French--->English

[+camnpete]

I'm planning a trip from the US to Montreal and Quebec City. I notice that most of the geocaches in this area are predominantly written in French...some of them have partial English translation. I don't speak a word of French. Do you have any suggestions as to how best to translate the cache descriptions from French to English? Thanks. Camnperte

[+Flintstone5611]

I'm planning a trip from the US to Montreal and Quebec City. I notice that most of the geocaches in this area are predominantly written in French...some of them have partial English translation. I don't speak a word of French. Do you have any suggestions as to how best to translate the cache descriptions from French to English? Thanks. Camnperte

Google translate works pretty good with French.

[+ky.m.guy]

I use Google Chrome as my web browser and then I installed the Translate extension to translate the pages. With the click of a button on the toolbar, the page is translated into English for me (works for any language that Google Translate supports.

[+t4e]

if you don't want to install all that you can always just search in google like this and hit the translate button, take out the space i inserted in http

 

site: geocaching.com ht tp://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=6aaca8c9-e6d7-43ba-b7e7-dce90c80ac38

[cezanne]

I'm planning a trip from the US to Montreal and Quebec City. I notice that most of the geocaches in this area are predominantly written in French...some of them have partial English translation. I don't speak a word of French. Do you have any suggestions as to how best to translate the cache descriptions from French to English? Thanks. Camnperte

Google translate works pretty good with French.

 

But only if the text is quite simple and easy. For more complex texts it delivers garbage.

 

 

Cezanne

[+Grizzly Pair]

We are on holiday from the UK and have been caching in Quebec for 15 days now, 3 days left and have been using Microsoft translator which can be downloaded as part of the BING toolbar, it translates whole pages, we have found French to English is very reliable. We can't do tis in the wild though so have to translate before we head out, might be easier if you have a local data package on your smartphone, its to expensive to do this on a UK plan. If you want to see the clues then you have to decode before you translate.

[cezanne]

and have been using Microsoft translator which can be downloaded as part of the BING toolbar, it translates whole pages, we have found French to English is very reliable.

 

You apparently only have visited traditionals. Most of them appear to have a simple text. The picture ends up quite differently for multi caches and ? caches with a more complex description.

Automatic translations typically fail for the latter group of caches.

 

Cezanne

[+The red-haired witch]

You apparently only have visited traditionals. Most of them appear to have a simple text. The picture ends up quite differently for multi caches and ? caches with a more complex description.

Automatic translations typically fail for the latter group of caches.

 

Rather tahn saying what won't work, do you have a solution to offer? Are you going to translate the cache pages manually for visiting tourists?

 

Sure, automated translation might not always be perfect, and it may make some puzzles or "complex" multis unsolvable. Most tourists tend to avoid those types of caches anyway. Even excluding those, camnpete should still have a few thousands options of caches to go for in Montreal and Quebec City.

 

Oh an additional piece of advice for camnpete: you may want to do a search on the oldest caches in the province, several of those are in English.

[cezanne]

You apparently only have visited traditionals. Most of them appear to have a simple text. The picture ends up quite differently for multi caches and ? caches with a more complex description.

Automatic translations typically fail for the latter group of caches.

 

Rather tahn saying what won't work, do you have a solution to offer? Are you going to translate the cache pages manually for visiting tourists?

 

My intention was just to warn those who expect too much from automatic translations.

 

I do not have any solution to offer that fits everyone, but would appreciate if all cache owners who have a sufficient command of English offer an English description.

I am offering all my caches in English and have provided English translations for more than a handful of caches of other cachers. But of course I will not volunteer to translate

caches pages from Quebec. If I lived in Quebec and my native language were French, I would nevertheless use English for my caches.

 

Sure, automated translation might not always be perfect, and it may make some puzzles or "complex" multis unsolvable.

 

And Earthcaches alike.

 

you may want to do a search on the oldest caches in the province, several of those are in English.

 

That seems to be the case in most regions of the world before this unfortunate isolation/nationalization trend started to take over in geocaching.

 

Cezanne

[+camnpete]

if you don't want to install all that you can always just search in google like this and hit the translate button, take out the space i inserted in http

 

site: geocaching.com ht tp://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=6aaca8c9-e6d7-43ba-b7e7-dce90c80ac38

 

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for your suggestion. I opened the cache page that you'd included in your reply (below) but I'll be darned if I can find a 'translate' button. Can you please head me in the right direction.

Thanks,

Pete

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=6aaca8c9-e6d7-43ba-b7e7-dce90c80ac38

[cezanne]

if you don't want to install all that you can always just search in google like this and hit the translate button, take out the space i inserted in http

 

site: geocaching.com ht tp://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=6aaca8c9-e6d7-43ba-b7e7-dce90c80ac38

 

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for your suggestion. I opened the cache page that you'd included in your reply (below) but I'll be darned if I can find a 'translate' button. Can you please head me in the right direction.

Thanks,

Pete

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=6aaca8c9-e6d7-43ba-b7e7-dce90c80ac38

 

Have you entered this link google? This is what I think t4e suggested.

There is no translate link on gc.com, but one on google.

 

Cezanne

[+Grizzly Pair]

@Cezanne - you are quite correct, we have deliberately excluded multis and puzzle caches from our PQs on this holiday because of the difficulty of translation. However there have been plenty of Trads, Earthcaches, virtuals and even one event to satisfy us during our trip to Canada.

[+t4e]

if you don't want to install all that you can always just search in google like this and hit the translate button, take out the space i inserted in http

 

site: geocaching.com ht tp://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=6aaca8c9-e6d7-43ba-b7e7-dce90c80ac38

 

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for your suggestion. I opened the cache page that you'd included in your reply (below) but I'll be darned if I can find a 'translate' button. Can you please head me in the right direction.

