# Personal info



## María Madrid

I've checked in case there was a similar thread, and I couldn't find any, so here I go.

There's always some basic information on each member with each mesage they post: Join date, Native of, Number of Posts. Location, as well as other info as age or gender is included only if the forum member chooses to do so. 

I must say I find it kind of annoying when there's no info on location and no specific info is given on "native". Or when the location name is something like "Somewhere over the rainbow..." 

If you're a native Polish speaker, I suppose it doesn't really matter where you are from (it's quite obvious), but saying "native: Spanish" and location "third planet from the Sun" can be misleading to say the least, as what is common in one country can be a taboo word in another. Not to mention when you read Native: Spanish, Finnish, Russian, Chinese, Turkish. Location: At home. Foreign students can hardly know if what they're told is correct or the wild guessing from someone who studies lots of different languages. 

So I was wondering if it would be possible to make those fields mandatory somehow. Not so much about including private information, but necessary, useful, basic data for other members. After all stating what country you come from when your language is spoken in different countries all over the word is not the same as disclosing very personal information.

I don't really care much about age or gender, even though age can be hepful in some cases, but not knowing if what someone is suggesting is just a local use in the Caribbean or some expression I haven't heard before but used by my countrymen is something completely different. Sometimes I may need to translate a text for, say, Argentina, if I get excellent suggestions from someone and decide to use them, but that person is from Central America, it's up to me to decide if I take the risk to use those suggestions, but if I just don't know where that person comes from, I may be taking for granted I'm getting right info, and that may not be the case.

Any input on this? Saludos,


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## ILT

Hi María:

I think you do have a point and I agree with you. Many members of the Spanish/English forums "bypass" this by usually stating: In México we say ..., or In Chile we say..., or even In the central region of México we say...

This way the person reading the thread can differentiate the different options and choose the one that best suits his or her needs.


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## María Madrid

Yes, that's one possibility, but saying that every single time you post a message would be like a bit too much. If they don't write it on their personal profile (you have to type it just once), they won't be writing it each time they post. 

If the personal data clearly provides that info, it'll save time for both poster and reader, no need to type "In xxxx (country name) we say...." every time you answer. Saludos,


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## belén

There are actually other threads that have discussed this subject. Enclosed find the links to some of them:

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=558045
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=60647
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=217464


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## Etcetera

María Madrid said:


> Yes, that's one possibility, but saying that every single time you post a message would be like a bit too much. If they don't write it on their personal profile (you have to type it just once), they won't be writing it each time they post.
> 
> If the personal data clearly provides that info, it'll save time for both poster and reader, no need to type "In xxxx (country name) we say...." every time you answer. Saludos,


It is very true. 
Until quite recently, I began most my posts in the Slavic Languages forum with "In St Petersburg we normally say..." At some point, I got simply bored of it and just added "St Petersburg" after "Russian, Russia" in my profile.
I suppose it's a good idea to indicate your native city as well as native country, as even in (relatively) small countries there are usually some differences between language uses in different parts of the country.


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## María Madrid

Gracias Belén. Te aseguro que había mirado, porque me sonaba de algo el tema, pero fui incapaz de encontrarlo. Saludos,


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## danielfranco

Yo lo veo de la siguiente manera: Que me contesten a mis preguntas lo que quieran, quien quiera hacerlo. Si tuviera alguna duda sobre algo específico, entonces yo me encargo de preguntar detalles (por ejemplo, ¿así le dicen a los viejos peludos en tu ciudad?)
De cualquier manera, hay que tomar todo con un escepticismo sano.
Ahora, entiendo muy bien a los que les choca dar información personal y prefieren apuntar falsedades o chistes en esos apartados. Bienvenidos, digo yo. También hay los que piensan que es buen humor. También, bienvenidos.
En mi caso, por ejemplo, sí resido en DFW, Texas, y sí soy originalmente de la Ciudad de México. Que lo exprese de una manera... hmm... "alterna" nada reduce la validez de mis declaraciones.

Otro punto aparte: También resulta un poco chocante que haya personas que pongan en duda la precisión o la certeza de la respuesta de alguien simplemente porque no son "nativos" del idioma, y tal vez algunos personajes aquí en el foro quieren evitar esta situación y por eso son más bien... este... "vagos" al informarnos de su procedencia.

