Is English a mandatory language on the Forum ?

Thank you for your prompt response.
I told about this forum to many people here in Rio but they can't speak English.

I was just encquirng. As there are people here enthusiastic with the idea of a stamp forum, maybe I could advise them to start a similar forum in Portuguese in a proper Brazilian web site...

Was just a simple personal doubt anyway.
Thank you!

Hi Steve Admin that’s a useful addition I was not aware of when I replied to ausbrasilien .

Typical of an English speaker (me) not to have found it !

Hello ausbrasilien - 

I will give a different answer:

You are absolutely welcome to post in whatever language you prefer. If you & your friends in Brazil wish to post messages in Portuguese, please feel free! It is ABSOLUTELY allowed. 

As stated, the majority of members here speak only English. So if you & your friends post only in Portuguese, you'll effectively be talking among yourselves. Which is perfectly fine - but ignores a large part of our membership. 

To make the conversations better, more english would be necessary. The translate feature can be helpful in this regard. I'd tell you & your friends to practice your english - as I'd equally tell existing members to practice their portuguese - (!?!) - I'll let you draw your own conclusions as to which will happen faster?!!!!

Lots of South American / Brazilian collectors here that would welcome your contributions. And those from your friends. Start with Portuguese to get everyone comfortable with the platform, and we'll figure out the language barriers later...

Common English expression: Pictures are worth 1000 words!!

I live in Guayaquil,Ecuador and used to teach English . One student once told me he could not understand me as I didn,t speak American English..........

Anglobob

Google Translate is actually pretty good nowadays - I've been able to hold fairly detailed conversations with folks on philatelic topics without a language in common. It does get some philatelic terms wrong so double-checking is needed for those (e.g. Google thinks "hinges" refers to door hinges, and "gum" to chewing gum, both of which are understandable!)

So perhaps posting in your own language - and providing an English translation using a translation tool for others - will allow you to express yourself most eloquently in your own language - and also allow others who don't read Portuguese (or whichever language you natively use) to be involved in the discussion too.

~Greg

Even Arthur Colan Doyle jokes about the English typical language features  in one of Sherlock Holmes adventures... But the new response came s a surprise even for me... the translation tool is a brilliant way of integrating non-English speakers...

mdroth, you are right as well. If people start to speak different languages here, this forum will become multilingual and everybody would miss the entirety of the conversation. Howevwer, it is difficult to overcome a debt from the Brazilian educational System in only a few months. I believe that your suggestion to make people come to the forum and start to speak their on languages at the beginning and then start to learn how to use the translation featuere and post in English would be a great tool to add people with either poor or none English language skills to this forum. Maybe, the fact of not speaking English might discourage people with high knowledge of philately to join in. I believe rules are to be obeyed and I abide to the rules, what ever they are in the forum. Thank you again.

Don't miss the key point here:


Good to hear this. But there is NO rule that says you must post in English. Feel free to use whatever language you prefer...

I think it would be a educational advancement for all if intentions are good and we are here to learn I wouldn’t mind trying to get a lil bit of the language your inviting onto the site myself.
Being a learner I’d love the idea and would like to see and encounter more site build or forum expansion in the future if not more frequent it’s 100% understandable so much that it is now a bit of a thaught , why I or we don’t see more of this it’s a member addition and I say more stamps more stamps, leads to more hidden treasure. As a treasure hunter I would not limit my self in the least if the red X was off the map lol

I welcome every one that has stamps on their mind enjoy if I may,
John/ Graphicbadger92

Well just click at the top of this thread left side the language button choose any other language and immediately before leaving this page Click the language button drop down and click English and walla your Ukrainian is just fine

but there's no Klingon button?!?

Nor do you get to speak hieroglyph heh.

Hi

Anglobob: My sister-in-law in Quito says that I speak Spanish like a French Cow (Note that the French say "One speaks French like a Spanish Cow").

The Google translate is a lot better in translating than it used to be. Generally, it does a great job. However, in some cases the translation fails. For instance a stamp hinge in Spanish is commonly fijasellos.  If put through Google Translate it becomes fix them. Also note that, at least in Latin America, there may be multiple words for the same thing.

So, while posting in Portuguese may be accepted, be aware that translating may not give 100% accurate results.

However, I think we are missing something. If the poster wishes to post in a language other than English:

1.  Set the Google translate button to one's own native language.
2.  Type the text that is desired in the poster's native language.
3.  Click the key sequence CTRL+A to select the post text.
4.  Re-set the Google translate button to English. Note that it may take a second or two while translating.
5.  After translation, if possible, correct any glaring translation mistakes.

May be a little tedious, but it gets the job done with a few clicks and the poster's text is in English, even though written in a language other than English, i.e. Portuguese. 
Any errors in English is alright. 

If I have made a mistake in procedure PM me with the correction(s).

Jerry B

Hi

I further tested my solution. Forget it. It doesn't work. First of all, English is not always in the list of languages. I guess the only way is to type the post on the standalone Google web page, translate to English, copy the translation, return to Forum and paste the English.  Another problem that I did not think of of is that the "translate button" is at the top of the thread and the post may be at the bottom.   That is also a problem for those trying to translate English to another Language.

Admin.  Can the translate option be added, somehow, so that it is available for both new posts and existing threads??

I thought I had something

Jerry B