Foreign Language - Managing

[Steve Freides]

We are headquartered in the US but have people around the world. Do we need to create separate XF installations for users of other languages? Ideally, I would have a forum section for each of several "foreign" languages on our main site.

Thanks in advance for anyone who has to deal with this sort of thing for their ideas on managing it.

-S-

 

[dougdirac]

I have the same issue. We have regional forums where people are allowed to post in their native languages. Makes moderation a bit difficult, though.

I'd like an option where users can choose a language preference so things like menus and emails are in their native tongue.

 

[Steve Freides]

Translating is, indeed, risky business. We have a person lined up who will moderate our first foreign language attempt. I don't think there can be any substitute for a trusted person who is fluent in the language in question.

Do you maintain separate installations for these, or are the language-specific "forums" just nodes in your main forum tree and installation? That's my first decision, whether to add a section to the current forum or host it separately, give it its own web address, that sort of thing.

My preference is to have a single, forum node/section for each foreign language, and only expand that to match the node tree of our main forum if there is sufficient volume.

-S-

 

[dougdirac]

You're right there is no substitute for a trusted person in that language. It can just be difficult to keep tabs on and there are also cultural differences.

Our forum has members from all over, but the lingua franca of our site is English. So if members want to discuss things in the general sections, that needs to be in English. It's only the local/regional forums where it makes sense to allow non-English. I don't have any plans to add additional sub-forums to duplicate content on the rest of our forum. We accept that a certain number of our members are ESL and don't mind the occasional odd phrasing.

 

[Steve Freides]

Agreed on all counts. Are you regional forums separate XF installations? Part of why I'd like _not_ to do that is I would still be able to moderate all new accounts, which I currently do via a User Promotion so I see _all_ first posts. I would like to keep that and feel I can still spot spam that way.

-S-

 

[dougdirac]

Nope, just regional sub forums. I don't have the time or interest to be running other websites.