How about having a "Spanish Collectors" forum, "Arab Collectors", etc, were members speaking these languages could help each other and discuss things in their preferred language?
I believe this is easily doable, comparing to the translation idea.
And in case that wasn't clear, I do not mean we need to have a Spanish forum just like we have English and French forums. I'm just saying that we can add new forums under the "Most Popular Coin Contest"
Was this not suggested not too long ago? I remember something like this when a member asked something in another language and a debate was sparked over it.
The problem with adding a new category is you have to consider how many languages understand the word "Languages". Spanish for example would be "Idiomas", Italy "le lingue" ...etc.
Personally I only think it would work if it is its own forum for that language. That would be a serious task to achieve. But would give numista a massive boost as far as a recognisable name chasing the heels of the big hitters like NGC etc. In the long run it would be massively beneficial to the Numista name. But of course this is only possible if the work is put into creating them all.
Restoration addict : Verdigris Removal : Zinc White spot removal : Iron Rust Removal : Silver brooch/necklace mount Removal
We have a quite nice range of talent and expertise which we are able to share via our English lingua franca. Balkanizing the website would isolate us from each other and prevent the free flow of information which makes Numista so wonderful. Many of our really top tier members use English as a second language. Some are so fluent that I often forget that I'm talking to a Johnny Foreigner! Others find it much harder but even those members improve their English skills by using them and we manage to find a way to convey our thoughts eventually.
I'd really be sad to lose such valuable sources of information merely for linguistic convenience.
I predict that any well intentioned move to create language based sub forums would instead give us sparsely populated numismatic ghettos. Those with more fluency would very quickly abandon the new forums and return to the English ones, leaving behind those not so fluent to watch the tumbleweeds blowing down Main Street in a virtual ghost town.
A better solution would be to provide a "TRANSLATE THIS PAGE" button like the Colnect forums use.
Non illegitimis carborundum est. Excellent advice for all coins.
Make Numismatics Great Again!
That's very easy for you Phil because you're a native speaker. I'm agree that most of us can speak english (maybe not all time grammatically correct) but you cannot be insensitive to those who know just their native language. I don't encourage the division of the forum on languages because I don't want to see threads in different languages just because they can and because they represent a language community on Numista but an alternative for those who really can't speak english or french. Some may be embarrassed to used google translate and instead they don't post at all just to avoid mistakes. So we are in the position where we can lose valuable information on both sides. Maybe not a new sub-forum but an alternative is desirable.
Perhaps a compromise is to have something like the "World coin chat" threads. Start a thread in your language in the free discussion forum, have a sticky thread called "Threads in other languages" at the top of the free discussion forum. In that thread you can put a link to any other threads that have been started in other languages.
Cita: "neilithic"Perhaps a compromise is to have something like the "World coin chat" threads. Start a thread in your language in the free discussion forum, have a sticky thread called "Other languages threads" at the top of the free discussion forum. In that thread you can put a link to any other threads that have been started in other languages.
https://en.numista.com/forum/topic39496.html
Cita: "Andy289"That's very easy for you Phil because you're a native speaker. I'm agree that most of us can speak english (maybe not all time grammatically correct) but you cannot be insensitive to those who know just their native language. I don't encourage the division of the forum on languages because I don't want to see threads in different languages just because they can and because they represent a language community on Numista but an alternative for those who really can't speak english or french. Some may be embarrassed to used google translate and instead they don't post at all just to avoid mistakes. So we are in the position where we can lose valuable information on both sides. Maybe not a new sub-forum but an alternative is desirable.
I understand fully and having very litte grasp of languages I would find it impossible to participate in a non English site. I have nothing but admiration for those with fluent English, even more so for those who are not linguistically gifted but still rise to the challenge.
I don't have a better solution, I wish I did. I'm sure there are many members with great contributions to make but can't because of the language barrier.
My instincts are to make sure they feel comfortable in participating in the mainstream rather than marginalizing them to a sub forum. I like to see those with more fluency helping to explain meanings which are unclear, which is pretty much the way things are done now. This approach combined with an "in page" translator is probably the best compromise.
Non illegitimis carborundum est. Excellent advice for all coins.
Make Numismatics Great Again!
Cita: "neilithic"Perhaps a compromise is to have something like the "World coin chat" threads. Start a thread in your language in the free discussion forum, have a sticky thread called "Other languages threads" at the top of the free discussion forum. In that thread you can put a link to any other threads that have been started in other languages.
https://en.numista.com/forum/topic39496.html
Fully agree.
Spot on in my opinion, so I +1 this
Restoration addict : Verdigris Removal : Zinc White spot removal : Iron Rust Removal : Silver brooch/necklace mount Removal
Cita: "oggy"As long as I can have an Icelandic forum all to myself for fisherman jokes, I'm all good.
In all seriousness, I think the compromise thing makes sense.