Thanks,

Pete

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=6aaca8c9-e6d7-43ba-b7e7-dce90c80ac38

 

like cezzanne pointed out, i did say "search in google"

 

ooh and you do need to use all the text i gave you, including the "site: geocaching.com", not only the http part...

 

Edited June 18, 2011 by t4e

[+The red-haired witch]

I do not have any solution to offer that fits everyone, but would appreciate if all cache owners who have a sufficient command of English offer an English description(... )If I lived in Quebec and my native language were French, I would nevertheless use English for my caches.

 

Many people who can write fairly well English do provide an English version of their cache description, especially if the cache is in an area where anglophone visitors are common. But not everyone can write English.

 

You're assuming that if you lived in Quebec and your native language was French, you'd also know English. It varies by region, but I think that over half the population of Quebec is still unilingual French (while about 90% of the rest of Canada is uniligual English...)

 

That seems to be the case in most regions of the world before this unfortunate isolation/nationalization trend started to take over in geocaching.

 

I don't think the reason is a new political trend (anyway, there certainly is nothing new about having linguistic frictions in Québec ). The reason why older caches tend to be in English is that, a few years ago, the Internet in general(and the geocaching website in particular) was much more unilingual English. So only people who understood English could really participate in the game and publish caches. Nowadays, you can manage even if you know very little or no English at all.

 

Most "tourist geocachers" adapt well, either using electronic translation, asking for help on local forums if they need help with the translation of a specific cache, or contacting local cachers to go caching together. We're happy to help

[cezanne]

I do not have any solution to offer that fits everyone, but would appreciate if all cache owners who have a sufficient command of English offer an English description(... )If I lived in Quebec and my native language were French, I would nevertheless use English for my caches.

 

Many people who can write fairly well English do provide an English version of their cache description, especially if the cache is in an area where anglophone visitors are common. But not everyone can write English.

 

In my area e.g. only a very small minority of cachers is willing to provide an English version. I know many of the cache hiders personally and know that the majority of them has a very good command of English. Still they object against English versions and many even are not willing to include them if the translation is done by others.

E.g. I have voluntereed to translate a very nice multi cache in Graz that is well suitable for tourists and the hider (who is able to provide the translation himself as well) rejected my offer.

 

Anglophone visitors are of course not that frequent, but cachers who do not understand German or have only a weak command of English. The same trend is visible also in those neighbouring countries of Austria that have a large geocaching scene and local reviewers, e.g. in the Czech republic, in Switzerland, in Slovakia and of course in Germany. The situation is different in Croatia and Slovenia, e.g. In my work and my home region I more often use English in communicating with people whose native language is not English than with native speakers of English.

 

I use English in geocaching not to do a favour to people from the UK, US, Australia etc, but to keep geocaching as international as possible. I am not happy with Danish descriptions in Denmark, with Slovenian in Slovenia, Hungarian in Hungary etc. English is the only reasonable solution.

 

 

You're assuming that if you lived in Quebec and your native language was French, you'd also know English. It varies by region, but I think that over half the population of Quebec is still unilingual French (while about 90% of the rest of Canada is uniligual English...)

 

Right I was assuming that and I am sure that it would be true for me as English is for me the most important language worldwide (given its relative simplicity and the number of people who understand it) and not just one of two languages in Quebec.

 

Note that I did not generalize my statement and I am of course aware of the unilingual group. I was not talking about that group, however.

 

 

That seems to be the case in most regions of the world before this unfortunate isolation/nationalization trend started to take over in geocaching.

 

I don't think the reason is a new political trend (anyway, there certainly is nothing new about having linguistic frictions in Québec ).

 

I agree with you to some extent. My statement was more general and not at all specific to Quebec. I need to admit that I know more about the political and social

situation in Quebec than about the development of geocaching in Quebec (by the way, pardon me for leaving out the accent - I love the French language, but my keyboard does not).

 

The reason why older caches tend to be in English is that, a few years ago, the Internet in general(and the geocaching website in particular) was much more unilingual English.

 

Exactly and I appreciated that. I decided to log in English back then, and I still kept this habit until today. The geocachers who would like to be active in a purely national/local activity can use separate sites from my point of view, or they should exist another site that is truely international. I'd prefer to have at least one geocaching site for international usage. Currently no such site exists.

 

 

So only people who understood English could really participate in the game and publish caches. Nowadays, you can manage even if you know very little or no English at all.

 

True, but still it does not explain why those who have started earlier and who have a good command of English have changed their behaviour. I belief that one of the reasons is that

the trend for localization has increased the trend towards isolated geocaching worlds for each country/region.

 

Most "tourist geocachers" adapt well, either using electronic translation, asking for help on local forums if they need help with the translation of a specific cache, or contacting local cachers to go caching together. We're happy to help

 

If I ever will go to Quebec for geocaching, I will not have a problem anyway as I my knowledge of French is sufficient. I do not understand, however, the majority of the languages spoken in Europe, in particular including those of the countries nearest to my home. Automatic translation just delivers garbage for the type of caches I appreciate. If I just want to translate a hint for a simple traditional, I do not even need a computer. A normal small dictionary will do the job anyway. I would not be able to cope however with a typical multi cache in Europe with virtual stages and these caches often invite for nice tours for tourists.

 

What I find hard to understand is that if translations are provided on request, why they are not included in the cache description once they are available? (I know several such cases where it did not happen. I am reluctant to ask for 200 translations in order to sort out caches I'd like to visit and end up by visiting maybe 10 of them.

 

 

Cezanne

Edited June 22, 2011 by cezanne