immediately find what you want to.

I would also disagree as far as a sticky thread for each language is concerned. You could become even more off-topic (thereupon mods will have to split them immeditely), and just consider how many post there'll be for Chinese or Arabic, for instance, since there're so many members who currently ask many different languages concerning only one language. If we counted all the post for a Chinese problem in the Other Languages forum, we'd immidiately realize that a sticky would already consist of more than two or three hundred posts ...

Also, subforums wouldn't be appropriate, as we had to create more than five of them for the most popular "Other Languages forum" languages and it's already very hard to moderate other forums and their subforums, I assume. Please take this for "granted" ... I won't say more about it.

Let me stress once more that I am really for Jana's current solution with "Language: Problem ..." and vote a "nay" for the sticky or subforum idea. Please accept my attitude about that matter, however you may complain.


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## Anna Mary

I agree complitely with you.
and not only that I hope that we can have specific terminology group also (legal texts).

this is my thought.

rgds
AnnaM


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## panjandrum

I really shouldn't comment on this topic as I rarely wander through the other languages forum.  But I went to have a look after I read whodunit's post and it looks really clear to me.
There was a similar discussion about threads for teachers in the culture forum a short while ago.  Since then, there have been a number of threads that are clearly marked in a similar way to the revised other languages threads.  That is working very successfully (I think).
It means that people creating threads have to be careful about the title, and it almost certainly means some extra vigilance by the moderators.


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## Jana337

Anna Mary said:
			
		

> I agree complitely with you.
> and not only that I hope that we can have specific terminology group also (legal texts).
> 
> this is my thought.
> 
> rgds
> AnnaM


Such a subforum is available in Spanish. It may be introduced in some other major languages if there is sufficient demand, but it certainly won't be created in Other Languages.  My impression from the last couple of days: The only specialized subforum that Other Languages could support would have to be about love.


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## cuchuflete

Jana337 said:
			
		

> The only specialized subforum that Other Languages could support would have to be about love.


Bravo Jana!

You have discovered the secret:  All of WR is about love

u y k
un quabrazo


PS--Whodunit's post is clear--If people apply just a little bit of thought to naming threads, the organization called for is already available.


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## Jana337

panjandrum said:
			
		

> I really shouldn't comment on this topic as I rarely wander through the other languages forum. But I went to have a look after I read whodunit's post and it looks really clear to me.
> There was a similar discussion about threads for teachers in the culture forum a short while ago. Since then, there have been a number of threads that are clearly marked in a similar way to the revised other languages threads. That is working very successfully (I think).
> It means that people creating threads have to be careful about the title, and it almost certainly means some extra vigilance by the moderators.


I fully second this. Compared to other forums, OL has a higher proportion of newbie questions where some confusion about appropriate titling of threads is understandable (though far from desirable) and many people simply ask questions about languages they are not able to identify themselves. But it is almost grievous when I have to edit threads opened by senior members ("tagalog, please?" and other jewels of innovativeness). Please everyone, pay more attention to this.

The OL forum is officially unmoderated but, as Whodunit said, I have started doing some mod work there recently (because I am interested in a high percentage of OL threads anyway). Time permitting, I may go back against the flow of the time and edit older threads with non-telling names. But it mustn't ruin my life beyond the WR forums. 

I don't agree that orientation in OL is substantially more difficult than elsewhere. If you want to find previous thread about "bills of exchange" in Spanish, you probably don't start hitting the "next" button in the main forum and skim-reading the thread titles, right? What you are supposed to do is to open the Search Forums page and to insert some key words in our search machine. The same works, with a decent level of exactness, in OL. This, for instance, is the list of some 80 Arabic threads. More detailed and intelligent searches will restrict their number even further.

Then there is a neglected option of using our archives. They may be suited for some purposes - to obtain a visual impression of what's going on in the forums, for example. Click here and here to see what new and old OL threads look like, respectively.

No language is a priori excluded from having its own forum. The precondition is sufficient traffic. Arabic is closest at the moment. I see no point in creating a Slavic forum for 20 threads if not fewer (and you cannot immagine just how much I would like to have one  ).

Thanks for the suggestion anyway.