Pero, claro: es solo una opinión personal y muy bien podría estar equivocado.

Saludos Tex-Mex
Danforth François IV


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## María Madrid

La cuestión no es que poner tus datos personales de manera humorística reduzca la validez de tus opiniones. La cuestión es que los demás no pueden adivinar la validez de tus opiniones si no tienen elementos suficiente para formarse un criterio. Todos hemos sido testigos de que con muy buena voluntad se dicen en este foro disparates de tomo y lomo, y si el que pregunta no es nativo de ese idioma se lo puede tomar como algo correcto. En cualquier caso no cuestiono en absoluto que alguien que no sea nativo pueda tener un excelente dominio de otro idioma. 

La única información personal que se solicita es para facilitar las cosas a los demás a la hora de evaluar sus respuestas, no entiendo qué reticencia puede haber al respecto. No me parece muy educado jugar al despiste en un foro lingüístico donde no se piden datos especialmente personales, sino muy genéricos y con una justificación obvia: dar a los demás las información suficiente para saber si lo que pregunto me sirve o no para una zona concreta. 

¿Que siempre se puede preguntar? Pues, sí claro, pero me parece bastante más considerado dejar claro quién es uno (lingüísticamente hablando) al responder, que poner al otro en la tesitura de decir disimulado de palabras más amables: "¿y dónde dices que se usa eso? porque no sé si me vale para el sitio donde estoy yo y tú no has tenido la delicadeza de explicar dónde se usa. O bien llegar a: "¿eso que me has dicho es realmente así, o me has dicho algo porque te suena bien pero en realidad no tienes demasiada idea y de hecho tu única relación con el idioma es dos veranos que pasaste trabajando de camarero?"

No creo que se trate de estar o no equivocado, creo que se trata de ponerse en el sitio de los demás. De la misma manera que se nos pide que cuando preguntamos demos un contexto, también hay que entender hasta qué punto un intercambio de ideas, por más impersonal que sea y queramos proteger nuestra identidad, implica dar un contexto cultural a nuestra respuesta. Y breve, claro. Saludos,


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## danielfranco

Yes, you are right.
But that's the stumbling block, right there, actually: If you were to place yourself in somebody else's shoes then you'd have to acknowledge that those who insist on "aloofness" in the matter of precise "nativeness" and fluency have the same right to feel that they should continue doing just that, as those who feel that they should not (as long as it's not made mandatory, that is)
(erm, it's already mandatory to fill those spaces when registering and the rules say you shouldn't post under false pretenses, so I guess that's that).
But, no matter: In the short time I've been using these forums I've noticed that most everyone takes the time to explain if their answers are "standard" language or if they are "alternative" or "regional" variants.
Surely, your suggestion just simplifies things a bit more, right?
Toodles! 
D.


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## ERASMO_GALENO

Hola María,

Me parecen válidas tus ideas. Y he pasado por lo mismo varias veces, pero quizá la mayoría de ellas por no saber algo quizá no tan importante: el género del forero al momento de darle la bienvenida a los foros. Si alguien tiene el usuario "totus" podría ser tanto un caballero como una dama, así que termino poniendo bienvenid@. Y a veces he visto que algunas foreras han tenido que especificar su género cuando les responde conjugando en masculino.

Pero por otro lado creo que es más importante lo que mencionas, poder saber el idioma nativo de una persona y su localizacion. En algunas discusiones las alternativas pueden variar muchísimo, y si yo no domino el idioma por el que estoy consultado, pues corro el riesgo de elegir la peor de ellas, o la menos adecuada.

Uno puede empezar depurando por el idioma nativo, y aún dentro de los nativos, por la localidad, que nos puede asegurar el regionalismo exacto que estamos necesitando.

Así que mi voto a favor porque el idioma nativo y la localidad (por lo menos el país) sean mandatorios.

Atentamente,


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## heidita

Estoy contigo en todo, María. 

Yo incluso he escrito Pms a los mods, a ver si le decían a un forero que debía poner su lugar de origen. Pero uno de ellos me contestó hace poco: ya sabes, no todos me hacen caso. Pues ahí sigue con su lugar de origen de "on the moon" (no lo recuerdo bien).

O sea, al parecer los mods no tienen potestad para imponer su criterio en este sentido. Sin embargo todos coinciden, ¿o no? 

