French

February 10, 2004

I hope the postings in french will attract some geocachers and gps users who only speak french. Canada is the world's biggest and nicest playground. Where else can you go that is safe, clean, and reasonably priced? It's a renewable ressource that needs very little investment to create capital. All it needs is protection. Lets not give it away for quick profit.

1.2k · February 10, 2004

Je vais faire de mon mieux! :blink:

February 14, 2004

Betenke det av postering inne annet så det engelske omgangsspråk du begrenser antallet av reagert å din stolpe

February 14, 2004

I was just going to say those exact words...What did you say anyway?

February 14, 2004

I said :Consider that by posting in other then the english language you are limiting the number of respondents to your post

February 14, 2004

I said :Consider that by posting in other then the english language you are limiting the number of respondents to your post

Does that bother you? Of course, the person who writes in another language knows that he/she is writing to a limited audience but if the subject line is filled out properly, the non-initiated won't bother to open the message so it is not time consuming for them. If I only spoke french, what benefit would it be to me to try to post a message in english. The reason a person posts a message in his own language is because he/she wants to communicate with someone else who speaks their language. I just can't understand the rule that only one language can be used in a forum or newsgroup. Is it because the moderators cannot censor the the messages? If nobody understands the message, what use is it to censor it? To keep my posting about "geocaching", who do I contact in Canada if I want to buy tags for my travel bugs. How much do they cost? What if I just put an item in a geocache and ask that the item be put into another cache? I am talking about a demo CD of 4 songs. It can't be stolen because the person who wants to download the songs to his computer can do that if he/she wants and then takes the CD to another cache. All I would ask is for the finder to post a message (critique) to my blues band's website and mention which city they are in.

February 14, 2004

I said :Consider that by posting in other then the english language you are limiting the number of respondents to your post

Does that bother you? Of course, the person who writes in another language knows that he/she is writing to a limited audience but if the subject line is filled out properly, the non-initiated won't bother to open the message so it is not time consuming for them. If I only spoke french, what benefit would it be to me to try to post a message in english. The reason a person posts a message in his own language is because he/she wants to communicate with someone else who speaks their language. I just can't understand the rule that only one language can be used in a forum or newsgroup. Is it because the moderators cannot censor the the messages? If nobody understands the message, what use is it to censor it?

Where do you get the "only 1 language rule"? If you want to post in French, then do so. I am sure if needed, we can get a moderator that can moderate your posts, if you feel they need to be moderated. I do not know why you are trying to drag out a French-English issue here, I do not see a problem with you posting in French. If you look at a number of the other Country Forums you will see a number of different languages posted there. If you post in French, I will still read it, as I am one of the Forum moderators here. I do have to translate it first, but it will give me much needed practice.

Edited February 14, 2004 by cache-tech

February 15, 2004

To answer your "Geocaching" question.

Travel Bugs can be ordered here: GPSCity

http://www.gpscity.com/gps/brados/10118.1....achinggear.html

What you were asking about a moving item.. its called a "Hitch Hiker". Its kind of an unofficial travel bug, the only difference being it is not officially tracked on the GC.Com website.

Unless you attach clear instructions to it, there is a higher chance it will disappear.

Now.. it does seem that the majority of your post relate to language issues cleverly guised in the name of Geocaching discussion. It's getting kind of old...

cache on!

Scott

EDIT: After checking your profile.. I'll change my "cache on!" to "start caching!"

Edited February 15, 2004 by McKenzie Clan

February 16, 2004

After seeing that a travel bug "tag", costs 6 bucks U.S. plus shipping and cost of money order etc I guess that the CDs will be "hitch hikers".

February 16, 2004

I said :Consider that by posting in other then the english language you are limiting the number of respondents to your post

Does that bother you? Of course, the person who writes in another language knows that he/she is writing to a limited audience but if the subject line is filled out properly, the non-initiated won't bother to open the message so it is not time consuming for them. If I only spoke french, what benefit would it be to me to try to post a message in english. The reason a person posts a message in his own language is because he/she wants to communicate with someone else who speaks their language. I just can't understand the rule that only one language can be used in a forum or newsgroup. Is it because the moderators cannot censor the the messages? If nobody understands the message, what use is it to censor it?

phern, this is getting redicilous. Why do you insist on saying that French is not welcome, or that there is a problem posting in French? Has anyon e told you not to post in French? To be honest, who really cares what language you post in? Someone mentioned that you would be limiting your answers if you post in French and he is very correct in this. If I posted an english question in a mostly french area, would I not be in the same boat? You mentioned a "rule" about posting only in English. This statement shows me how little you have looked around the forums. There are posts in many different languages.

