# a little conundrum - forum languages in quotes



## Philippa

Dear Jana,

I am writing to you because I know you are an expert in the working of the foros. I really hope you will be able to shed some light on this matter.

I have just noticed that the quote boxes that say 'originally posted by XXX' are in a variety of languages. I am sure this was not previously the case, as the word 'inviato' in Italian looked so strange to me just now. (Although, with a little more consideration I suppose it is similar to 'enviado' in  Spanish).

Many WordReference buttons are still in Spanish for me, but it seems that the quote boxes are in the language that that forero has set for WR. So, reading in the 'Spoilsports' thread my theory is that Charles' and your WR are in Italian, Sr Pollo's and Maxiogee's are in English. My quote boxes on other threads appear to me in Spanish. 

Does your experience concur with mine, Ms Jana? Is this phenomenon really new? I very much look forward to hearing your views.

Yours sincerely
Philippa


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## Jana337

Hola Madame Philippa,

I feel flattered to see a thread addressed specifically to me - but I hope you won't mind if I remove myself from the title. 

Now to your question - is it new? Yes and no.

If you look at an old thread (old meaning more than 1 month, more or less), all quotes will be in the language you are using. If you switch to another, the quotes will be translated automatically.

You are right about new threads: The language is determined by the settings of the person who quotes, and your settings do not matter at all. No one seems to be using German in the German forum. 

I hope I could help. 

Jana

P.S. An immunizing stratagem: I am not sure but there might have been a short period with English only for quotes.


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## Philippa

Buonasera (here at least!) Jana,

I am writing to thank you for your kind reply of 'Hoy 18.51' (here at least, again!!). Your information and examples are most interesting and informative. Would the date of this change suggest that the new server is responsible?

Thank you again for your quick and thorough response. I look forward to doing business with you again.

Yours sincerely
Philippa

P.S. Would 'an immunizing stratagem' be definition 2 here?

Goodness only knows why I'm writing like this!! See you later!


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## Jana337

Philippa said:
			
		

> Buonasera (here at least!) Jana,
> 
> I am writing to thank you for your kind reply of 'Hoy 18.51' (here at least, again!!). Your information and examples are most interesting and informative. Would the date of this change suggest that the new server is responsible?
> 
> Thank you again for your quick and thorough response. I look forward to doing business with you again.
> 
> Yours sincerely
> Philippa


New server - I don't know because I am terrible at guessing time backwards. It could be but Mike sometimes tinkers with the software independently of servers.





> P.S. Would 'an immunizing stratagem' be definition 2 here?
> 
> Goodness only knows why I'm writing like this!! See you later!


 "Immunizing stratagem" is a concept from methodology of science coined by Sir Karl Popper. Immunizing stragagems are dishonest formulations that make it unnecessarily difficult to refute a theory. In fact, it was an overkill in the present context.  I could have said "qualification", "caveat" as well.

Jana


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## panjandrum

I think I have noticed this too.
From time to time, the text that says "Originally posted by ..." in English appears as some other language


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## Etcetera

I've noticed the same thing. And we can see in this thread that Philippa's WR is in Spanish.


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## Jana337

Etcetera said:
			
		

> I've noticed the same thing. And we can see in this thread that Philippa's WR is in Spanish.


 Her WR is probably in Spanish, but you cannot see it here. 

"Publicado por" in my post #4 means that I happened to have Spanish as my forum language when I was posting it. Now I have German, so we should see "Zitat" in this post. 

Jana


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## Jana337

Weird... I was in German when I posted, but then I switched to French and now it is in English. 

So it is all more complicated than I had thought? Stratagems weren't an overkill? 

Jana


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## Whodunit

Jana337 said:
			
		

> Her WR is probably in Spanish, but you cannot see it here.
> 
> "Publicado por" in my post #4 means that I happened to have Spanish as my forum language when I was posting it. Now I have German, so we should see "Zitat" in this post.
> 
> Jana


 
As I can't see any German in your post (except for the word Zitat in your last line ), you don't have to worry and think that no one uses German as his forum language. I will try something funny: I've chosen Greek for this post, let's see what happens.


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## Jana337

Whodunit said:
			
		

> As I can't see any German in your post (except for the word Zitat in your last line ), you don't have to worry and think that no one uses German as his forum language. I will try something funny: I've chosen Greek for this post, let's see what happens.


Very cute: Áñ÷éêÞ Äçìïóßåõóç áðü *Jana337 

*I believe that German disappeared because I switched to something else within 4 minutes (you cannot edit a post without a trace after 4 minutes; I do not have a direct proof that these coincide, though). Now it should be there again.

Jana


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## Philippa

JanaSleuth said:
			
		

> So it is all more complicated than I had thought?


I'm so glad!!  
Happy 'detectiving'!! (and thank you, very interesting!!)
Night folks!!
Philippa


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## Whodunit

Jana337 said:
			
		

> Very cute: Áñ÷éêÞ Äçìïóßåõóç áðü *Jana337 *


 
It has to do with your encding. If you switch to Greek as forum language, you'll be able to decipher it (provided you can read Greek). 



> I believe that German disappeared because I switched to something else within 4 minutes (you cannot edit a post without a trace after 4 minutes; I do not have a direct proof that these coincide, though). Now it should be there again.


 
Yes, I can see the German "Zitat von". While we are at this, I chose French now. 

EDIT: It seems to work well for every language.


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## Etcetera

Whodunit said:
			
		

> EDIT: It seems to work well for every language.


Yes, it does. I chose French now, and see what we have.


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## Whodunit

Etcetera said:
			
		

> Yes, it does. I chose French now, and see what we have.


 
Yes, it works. As I changed my previous post above after having switched back to Spanish, it now displays "Originalmente publicado por" instead of "Posté par". You'll notice the same, if you edit your post after you have switched to another language.


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## Etcetera

Yes, see what I get. 
(My WR is usually in Italian). 
What a clever forum we have!


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## fenixpollo

I had never noticed this before.  Phil, your first assumption was correct -- I have the forum interface sent to my native language.


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