Creo que es divertido a título personal poner: soy de Andrómeda. Esto me hace esta de acuerdo con Daniel. Pero a efectos de calcular la certeza o posible error en la traducción/afirmación etc. no es nada práctico. 

Bien es cierto, saber el origen de la persona no garantiza su perfección del idioma. Pero bueno, al menos se debe suponer. Y además se puede mentir descaradamente. Pero ese es otro tema.


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## elroy

heidita said:


> O sea, al parecer los mods no tienen potestad para imponer su criterio en este sentido. Sin embargo todos coinciden, ¿o no?


 Sí, sí, sí. 

Y que conste que no estamos contra la creatividad, simplemente pedimos que se publiquen los datos de alguna manera (siempre que el contenido esté lo suficientemente comprensible, claro está).


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## _forumuser_

Sorry, Spanish is not my cup of tea so forgive me if I am repeating something that has already been said. 

I absolutely disagree that it should be mandatory to state your location in your profile. I think the reason to want to know where a member is from or where s/he resides is that it would allow you to make assumptions about 1) the variant of the language s/he is competent in, 2) his/her command of languages other than that spoken in the area s/he resides, 3) his/her cultural background, and so forth.

First of all, all assumptions formulated based on place of residence may be wrong. This is a world in which people move. You might find a fully competent speaker of Italian in Japan. It is also a world in which people can learn and practice any language regardless of where they live. A person may be a native of the US but for any number of reasons be very familiar with the British variant of the language. In these cases, I'd say the location label misrepresents that user, for it leads other forer@s to make the wrong assumptions about her. 

Secondly, regional differences are irrelevant to many, perhaps most  discussions. More often than not, I think, questions in English Only, for instance, can be answered equally well by speakers born or residing in Australia, Britain, or the US. Besides, a careful forer@ will always make clear in her posts which part of the world they are speaking from when they feel it is relevant. 

Finally, members like myself may choose not to disclose their location for privacy reasons. I see no reason to force them to do what they feel isn't right for them.

I think it's bad enough that we are forced by the law to state where we are born and where we live on official documents, which often leads to unpleasant assumption-making. Thus, I fully support the current policy that allows each single member to choose whether they feel where they reside should be anyone else's business.



heidita said:


> Bien es cierto, saber el origen de la persona no garantiza su perfección del idioma. Pero bueno, al menos se debe suponer.



I don't think the members of this forum should expect or demand guarantees of perfection in the replies they get. In fact, I think this is contrary to the oft quoted "spirit of these forums". We are a community of users who help each other for a smile (on good days), and that, in my opinion, should require no written qualification.


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## María Madrid

_forumuser_ said:


> I'd say the location label misrepresents that user, for it leads other forer@s to make the wrong assumptions about her.


That's true, however this is more an exception than the rule. And you can always include both languages under "native".


_forumuser_ said:


> regional differences are irrelevant to many, perhaps most discussions.


Believe me, that's not the case for some languages, especially Spanish. It may be true when it comes to a basic level, but many questions are a lot more advanced than that. I'll give you that what you say could be true for many other languages. 


_forumuser_ said:


> Besides, a careful forer@ will always make clear in her posts which part of the world they are speaking from when they feel it is relevant.


If that was the case I wouldn't have opened this thread. I'm afraid many forum members just provide info that applies to a very limited area as if it was widely used, I've come across endless examples of misleading posts. 


_forumuser_ said:


> Finally, members like myself may choose not to disclose their location for privacy reasons. I see no reason to force them to do what they feel isn't right for them.


No need to disclose personal information, if you state you're a native speaker that's more than enough. People who claim to be native of four different languages but there's no clue about the country where they live or the local variation they're in contact with... well nothing is impossible, no doubt there can be people with a native level of four languages, but as I said, that's not that common and regional differences play a big role in some languages.


_forumuser_ said:


> I fully support the current policy that allows each single member to choose whether they feel where they reside should be anyone else's business.


 I find it hard to believe that anyone might possibly have the slightest interest in knowing where other forum members live. If they provide the appropriate info in their reply (ie: in xxxxx we say...) that's certainly more than enough. If only that info was always provided... 

Again it's just is about giving some cultural context to our replies in one way or another. The problem is when none is provided.


