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Comments on Should translation questions be considered off-topic?

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Should translation questions be considered off-topic?

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I realize that we don't have an official stance on translation questions, so I am looking for community feedback. Should translation questions of words/phrases be considered off-topic?

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Poor example? (3 comments)
Poor example?
matthewsnyder‭ wrote about 1 year ago · edited about 1 year ago

The example given is actually not a translation request at all. The user has apparently gotten confused about what they're trying to ask, but they're obviously not asking what the words mean literally. That can be found in a dictionary, and in fact the sample text itself already gives the English "translations". The real question is about explaining multilingual humor, which is a complex topic. It seems unfair to reduce it to a "translation request".

Moshi‭ wrote about 1 year ago

That is true. I just took the title which asked to "untranslate" (translate back to the original) at face value. It doesn't really matter to the question itself so I'll probably just remove it.

matthewsnyder‭ wrote about 1 year ago

No problem! I think this is a good question, just the example has other things so I wonder if it will confuse people. Presumably you want to talk about actual translation requests, not humor, but answers will always be tempted to veer into humor.

Examples are always good though. So maybe just note the complication instead of removing? I'll make an edit suggestion.