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Is it rude to reply using English under posts in a language you can’t speak?
(lemmy.blahaj.zone)
this post was submitted on 28 Mar 2025
118 points (93.4% liked)
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Hmmm... I thought it would be rude, but considering the consensus here, people speaking other languages should just respond using their languages to English comments and posts. There are way more non-English speaking people on the planet than English speakers. It would make the fediverse truly international if people did what you did!
Thanks for possibly starting a movement :)
drawing your conclusions from Lemmy demographics??
Mer chönd das scho probiere, aber denn müsst mer ja di ganz Ziit en Übersetzer zur Hand ha, wär denn doch nöd die best UX würdi säge. Das würd d'Neuakömmlige nur no meh verschüüche.
That's not a language, it's a dialect and nowhere near standard. I think there's quite a difference between responding in a language that can be translated by existing translation tools vs whatever offshoot of a dialect you wrote that in. After all, people from the UK will respond in English, not Cockney, Geordi, Brummie or whatever else. And they don't write words how they sound when spoken, which is what you're doing.
Surprisingly your text was translatable by DeeplL
As to the UX, I don't see the problem. Lemmy allows you to select which languages you want to see and if people consistently respond in a language you don't wan to see, you can always block them. It's a pity Lemmy doesn't allow deselecting "Undetermined" because it would turn this into a non-issue.
The point is that languages without large speakerbases might consider barging in with the most recognized languages rude, while languages with similar status might find it normal.
I just used the TWP plugin to translate that comment inline and got, "We could try it, but then we'd have to have a translator on hand the whole time, which wouldn't be the best UX, I think. That would only alienate newcomers even more."
Is that not correct?
That's perfect, exactly what I meant to say.
Neat!
My only complaint with the TWP translator - it doesn't tell me the language/dialect that it translated from. Mind telling me what dialect (of what language) you wrote in?
Swiss/Allemanic German. Specifically I speak Zug's dialect.
Thanks!
I tried translating something before posting it to the same language (Thai) and apparently nobody understood what I was talking about. But enough people understood English, so at least some people would have understood me if I just posted it in English. The others could try translating.
Responding in English, if this is your language, is not Anglo domination. A lot of people learn English as a second language, so many know it. If you translate to Japanese and post it, then when people translate it to English, or Spanish, whatever, it will make no sense whatsoever.
When I traveled to France, a Middle Eastern family came into the restaurant and asked for the English menu. They couldn't read the French menu. But they knew enough English. That's when I realized that restaurants in France offered English menus, not for Westerners, but because more people in the world were likely to understand it rather than French.
I post in English. Translating from English to Spanish is better than English to Japanese to Spanish.