_forumuser_ said:


> I don't think the members of this forum should expect or demand guarantees of perfection in the replies they get. In fact, I think this is contrary to the oft quoted "spirit of these forums". We are a community of users who help each other for a smile (on good days), and that, in my opinion, should require no written qualification.


No one demands a written qualification but I think that expecting to be able to identify accurate responses is not too much to ask. We all can make mistakes, that's why some additional info can make a big difference when it comes to tell apart a good answer from the wild guessing from someone who doesn't have a working level of the language. Not to mention those who claim to be "native" of a language they obviously don't speak properly... but that's a different issue. Saludos,


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## iaf

Debo decir que no estoy de acuerdo con tu planteo, *María Madrid*.

Creo que estás cayendo en un enfoque bastante simplista en cuanto al conocimiento y manejo de idiomas - y estas cosas dan lugar a dudas y preguntas como esta aquí: http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=580196

También lo que comenta *danielfranco*:


danielfranco said:


> ... También resulta un poco chocante que haya personas que pongan en duda la precisión o la certeza de la respuesta de alguien simplemente porque no son "nativos" del idioma...


...es lo que se está discutiendo aquí y eso te explica porqué puede haber reticencia al respecto.

Con respecto a los *"elementos suficientes para formarse un criterio"*
A ver: Si mirás por ejemplo mi perfil ves dónde vivo y cuál es mi lengua materna. ¿Pero qué tanto te dicen esos datos sobre la certeza de mis mensajes? No te dice dónde pude haber pasado mi infancia, qué idiomas hablan mis padres, en qué ámbito cultural crecí, cuántos años estudié tal o cual idioma o qué tan bien/mal los hablo, etc., etc. (Dicho sea de paso, los aportes disparatados que he visto, en la mayoría de los casos, provenían de "nativos". Los "no-nativos" suelen ser muy respetuosos al respecto.)
Terminarás haciendo presunciones, como dice *forumuser*, y eso sería una pena en un foro marcadamente multicultural como éste.

Creo que esto es un poco como la vida real... podés averiguar si alguien tiene apellido renombrado, cuál es su situacón socioeconómica, su domicilio, su familia, su formación... pero todo queda en presunciones hasta conocer realmente a la persona y lo que aporta através del tiempo.

De última, si te surgen dudas por no saber algún dato personal de alguien que mandó un mensaje, simplemente no lo tengas en cuenta y punto, ya que la mayoría de los foreros indican los datos que solicitás y podrás respaldarte en sus respectivas respuestas.

Saludos, 
iaf.


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## María Madrid

iaf said:


> También lo que comenta *danielfranco*:
> 
> Originally Posted by *danielfranco*
> 
> 
> ... También resulta un poco chocante que haya personas que pongan en duda la precisión o la certeza de la respuesta de alguien simplemente porque no son "nativos" del idioma...
> 
> ...es lo que se está discutiendo aquí.


 
Pues la verdad es que no, no es eso lo que estoy debatiendo y si te fijas he dejado perfectamente claro más arriba que no creo en absoluto que sea preciso ser nativo para dar una respuesta adecuada. Tampoco veo la relación que estableces con ese hilo que incluyes.

Por no repetirme, simplemente creo que sería más considerado con los demás dar unos datos básicos mínimos, ya sea en los datos que aparecen en cada hilo o dentro del mensaje. Lo que no me parece bien es cuando ni lo uno ni lo otro. 

¿Que alguien quiere ponerse que es nativo de cuatro idiomas y residente "a la orilla del mar"? Vale, no digo que no los haya, pero dudo que sean tantos, muchos foreros ponen en nativo varios idiomas cuando en realidad sólo lo son de uno.

En cuanto a lo de formarse un criterio, pues sí, a falta de una voz, un acento, etc, que me marque la pauta considero muy útil tener algo que me permita saber si me vale o no lo que me dicen en lugar de, como sugieres tú, hacer caso omiso de esa respuesta. Para pasar de las respuestas no tiene sentido preguntar. 