Get over this and move on with life. If your unhappy with the language issues here, either live with it or move on to something else. Lets all try and get along, shall we? Geocaching is a world wide game and as such it covers many different groups of people. English, French, Germans, Jews, Christians, Blacks and whites.

6.8k · February 16, 2004

This statement shows me how little you have looked around the forums. There are posts in many different languages.

Get over this and move on with life. If your unhappy with the language issues here, either live with it or move on to something else. Lets all try and get along, shall we? Geocaching is a world wide game and as such it covers many different groups of people. English, French, Germans, Jews, Christians, Blacks and whites.

I essentially agree with what you wrote. There is indeed no one-language rule on gc.com.

I am neither Canadian nor ismy native language English or French, so I guess that I am not biased as the usage of theses two languages in this subforum is concerned. I have to admit, however, that I feel that cachers whose native language is French are somewhat neglected at this site. I do know that geocaching is not yet popular in the French speaking part of the world, but it is difficult to increase its popularity when almost all stuff is available only in English.

I was surprised to note that there does neither exist a subforum for French speaking cachers (there exist such forums for speakers of Spanish and German, for example) nor are the countries where French is spoken represented correctly. Take for example, Switzerland. There are four official languages in Switzerland - French is one of them. Nevertheless, Switzerland is listed under "German speaking", a subforum where the posts are supposed to be in German.

The Belgium forum is hardly used as most Belgian cachers are from the Flemish part and discuss in Dutch/Flemish on the Belgian and Dutch sites.

I guess that the fact that there are almost no French postings in the Canadian subforum and none in the Belgium one, combined with the non-existence of a French speaking subforum creates the impression that French postings are not very welcome (meaning, they are not forbidden, but not highly appreciated and in particular often neglected).

The example of the subforum of the Nordic countries shows that it is indeed possible to allow different languages in one forum. They have, however, a pinned thread where all newcomers are informed that the forum is open to postings in English and in any of the Nordic languages. Moreover, they use to tag postings that are not in English, e.g. [Fin] for Finnish and recently, one of the moderators started to translate the title line of Finnish posts into English.

Cezanne

Edited February 16, 2004 by cezanne

February 16, 2004

This statement shows me how little you have looked around the forums. There are posts in many different languages.

Get over this and move on with life. If your unhappy with the language issues here, either live with it or move on to something else. Lets all try and get along, shall we? Geocaching is a world wide game and as such it covers many different groups of people. English, French, Germans, Jews, Christians, Blacks and whites.

I essentially agree with what you wrote. There is indeed no one-language rule on gc.com.

I am neither Canadian nor ismy native language English or French, so I guess that I am not biased as the usage of theses two languages in this subforum is concerned. I have to admit, however, that I feel that cachers whose native language is French are somewhat neglected at this site. I do know that geocaching is not yet popular in the French speaking part of the world, but it is difficult to increase its popularity when almost all stuff is available only in English.

I was surprised to note that there does neither exist a subforum for French speaking cachers (there exist such forums for speakers of Spanish and German, for example) nor are the countries where French is spoken represented correctly. Take for example, Switzerland. There are four official languages in Switzerland - French is one of them. Nevertheless, Switzerland is listed under "German speaking", a subforum where the posts are supposed to be in German.

The Belgium forum is hardly used as most Belgian cachers are from the Flemish part and discuss in Dutch/Flemish on the Belgian and Dutch sites.

I guess that the fact that there are almost no French postings in the Canadian subforum and none in the Belgium one, combined with the non-existence of a French speaking subforum creates the impression that French postings are not very welcome (meaning, they are not forbidden, but not highly appreciated and in particular often neglected).

