I think that when possible the community at large might benefit if the multi language participants would post answers first in English and a translation in their 2nd language!
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Moved to new thread in meta forum
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Hm, Iāll try and do that then.
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Problem is, I fear this will take undue vertical space.
It would be nice to have a āSpoilerā formatting option to fold translations so that people can just unfold them if they think it might be worth it.
ā French translation ā
Par contre, jāai peur que Ƨa prenne trop de place verticalement.
Ća serait pas mal si on avait Ć notre disposition une balise āSpoilā pour quāil soit possible de āplierā la traduction pour que les gens puissent la dĆ©plier si Ƨa les chante.
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Thatās a good point - perhaps the first line of secondary language displayed as the unfold option. This would render redundant identification such as ā French translation ā
alternately an offer to pm in the secondary language
Hi @pfeiffep,
@wolfman is kind of indifferent on this, I understand the need for the forum to be outreaching to the big wide world and the need to help anyone in any country in basically any language but it would be better (imo) to have separate language sections, rather than have 2 languages in one post/thread.
Many forums have language sections, mostly the main languages like French, German, Spanish, Russian and so on and I really donāt see why this forum cannot do the same, I told @Wimpy ages ago that I would mod German if he so desired and I am sure that there are other people on the forum far more capable than me. 
Anyway, thatās my tuppence worth!. Keep up the good work troops!.
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Yes, there are communities that have different sections for other languages. But we have to be aware that it is then possible those sections are getting a live on their own. There are forums where members are only visiting the, wel letās say, Dutch section (hey, canāt help it. I am Dutch) and never ever visit the English sections, thereby missing Announcements, News items etc.
So, maintaing the āotherā languages also means that every Announcement, every News item has to be translated and posted in those sections. And for the UM Community team there is probably no change to check whether the translations are correct. We would not want to have posts lost in translation.
My vote would be to do as @pfeiffep suggested. English and the āotherā language in one thread.
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Iām thinking it would be better to have a Multilingual Discussions category so that non-English speakers are more comfortable speaking natively in the community.
Iām not quite keen to vote for encouraging in-line translationsā¦ as @ouroumov mentions, it wastes vertical space, with little benefit if the (broken) English can be understood anyway.
We donāt have any āspoilerā buttons to make them optional to see either. 
Iām going to draft a plan for how we could manage a community-led multilingual category,
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I believe multilingual discussions separated from the mainstream would detract from the overall community benefiting from solutions presented.
A multilingual section may work, or it may be a disaster. 
We need to look at the pros and cons.
A multilingual category shouldnāt split the community, but instead help non-English speakers get their point across and be assisted with resources we have already.
Multiple languages in a thread sounds contradicting. If one language means X but the translation suggests Y, it could bring introduce some awkward (and useless) answers due to the language barrier. 
Iād like to think that our members would double check whatever translations they post to insure correctness.
Multiple languages in a thread sounds contradicting. If one language
means X but the translation suggests Y, it could bring introduce some
awkward (and useless) answers due to the language barrier
This is an English Language Forum and as such answers should always be in English; if the responder is competent in a second language my idea was to post a translation in that language. The down side of this might be that English only members might feel their answers and thoughts are less important.
Possibly have a linked separate single area for responders competent in a second language to provide answers in their second language ā¦ a link created in the original answer indicating what language ā¦ or maybe this isnāt available in Discourse either.
I know you stated already that a hide away or fold down option isnāt available in Discourse - is there any possibility it might be offered in an upcoming release or upgrade?
Are there Ubuntu* help forums in other languages? Maybe this multiple language idea is interesting but should be placed on a keep warm burner so to speak. 
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If thereās a āspoilerā plug-in available for Discourse, we might be able to prod @Wimpy to add it.
There are individual forums hosted around the world talking about Ubuntu in their language. Ubuntu Forums have a āLoCo teamsā area, but not a dedicated support category. Iām thinking of a category that acts as a ābridgeā between our English topics, and discussions in native languages around Ubuntu MATE.
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There are several forums that have multi-language sections and they all seem to do well!, it is worth noting that the Ubuntu Mate forum is still a fledgling and will need time to grow, once the Linux world is aware of UM, I think there will be a stark influx of new members from all over the world, using translation tools like āGotrans Oglelateā doesnāt always help as thing are often lost in translation but because the poster doesnāt know any different, they accept Googles translation as true!:
http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/
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The Linux community is already well-aware of UM.
It will be interesting to see how well this actually develops. Ideally, if thereās already a question in English and somebody translated it, theyāde repost that question or link to it and hope for answers in their native tongue. Alas, the problem here is who else would speak in the tongue of another that isnāt English, unless there are enough bi-lingual people who can work both in English and non-English subforums?
Certainly, the effort put into the idea is good, but I worry about the execution.
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Iām bi-lingual (English/German) and I also can do a little bit of French, I think the idea of reaching out to the whole world with other language sections is the way forward!, I did say so above. As far as your point about implementation goes, it would get tiring very quickly for some as they would not only have to check English but also make very sure that the language they are responding to is also correct, a double whammy if you like!.
Another point I would like to mention is that if you make a screenshot when answering a thread, you would need it in both languages!. 
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Like the Mint forum?
As @tiox mentions, how this is executed is important.
If we just literally create a new category for non-English speakers, Iād say that would treat them like second-class citizensā¦ that could lead to abandonment if topics never get responses.
We should run a poll and see how diverse our community is.
To avoid the second-class citizen problem, I was thinking more towards encouraging the sharing of our existing (English) content and starting discussions in their native language ā whether talking about a media coverage, or a problem that has been solved by an [English] solution.
One step further is having a group of regular members whoād like to actively reach out to their fellow native speakers. Whether helping them and/or voluntary translating content, like announcements.
E.g. If @wolfman desired to translate his user guides, theyād be pinned for German users. 
So, @anon42388993, yes and no. We could create the categories and thatās it, or should we take a step further so weāre not leaving our non-English speakers feeling isolated?
Itās a simple problem, but hard one to get rightā¦
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Just throwing it out there to get your opinions on the ideaā¦
How about a targeted Transifex project for the Support & Help Requests category?
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Unfortunately, I donāt think thatās technically possible. Transifex is designed for translating programs and services, not as such a forum.
Even so, I see that as a lot of work for little in return.
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