Eso sí, no me intereresa nada cotillear en la vida de nadie ni de sus padres ni su infancia, de la misma manera que yo tampoco proporciono información de la mía, que ha sido bastante agitadita geográfica y lingüísticamente, dicho sea de paso. Quizá sea justo por eso por lo que considero importante encuadrar las respuestas en un contexto concreto.


iaf said:


> Dicho sea de paso, los aportes disparatados que he visto, en la mayoría de los casos, provenían de "nativos". Los "no-nativos" suelen ser muy respetuosos al respecto


Pues mi experiencia ha sido precisamente la contraria y personalmente creo que lo simplista es poner, por ejemplo, nativo de español sin más. Mi solicitud va en ese sentido, no en otro. Repito que estoy de acuerdo en que para otros idiomas no sea tan necesario. Saludos,


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## _forumuser_

Maria, 
My rantings didn't deserve such a thorough inspection.  I see your point, but I'd prefer things to stay as they are. Saludos.


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## Fernando

I would BEG all forum user to let it clear if they are native or not. I notice that, sometimes, native people give wrong opinions but, at least, are wrong because they are incorrect, but they are USED.

I do not see the point of privacy. I am a privacy fan and I could defy you to find someone with relation with a "Fernando" in Madrid. If I were living in Chinchón (a town in the province of Madrid), I would write down "Madrid" with no significant information loss.

Since I am against mandatory rules, I would not enforce my demand of information.


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## JB

My username is made up, and my profile says what it says . 
Still, when I post, if it is relevant, I try to specify "where I lived in Mexico", or "formal Spanish", or "here in So. Calif. " or "en los EEUU", etc. 

I do always look at the poster's profile, and I think it would be great if everyone would fill it out accurately, but if they don't, they don't. 
(You can always send a *polite* PM asking the person for clarification, or use the Report-A-Post red triangle asking the Moderators Team to contact the person.)


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## ERASMO_GALENO

Hola de nuevo,

Quisiera expresar que no estoy de acuerdo tampoco con la idea de que la mayor parte de errores los cometen, o cometemos, los nativos. He visto muchas veces que un angloparlante coloca una traducción, con el mejor de los ánimos, claro está, al español, y resulta ser una expresión incorrecta. Puede que, palabra por palabra, sea una traducción literalmente correcta, pero que no refleja el sentido adecuado en castellano. Y con el simple hecho de ver el la procedencia, uno puede darse cuenta del origen del error (que como repito se comete sin ninguna mala intención).

Y debo confesar que yo he caido muchas veces en ese error. He lanzado una traducción literal al inglés, para luego darme cuenta, por los aportes de nativos o foreros que viven en países angloparlantes, que era un expresión idiomática, regional o mundial, pero desconocida para mi, que no soy nativo.

Se ha dicho en varios mensajes que nada cuesta ver el perfil del forero, pero realmente sí cuesta, cuesta tiempo. Imaginemos que tengamos que hacer ese pequeño chequeo con cada post o cada forero que aporta algo nuevo a nuestra discusión... el tiempo que pasamos en el foro se podría duplicar o triplicar (dependiendo de la rapidez de nuestra conexión).

Otro asunto es el de la privacidad. Imagino que puede haber temor de parte de algunos foreros acerca de que alguien termine acosándolos en su ciudad. Pero ya bastante ayuda se da con mencionar el país, que creo no da demasiadas pistas para que uno pueda ser encontrado físicamente. Uno no tiene que mencionar su distrito o su barrio, tan sólo su país.

Bueno, no los aburro más.

Saludos,


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## elroy

ERASMO_GALENO said:


> Se ha dicho en varios mensajes que nada cuesta ver el perfil del forero, pero realmente sí cuesta, cuesta tiempo. Imaginemos que tengamos que hacer ese pequeño chequeo con cada post o cada forero que aporta algo nuevo a nuestra discusión... el tiempo que pasamos en el foro se podría duplicar o triplicar (dependiendo de la rapidez de nuestra conexión).


 Pero si la persona pone esa información en el perfil, no hace falta ir al perfil para verla ya que aparece arriba en la esquina de cada mensaje.  Asimismo, si la persona no pone la información no servirá ir al perfil - a no ser que por alguna razón la persona ponga la información bajo otro título (la biografía, por ejemplo).  En fin, el problema no es que la información no esté fácilmente disponible, es que no está disponible en absoluto.


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## ERASMO_GALENO

Hi elroy,

Well, I had to take a look to your profile to tell wich one was your native language, Arabic (even when what you can see on then right upper corner is that you put English first). Then I saw you put you speak English like an American person, but you wrote "lover of all things German" when, I think, it should be "lover of all German things" (but you should be aware I am not a native English speaker).