The example of the subforum of the Nordic countries shows that it is indeed possible to allow different languages in one forum. They have, however, a pinned thread where all newcomers are informed that the forum is open to postings in English and in any of the Nordic languages. Moreover, they use to tag postings that are not in English, e.g. [Fin] for Finnish and recently, one of the moderators started to translate the title line of Finnish posts into English.

Cezanne

I agree with your statements, however it would be totally impossible to have the GC site in several different languages. Can you imagine having to translate all the web pages in 10 or more languages? It is nice to see several languages being used, however we have to keep in mind that this was all started in the USA where English is pretty much the only language and there is nothing that says they have to serve people of every different language.

The way I look at it is this. If more people showed an interest to have this site in French, or any other language, instead of complaining about it, do something. COntact the admin and say that you think there would be an interest to have the site translated in French. In Phern47's case, he seems to be perfectly bilingual, so he may suggest that he himself could do the translating. Would this not be the most logicial route to take?

1.2k · February 16, 2004

You could also post you caches bi-lingually if you wanted and as I may start doing.

I have posted in the forums in French and I have asked about cache listings in French and have never met with hostility.

6.8k · February 16, 2004

I agree with your statements, however it would be totally impossible to have the GC site in several different languages. Can you imagine having to translate all the web pages in 10 or more languages? It is nice to see several languages being used, however we have to keep in mind that this was all started in the USA where English is pretty much the only language and there is nothing that says they have to serve people of every different language.

It seems that you partly misunderstood what I was trying to say. Of course, it would not be feasible to translate the gc.com site into various languages, but I cannot find a single line in my post where I suggested that the gc.com site should be available in other languages than English.

It is much easier for most non-native speakers of English to get along with an English user interface, and read/write basic texts than to express their feelings in a foreign language in a satisfactory manner.

If more people showed an interest to have this site in French, or any other language, instead of complaining about it, do something. COntact the admin and say that you think there would be an interest to have the site translated in French.

First, as explained above, I was never asking for a translation of this site.

Second, I was not complaining about anything, but just listed some facts (for example, the mis-treatment of Switzerland as German-speaking country) and wrote my personal impression as the lack for a suitable place of communication for French speaking geocachers is regarded.

Third, from my point of view one of the nicest properties of geocaching is its potential internationality. Whatever can be easily done to attract the attention and interest of as many cachers to this site instead of to national geocaching sites (bax examples: Hungary, Russia, etc), should be done.

Fourth, I believe that it is better to offer a forum for speakers of one of the major languages of this world (French) than to wait until many people ask for such a forum - since this is a kind of vicious circle.

Fifth, I was not specifically talking about the Canadian subforum. So even if had a specific request (which is not the case), it would make no sense to contact one of the admins of this subforum. [Moreover, it would be ridiculous if I asked for a French forum since my French is considerably weaker than my English which allows me to express essentially all what I wish to say.]

Sixth, let me repeat my main point: I believe that a place on gc.com where people could communicate in French without the need of having something like a bad conscience, i.e., a place where messages in French are *explicitely* welcomed, will help to promote geocaching among native speakers of French. Of course the number of postings will be small at the beginning, but an additional subforum neither costs additional money nor additional time for gc.com (except its creation).

I am well able to take part in English discussions, nevertheless I take the liberty to participate in the German speaking forum whenever I wish to do so. The same is true for many Scandinavian cachers which both write in English and in their native language whatever is more appropriate for them at the specific moment.

There are many reasons for using one's native language (if different from English), not just a poor level of proficiency in English. [To avoid misunderstandings, I do not advocate monolingual cache descriptions which are offered in a language different from English - this should be avoided whenever possible.]

Cezanne

6.8k · February 16, 2004

You could also post you caches bi-lingually if you wanted and as I may start doing.

I have posted in the forums in French and I have asked about cache listings in French and have never met with hostility.

I already post my caches in two languages, but not in French, but just because there is no demand for doing so in Austria. If I lived in Canada, I would certainly offer my caches in English and French (and would omit the German version instead).

I never claimed that people who post French are met with hostility. Normally, I do not even follow the Canadian forum. I was just attracted a while ago by a French head line. I sincerely regret that geocaching is not yet more popular in the French speaking part of the world and I am happy about any contribution which attracts speakers of French to this site.

