Default Discourse Interface Language Improvement

Meta
1

When I first came across this forum, the default interface language was English and the difficulties mentioned below did not occur.

Some time ago, a change made the forum display an option to select the interface language at the top right of the page.

This lasted a few days, and then the forum started selecting the language requested by the browser, which has caused some friction in the translation tools of the recommended browsers.

In Firefox, where the translation is local, it became necessary to select a phrase for translation and then translate the entire page.
In Brave it’s worse because its online translator has some bugs that cause the page to undo the translation, or force the user to reload the page, after the translation stops working, by not identifying the language used in it because of the mixture of languages (one for the interface and the English of the posts).

This is the standard behavior of the forum when accessed without an account, for browsers that request languages other than English.

On the other hand, these automatic translation tools work normally if the default language of the forum interface is English.

Considering that the common language to be used on the forum is English, it makes sense for this to be the default language of the interface, since users of other languages will in any case be forced to translate the titles and posts they read.

Most of the time I follow the forum without being connected to an account and this has been my experience and reflection for a positive improvement for users whose native language is other than English, and who for whatever reason prefer to just read rather than create an account to participate in the discussions.

Thank you for your dedication, thank you for any feedback, see you soon.

3

This is a good idea for non-native English speakers, but I personally find it difficult to realize.

This forum is powered by Discourse

Blockquote Discourse features | Discourse - Civilized Discussion

You can understand that PG has rented their house and can only decorate the interior, they have no right to change the main structure.

That’s just my guess, I’m not sure

1 Like
4

Hello cuyholc6857, thank you for participating.

I participate in other forums powered by Discourse that keep the interface in English by default, regardless of the language requested by the browser, for those who are browsing without a registered account. I believe this can be done in this forum.

For those of you who are registered, there seems to be something new. There’s a button at the bottom of each post, with a globe symbol, that translates into the language you selected in profile > preferences > interface > Interface language. Valuable addition, PG Team. thank you!

5

We will likely not fix this, because we are going to add machine translation of all posts that are accessible to logged out users instead, just like the ones you see with the globe icon when you’re logged in.

The language selector at the top of the page is re-enabled for logged out users, however.

1 Like
6

Jonah, I would like to thank you and the team for dedicating so much care to the site and the forum. I’ve been following since the change of domain/ownership and the improvement of the site is visible.

Thank you for these changes, they make reading much easier and more accessible.

I wish this forum a long and healthy life! Thank you!

1 Like