So again, I think it is important to know something about your interlocutor. Native country and language, and where he/she is now.

Regards,


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## TrentinaNE

ERASMO_GALENO said:


> but you wrote "lover of all things German" when, I think, it should be "lover of all German things" (but you should be aware I am not a native English speaker).


_Lover of all things + nationality_ is a set phrase in English.  And elroy really does speak (or at least write) AmE like a native.  

Elisabetta, Lover of all things Trentino


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## papillon

ERASMO_GALENO said:


> ...but you wrote "lover of all things German" when, I think, it should be "lover of all German things"...


If only there were some forum ... a forum where such expressions could be discussed. How cool would that be!
all things French
all things British
all things American



ERASMO_GALENO said:


> So again, I think it is important to know something about your interlocutor. Native country and language, and where he/she is now.


I guess the bottom line is: most (not all) seem to agree that it's a good idea. The rules ask that you include this info. But in the end, if someone refuses to do it, what would you do about it? I would imagine that enforcement is pretty darn impossible.


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## ERASMO_GALENO

My mistake... makes my point!


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## karuna

papillon said:


> I guess the bottom line is: most (not all) seem to agree that it's a good idea. The rules ask that you include this info. But in the end, if someone refuses to do it, what would you do about it? I would imagine that enforcement is pretty darn impossible.



Firstly, I think that in many cases the present location is not very important or can even be misleading. For example, if someone has moved to another country just 3 months ago, then it is completely different situation than for a person who has lived there all life. If one thinks that this information is is relevant then it is ok to include it but it should be optional. Native language and country are more important.

Secondly, it may be sensitive information for many people. In some cases I don't disclose my current country of residence even to people I work for. And there are many reasons for it, for example, if you have visited/lived in Israel, you can forget about going to many Arab countries as a tourist.


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## María Madrid

karuna said:


> if you have visited/lived in Israel, you can forget about going to many Arab countries as a tourist.


 If you go to an any country you show your passport, not your nickname and profile on the forums where you're active. I understand the importance of privacy, but I find it hard to believe that it's impossible to provide a cultural reference without disclosing personal data.


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## karuna

María Madrid said:


> If you go to an any country you show your passport, not your nickname and profile on the forums where you're active. I understand the importance of privacy, but I find it hard to believe that it's impossible to provide a cultural reference without disclosing personal data.



That may be true, but the experience with other cultures has also taught me to guard the personal information. My Chinese godbrothers have been arrested because of newspaper articles that even didn't mention their names and were published in other countries. It is even against the law to post on the Internet without revealing your real name in China. Not everybody in the world enjoys the same protection and rights as the Western word does. Why can't we respect their choice not to disclose the current location?


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## María Madrid

I understand your point Karuna and I agree things are different in other countries, however those are extreme situations that don't quite relate to what I originally suggested. Someone living in Valencia, Asunción, Harrogate or Chicago is not likely to get in trouble for clearly stating their mother tongue and local variety. When I say I find it useful to include location it's only referred to languages spoken in different countries, if that info is included in native (ie Spanish/Perú), that would do most of the times.


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## karuna

Then maybe the tag "Location" is confusing because I understand that it asks where I am living *right now *that has almost nothing to do with my language skills and/or culture. Why not just extend the field "Home country,* city/region, *and native language"? Then I would write "Latvia, Vidzeme, Latvian".


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## elroy

ERASMO_GALENO said:


> So again, I think it is important to know something about your interlocutor. Native country and language, and where he/she is now.


 Precisely.   Which is why I have that information in my profile.

I have to say, I was somewhat amused by the sleuthing you did in an attempt to "figure me out."   My linguistic background is unusual, but it's not that bizarre.  My mother tongue is Arabic (the Palestinian variety, to be specific), but I attended an American school where the language of instruction was exclusively English (except for Arabic class) and where I picked up English without learning it the way foreigners do.  For all intents and purposes, I have two native languages - hence the appearance of both of them in my profile.  English appears first because it is my dominant language; I am more proficient and comfortable in English, despite the fact that Arabic is my first language.

In a nutshell, I am bilingual, as is also evident in my profile.


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## María Madrid

karuna said:


> Why not just extend the field "Home country,* city/region, *and native language"? Then I would write "Latvia, Vidzeme, Latvian".