I still believe that a line of explanation for the fora of countries with more than official language might be a good idea. It would suffice to state that postings in all official languages are welcome.

Cezanne

1.2k · February 16, 2004

You could also post you caches bi-lingually if you wanted and as I may start doing.

I have posted in the forums in French and I have asked about cache listings in French and have never met with hostility.

I already post my caches in two languages, but not in French, but just because there is no demand for doing so in Austria. If I lived in Canada, I would certainly offer my caches in English and French (and would omit the German version instead).

I never claimed that people who post French are met with hostility. Normally, I do not even follow the Canadian forum. I was just attracted a while ago by a French head line. I sincerely regret that geocaching is not yet more popular in the French speaking part of the world and I am happy about any contribution which attracts speakers of French to this site.

I still believe that a line of explanation for the fora of countries with more than official language might be a good idea. It would suffice to state that postings in all official languages are welcome.

Cezanne

I was not implying that you had suggested any hostility. I was simply stating that I have seen no evidence of it not being welcome.

I do agree that a French language section should be opened and that this could go a long way in promoting our hobby to that french speaking community aroud the world.

February 16, 2004

I agree with your statements, however it would be totally impossible to have the GC site in several different languages. Can you imagine having to translate all the web pages in 10 or more languages? It is nice to see several languages being used, however we have to keep in mind that this was all started in the USA where English is pretty much the only language and there is nothing that says they have to serve people of every different language.

It seems that you partly misunderstood what I was trying to say. Of course, it would not be feasible to translate the gc.com site into various languages, but I cannot find a single line in my post where I suggested that the gc.com site should be available in other languages than English.

It is much easier for most non-native speakers of English to get along with an English user interface, and read/write basic texts than to express their feelings in a foreign language in a satisfactory manner.

If more people showed an interest to have this site in French, or any other language, instead of complaining about it, do something. COntact the admin and say that you think there would be an interest to have the site translated in French.

First, as explained above, I was never asking for a translation of this site.

Second, I was not complaining about anything, but just listed some facts (for example, the mis-treatment of Switzerland as German-speaking country) and wrote my personal impression as the lack for a suitable place of communication for French speaking geocachers is regarded.

Third, from my point of view one of the nicest properties of geocaching is its potential internationality. Whatever can be easily done to attract the attention and interest of as many cachers to this site instead of to national geocaching sites (bax examples: Hungary, Russia, etc), should be done.

Fourth, I believe that it is better to offer a forum for speakers of one of the major languages of this world (French) than to wait until many people ask for such a forum - since this is a kind of vicious circle.

Fifth, I was not specifically talking about the Canadian subforum. So even if had a specific request (which is not the case), it would make no sense to contact one of the admins of this subforum. [Moreover, it would be ridiculous if I asked for a French forum since my French is considerably weaker than my English which allows me to express essentially all what I wish to say.]

Sixth, let me repeat my main point: I believe that a place on gc.com where people could communicate in French without the need of having something like a bad conscience, i.e., a place where messages in French are *explicitely* welcomed, will help to promote geocaching among native speakers of French. Of course the number of postings will be small at the beginning, but an additional subforum neither costs additional money nor additional time for gc.com (except its creation).

I am well able to take part in English discussions, nevertheless I take the liberty to participate in the German speaking forum whenever I wish to do so. The same is true for many Scandinavian cachers which both write in English and in their native language whatever is more appropriate for them at the specific moment.

There are many reasons for using one's native language (if different from English), not just a poor level of proficiency in English. [To avoid misunderstandings, I do not advocate monolingual cache descriptions which are offered in a language different from English - this should be avoided whenever possible.]

Cezanne

Perhaps I misquoted you. Sorry about that. To me, it seems that in order to promote the French langauge in the Geocaching world, the first place to start are the caches themselves. I can assure you that many people in Canada do not speak or write english and have only French as their mother tongue. By creating a forum that welcomes french speaking people alone seems to be a very minor step. Why create a forum that welcomes french if the cache descriptions are in english only? Would a person visit the forums if the rest of the site was mainly in english? This is what I was trying to convey when I mentioned about translating the site.