Jana


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## alc112

Or may it could be possible to create a subforum for multi translation of phrases.


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## cuchuflete

alc112 said:
			
		

> Or may it could be possible to create a subforum for multi translation of phrases.



Hola ALC,

first, as Jana said:   





> No language is a priori excluded from having its own forum. The precondition is sufficient traffic.



Second, Mike and some of his merry crew have been planning the creation of multi-lingual glossaries.  You should see something like this soon.  

If for example, you want a glossary of phrases about cattle raising, to pick a rather Argentino agro-political topic, you would offer a list of words and phrases in one language, and other foreros would contribute multi-lingual translations.

I don't know the exact timing of this going "live", but we were working on it last night


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## karolus

OK, I agree with you that the edit of the titles are useful, but in practice are not followed but everybody, the old members surely but there are many newbies everyday.  Some threads are just started in whatsoever way.  And of course, we cannot force everyone to do it in the recommended way.

Also, the moderation shouldn't be a problem, if for instance, a germanic forum gathers enough participation, a new moderator might be named and I'm sure volunteers for that will be available.

Well, but this is just an opinion, let's see what the people around think about this.

Regards
Karl




			
				Whodunit said:
			
		

> I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with you. I really find the solution to edit thread titles very useful for the Other Languages forum, because - as Jana has already begun - we should write first "Language: Problem/Text line/Question", so we can hold track if we just search for "Arabic" in the appropriate "titles only search" and choose "Other Languages forum" in advanced search. So you'll definitely be lead to all thread dealing with Arabic.
> 
> 
> Also, subforums wouldn't be appropriate, as we had to create more than five of them for the most popular "Other Languages forum" languages and it's already very hard to moderate other forums and their subforums, I assume. Please take this for "granted" ... I won't say more about it.
> 
> Let me stress once more that I am really for Jana's current solution with "Language: Problem ..." and vote a "nay" for the sticky or subforum idea. Please accept my attitude about that matter, however you may complain.


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## JLanguage

Jana337 said:
			
		

> I don't agree that orientation in OL is substantially more difficult than elsewhere. If you want to find previous thread about "bills of exchange" in Spanish, you probably don't start hitting the "next" button in the main forum and skim-reading the thread titles, right? What you are supposed to do is to open the Search Forums page and to insert some key words in our search machine. The same works, with a decent level of exactness, in OL. This, for instance, is the list of some 80 Arabic threads. More detailed and intelligent searches will restrict their number even further.


 
I often forget what I've titled my threads, and have to search through countless Hebrew threads just to find the right one.


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## amikama

JLanguage said:
			
		

> I often forget what I've titled my threads, and have to search through countless Hebrew threads just to find the right one.


To find all the "Hebrew:" threads you started:

1. Go to the Advenced Search. 
2. Enter "Hebrew" as a key word and choose "Search Titles Only".
3. Enter "JLanguage" as a user name and choose "Find Threads Started By User". 
4. Select the OL forum from the forums list. 
5. Click the "Search Now" button.

And the results are here.


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## Whodunit

amikama said:
			
		

> And the results are here.


 
Your link leads to this page:


> Sorry - no matches.
> Steps to ask in the forum:
> [...]


I think you wanted to copy/paste this link.


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## Jana337

Whodunit said:
			
		

> Your link leads to this page:
> 
> I think you wanted to copy/paste this link.


 Posting links to searches is pointless because they only work temporarily. Amikama's link was correct. Yours will stop working after a while.

Acknowledgement: Panjandrum discovered this, well, it is not exactly a bug, but annoying it is! 

Jana

EDIT: On reflection, I believe that what I wrote above might be confusing. Links to threads and posts will work forever (unless the thread/post gets deleted) but products of the search function (be it new posts, threads by a forero, threads containing a particular word) will perish after an hour or so (haven't tested it).


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## el alabamiano

JLanguage said:
			
		

> I often forget what I've titled my threads, and have to search through countless Hebrew threads just to find the right one.


The easy way is to click on your (linked) name anytime, i.e. a post, etc. EX: JLanguage; Senior Member - then click "View Profile" or "Search all posts by JLanguage."  Of course, you can see other's.  Click my name, for example.


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