 
I don't really think such detailed information is necessary for all languages.

As for where you're living right now, it may be relevant for languages with different varieties as mentioned above, or in case of those who are fluent in several languages (including the language from the country the live in even if not natives), but certainly not for all cases.


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## karuna

It all is becoming more and more complicated. Since this is primarily the language forum it would make more sense to just list all languages that one speaks and learns and variations with qualifying information. For example:

Spanish (Mexican): native, grew up and completed my education
Spanish (Spain): lived there for 3 years
English: C2 proficiency level 
French: colloquial level, still learning
etc.


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## heidita

karuna said:


> It all is becoming more and more complicated. Since this is primarily the language forum it would make more sense to just list all languages that one speaks and learns and variations with qualifying information. etc.


 
Really one can do that in the personal profile.

I still agree with María, the native language and country is essential to a reasonable evaluation of the answer. 

Of course, María and I are talking from the Spanish point of view. Spanish is spoken by such a variety of people that it is sometimes not clear at all if the person is Spanish at all, as one might never even heard of such and such expression and if the nationality is not stated, one can think, the poster is making just a silly mistake.

In some degree this happens in English too. I personally think it is necessary to know if the speaker is Amercan or British. 

Even in German we have some pointed differences to Austrians and Swiss German speakers. (I actually once corrected (on the German forum) an Austrian speaker...and she actually _had_ stated her native country! Shame on me! Well, a mod told me (off).)


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## karuna

No one argues against necessity to indicated a native language and country. It is *Location:* part that seems to have no real purpose except in very specific cases.


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## Paulfromitaly

karuna said:


> No one argues against necessity to indicated a native language and country. It is *Location:* part that seems to have no real purpose except in very specific cases.


I kindly disagree:
When I read a post in EO, for example, I care to know whether the forero speaks AE, BE or AuE.
It makes a difference, especially when it comes to colloquial or slang English.


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## TrentinaNE

Paulfromitaly said:


> When I read a post in EO, for example, I care to know whether the forero speaks AE, BE or AuE.


Paul, as others have pointed out above, where one is *currently* living might not be a good indicator of the variety of English (or Spanish or German or...) that they speak. That information should be reflected in the "Native of" field.  (See, e.g., Heidita's or elroy's profile.)

Elisabetta


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## Primal

I definitly think that native language and country of origin is essential, I think that this has been decided. I also think that current location is important though, because even if you grew up in one place, you could be hearing a phrase, that has a certain sence only in the dialect of your current location such as what happened in this thread (post #5).

I also think that age is important, because people from different age groups might use different words to mean completely different things. (Urban Dictionary has thousands of examples of this) and I think it is also useful to know how old someone is if they are answering a question, because people from different age groups can have compelety different points of view. 

I _don't_ think that in order to enter age we should have to enter our birth date. My mom doesn't want me to have my birthday on the Internet, but I would still like to have my age displayed so that people can know that I am only 14 when they are reading my post. That way they can consider better if it applies to their individual context, think "Wow, smart kid " or even think "gah, what is that kid thinking... " But I don't like having my birthday here. Privacy again.
Anyway, that's what I think,
Prymal


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## Nanon

karuna said:


> No one argues against necessity to indicated a native language and country. It is *Location:* part that seems to have no real purpose except in very specific cases.



I agree. Location does not necessarily give any indication about one's command of a language. 
Plus, the city where I live is irrelevant. I am away from home 50% of my time and the remaining 50% my location should read "Versailles, France". However Versailles cannot be defined as my home town, and living in Versailles does not show in the way I speak French.
I included other locations in my profile whenever it could give an idea of my degree of exposure to a given language, but I eventually decided not to. Furthermore, I can be in countries or places of which I don't know the language or dialect. And I don't want to mislead people with a location that would give a false idea of my proficiency. After all, I am moving around... a lot.

About language learning. Today I thought about editing my profile again. Should I say somewhere how I rate my level in each language? The other day I had to exchange a couple of posts in the Spanish-French forum to explain that I was not mistranslating from French into Spanish, I was just using a common Latin American variant. The other poster assumed that since I was born in Europe I was automatically expected to speak European Spanish!... Maybe the dialect / variant should also appear for other languages, whenever relevant.


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