I do wonder sometimes, though why Geocaching is not more popular in the French speaking areas of the world. Just looking at Quebec, it seems that most of the caches are near Montreal, where there are many english speaking people. I have tried many times to bring French speaking friends of mine Geocaching, however they never seem interested. I did a CBC TV interview in French describing the game and so on, but the interest was never there.

February 16, 2004

are you a cacher or _________?

phern47 Posted: Feb 13 2004, 07:48 PM Does that bother you?

not really, I'm just tired of the constant " french rhetoric"

phern47 Posted: Feb 13 2004, 07:48 PM If I only spoke french,

If you only spoke french it's not likely you would of navigated your way to this sub form or this page as you'd of had to navigate your way through a few to several ENGLISH only pages let alone create an GC account. having said that the arguement of having to post in french to reach that " french only speaking " person is a moot point.

It can't be stolen

huh?? have you not read the forum posts of the caches that go MIA?

who wants to download the songs to his computer can do that if he/she wants and then takes the CD to another cache

That would be the day I take a home made cd out of a cache and drop it into my computer to " see what happens" I would be as reserved of doing that as I would to letting one of my kids take a stick of gum out of a cache and putting it in thier mouth. IT WOULDN'T HAPPEN. You have no idea who's tampered with it or handled it even after it was placed in the cache

All I would ask is for the finder to post a message (critique) to my blues band's website and mention which city they are in.

I would tend to think there are better places to promote your band/ music then a GC forum

If promoting goecaching within the french only segment is your goal, I would think that taking the direction of the BCGA guys would be a good 1st step. It could be a french speaking site where the bi-lingual segment could assist the french only people with the GC site and the mutli-ligual forums

McKenzie Clan Posted: Feb 15 2004, 07:48 AM EDIT: After checking your profile.. I'll change my "cache on!" to "start caching!"

no kidding eh

6.8k · February 16, 2004

To me, it seems that in order to promote the French langauge in the Geocaching world, the first place to start are the caches themselves.

Well, now I got what you mean the cache descriptions when you talk about translating the site. In my opinion, it is the task of the individual cachers and not of gc.com to offer their caches in more than language if the following conditions hold:

(i) the cache is located in a country with more than one official language

(ii) the country's official language is not English

(iii) the cacher has at least some basic knowledge of English (case (ii)) or the remaining official languages of his/her country (case (i)).

I am perfectly aware that (iii) puts a serious constraint, but there are quite a number of cachers which so far offer their caches in only one language although (iii) applies to them.

By creating a forum that welcomes french speaking people alone seems to be a very minor step. Why create a forum that welcomes french if the cache descriptions are in english only?

I agree that multi-lingual cache descriptions are more important than multi-lingual forums in countries with more than one official language. As mentioned above, I do not feel, however, that offering multi-lingual cache descriptions is the responsibility of gc.com. The situation changes as offering a forum for communicating in French is regarded (given that such possibilities exist for speakers of many other languages).

Moreover, do not forget that in countries/regions like France, Wallonia, the French-speaking Switzerland (Swiss Romande) just to name a few, almost all caches are available in French. Nevertheless, hardly any French-speaking cachers participate in the forums. I am convinced that the same would be true for Germany if no German-speaking forum existed (and Germany belongs to one of the most active geocaching countries apart from the English speaking ones).

As the specific example of Québec is regarded, it would certainly help if those who can write in English and French, use both languages for cache descriptions, regardless of which of the two is their native language.

The development of geocaching in French-speaking parts of the world will certainly not speed up considerably just because a French-speaking forum is introduced. This can only help on the way. The development is slow also in countries where definitely not the language barrier is the problem (my home country can serve as an example).

Cezanne

February 16, 2004

To me, it seems that in order to promote the French langauge in the Geocaching world, the first place to start are the caches themselves.

Well, now I got what you mean the cache descriptions when you talk about translating the site. In my opinion, it is the task of the individual cachers and not of gc.com to offer their caches in more than language if the following conditions hold:

(i) the cache is located in a country with more than one official language

(ii) the country's official language is not English

(iii) the cacher has at least some basic knowledge of English (case (ii)) or the remaining official languages of his/her country (case (i)).

I am perfectly aware that (iii) puts a serious constraint, but there are quite a number of cachers which so far offer their caches in only one language although (iii) applies to them.

