# 'complete sentence' rule required



## broglet

People keep asking for translations of words, phrases or fragments without providing a complete sentence.  It wastes a lot of time, since out of context a correct translation is often impossible to determine.  

I therefore propose a new rule stating that, wherever possible, a minimum of one complete sentence should be provided.


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## Q-cumber

I would ag...


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## MünchnerFax

We do have one:


> 5. Provide an example sentence to show the context, *whenever possible*. Additional  comments on the application for technical terms are strongly suggested.


That _whenever possible_ is the key. A complete sentence would be useless for some queries (for instance, translation of single words, well-known idioms, several technical expressions).

In addition, some forums have this announcement: Threads without background and context will be closed!


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## broglet

Thanks/danke Muenchner - I didn't realise there was a rule and I suspect many other people don't either!  Perhaps mods could make more of a point of reminding people of the rule when it gets broken.

By the way, I disagree that a complete sentence 'would be useless' for the translation of single words.  Example: how do you say 'bank' in German?


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## MünchnerFax

broglet said:


> By the way, I disagree that a complete sentence 'would be useless' for the translation of single words. Example: how do you say 'bank' in German?


 Ok, sorry. But I said _some_ queries. As a counter-example: how do you say _turbocharger_ in Japanese? I don't really think any context is needed here. Common sense should always be used. 

A lot of people become aware of this and other rules when they break them and we mods point them out to them. Besides, one is supposed to read the rules, since one agrees on them while subscribing.


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## broglet

Thanks for your truly turbocharged reply! Of course we should all have read the rules ... but how many of us did? ... and who remembers them all?


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## TrentinaNE

The suggestion was that we have a rule.  We  already do.  The suggestion then was that we remind people of the rule.  We already do.  What's next -- a firing squad for anyone who violates the rule?   

Like every other aspect of real life, the forum isn't perfect.  But you can do your part by using the Report-a-Post feature.   When you come across a query that you think has insufficient context, DON'T respond to it -- instead click on the red triangle to bring it to the moderating team's attention.  In your reporting message, point out the lack of context.

Also bear in mind that the moderators of the various sub-forums have different styles of dealing with this type of problem.  In some, contextless threads are closed with a link to the announcement that MünchnerFax cited.  Other sub-forums may have different approaches.  Take your lead from the moderators where you are posting.  And if you have any questions, you can always send a PM to those moderators.  

Ciao,
Elisabetta


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## broglet

TrentinaNE said:


> What's next -- a firing squad for anyone who violates the rule?


No TrentinaNE - that is going too far - I think a gentle hanging should prove perfectly adequate  
ciao


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## jonquiliser

broglet said:


> Perhaps mods could make more of a point of reminding people of the rule when it gets broken.



 *More*?! My, that would be tricky wouldn't it?


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## Kelly B

Out of idle curiosity, I found that I've typed the word _context _in 488 different threads, and if you have signatures turned on, you'll see it every one of my posts, in two languages. I didn't try to count my PMs on the subject.

The French-English forums have a policy sticky in addition to the regular rules. Part of it says, in French as well as English: 
QUESTIONPlease *always *give the complete sentence and the *CONTEXT *in which it is used. Please realize that context and examples are critical in linguistics. Where did you read or hear the expression? In a book, in the newspaper? In a scientific or technical document? On the television or the radio? During a conversation with a friend? What exactly is it about? The preceding and following sentences often help us to understand the problem. Please give these if possible.* Specify the exact problem you have and make an attempt to suggest a translation for the part in question, if at all possible.* ​Our team has posted a boatload of links and quotes of that.

We're trying! Honest!


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## TrentinaNE

And when non-senior members tries to open a new thread, the following verbiage appears above the text box:


> *Posting Guidelines:*
> - Put the word or phrase in the thread title.
> - Give context (the surrounding text). Many words and phrases can be translated differently depending on the context.
> - Give background: Did you read this in a newspaper or hear it in a film? What was the topic?
> - For anything longer than a common expression, you should try to translate it first. (Except monolingual forums)
> - New forum members cannot create links. You can write it out like "wordreference dot com".
> - One question per thread.
> - Do not: post personal information
> - Do not: post more than 4 lines of text from another website
> - Do not: USE ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, post chat-speak, advertisements or CV's
> - Do not: ask an unrelated question
> - Do not: In the title, use the words "help", "please", "urgent!" or "translate"


Yet, lo and behold, every single day new threads are opened violating one or more (sometimes 4 or 5 at a time!) of those conditions -- and by people who appear to use English as their first language.


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## geve

TrentinaNE said:


> In some, contextless threads are closed with a link to the announcement that MünchnerFax cited.


Just a comment on this - however efficient this method is, it is somewhat disappointing when one gets to such a thread by clicking on a link in the dictionary.


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## TrentinaNE

geve said:


> Just a comment on this - however efficient this method is, it is somewhat disappointing when one gets to such a thread by clicking on a link in the dictionary.


Which is why, at least in some sub-forums, we try to clear them out periodically.  If you come across one that was missed, please use Report-a-Post to bring it to the moderating team's attention.


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## geve

TrentinaNE said:


> Which is why, at least in some sub-forums, we try to clear them out periodically. If you come across one that was missed, please use Report-a-Post to bring it to the moderating team's attention.


Will do!  May I use the opportunity to thank you all for the housekeeping job. Cleaning is such an ungrateful task - we only ever notice it when it has not been done (now where did I put my feather duster again...).


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## TrentinaNE

geve said:


> (now where did I put my feather duster again...).


Well, when you find it, please bring it by my office. 

And thanks for noticing. 

Elisabetta


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## nichec

This is the rule on the EO forum:

http://forum.wordreference.com/showpost.php?p=1914745&postcount=2

Most of the senior members refuse to give any answer until they get some context and background, I have seen all kinds of methods , for example "I'm *checking out* of future posts until we start getting some context" (I love this one, written by *Dimcl* )

Sometimes we ask for it nicely in a post, sometimes we simply don't reply to that thread at all, and the Mods have their ways to deal with it as well, two Mods asked for the same thing in this thread

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=646190&highlight=context

I am not saying that things are perfect in EO, but I think these methods are really working, when there's a newbie posting without any context, someone would always put the link of the rule in the post, and usually he/she comes back with a nice new thread, with context, background, and everything


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