Asking for translations is a common and normal technique that novice language students use to learn their language of choice. This allows them to connect and transfer some of their existing language skills to the target language.

A dictionary is arguably nothing more than a bunch of single-word translations, and yet it would be silly if a language site banned questions about equivalent words across languages.

I suppose the worst case scenario with allowing translation requests is that the site may come to be seen as a place where translators offer their work for free, which would perhaps be nice for asker, but not very fun for answerers.

The obvious solution would be to qualify:

• When asking for a translation, you must first try resources like Google Translate, and only if they don't work you're allowed to ask here
• Translation requests should specify exactly what was wrong with the translation obtained from the "other source"
• Translation requests should be limited to the part that didn't translate well. For example, don't ask about for the whole letter if it's only the signature that's giving you trouble.

This gives plenty of room for pedagogy, while also preventing questions that don't contribute much to the site. When the [translation] tag is added to a question, the site UX can warn them about the rule. People would only ask non-straightforward translation requests, where explaining the translation is actually a useful learning opportunity, without clogging up the site with uninteresting posts.

posted 7 months ago

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matthewsnyder‭

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