By creating a forum that welcomes french speaking people alone seems to be a very minor step. Why create a forum that welcomes french if the cache descriptions are in english only?

I agree that multi-lingual cache descriptions are more important than multi-lingual forums in countries with more than one official language. As mentioned above, I do not feel, however, that offering multi-lingual cache descriptions is the responsibility of gc.com. The situation changes as offering a forum for communicating in French is regarded (given that such possibilities exist for speakers of many other languages).

Moreover, do not forget that in countries/regions like France, Wallonia, the French-speaking Switzerland (Swiss Romande) just to name a few, almost all caches are available in French. Nevertheless, hardly any French-speaking cachers participate in the forums. I am convinced that the same would be true for Germany if no German-speaking forum existed (and Germany belongs to one of the most active geocaching countries apart from the English speaking ones).

As the specific example of Québec is regarded, it would certainly help if those who can write in English and French, use both languages for cache descriptions, regardless of which of the two is their native language.

The development of geocaching in French-speaking parts of the world will certainly not speed up considerably just because a French-speaking forum is introduced. This can only help on the way. The development is slow also in countries where definitely not the language barrier is the problem (my home country can serve as an example).

Cezanne

this is exactly what I was trying to say. GC.com could never be responsible to translate all cache description pages into any other language. I would also agree, to a certain extent, that the cacher should post the cache descriptions ni english and french, in the case of Canada. Besides Quebec and some parts of New Brunswick and Ontario, I don't believe that french is spoken very much. Yes there are certainly pockets of it here and there, but the majority of Canadians are english speaking. I was simply trying to say that if Phern47 has such a problem with the site being in English, that perhaps he could translate the pages and promote the game in French speaking Canada. Aas for me, I can speak and read French, but it would be almost imopssible for me to translate my cache pages into french.

I could never get the masculine / feminine thing down. How can a rock be masculine or feminine? LOL I have an even harder time with my German, but do enjoy speaking it....

February 17, 2004

As you probably suspect, I dropped in to see if there was a controversy. What I discovered is that 'Smilie' accomplished his goal: spamming his group. Anyone want to start a pool on when he gets his first cache?

February 17, 2004

In all honesty,does this topic even make sense in this day and age? I mean, with all of the online translation pages available anyone can convert from one language type to another with reasonable accuracy. At least enough to get the basic information from a cache page. I don't think that GC.com should be responsible for converting cache pages into a different language when you can get a reasonable translation instantly.

Just my .02 cents worth.

Less talk, more caching!

Happy Caching!

Logger

February 18, 2004

Logger, the translators are horrible. For instance, how does the translator differentiate words that are the same (right, right) (left, left) (fly, fly). There are probably words that have 3 different meanings. Post office box ends up in french as boxing in an office.

6.8k · February 18, 2004

In all honesty,does this topic even make sense in this day and age? I mean, with all of the online translation pages available anyone can convert from one language type to another with reasonable accuracy. At least enough to get the basic information from a cache page.

First of all, the topic here was not asking gc.com to translate the cache pages! Read my postings above where I wrote that it can never be the responsibility of gc.com to provide the cache pages in several languages. As the language of cache pages is regarded, it would be quite useful, however, if those cache owners who are able to do so write in more than one language if appropriate (English in non-English speaking countries, other official languages in a country with several languages).

My main point was that it would be a good idea to offer a place where French-speaking cachers (regardless of where they come from) can discuss about geocaching in French. You are allowed to discuss in your native language. Why should it pose a problem that French-speaking people get the same opportunity? Currently, most of them do not take part at all - so it is not a matter of losing anyone, it is just about making geocaching attractive for a larger group.

Second, I guess that only people who do not speak at least two languages fluently and have never tested automatic translation software for more complex texts, believe that automatic translation solves the problem of mono-lingual cache pages.

Third (this is only a side issue here as it does not apply to French), there are are many languages for which no widely available translation software is available. Take for example, Hungarian. I'd love to understand the texts in the Hungarian cache data base.

Fourth, there are many caches which have a long and complex description. (Multi-caches, puzzle caches etc - in some regions about 60% and more are of those types).

I will not comment on this topic any further. All what I wanted to say is already said. However, I would like to point out that my postings cannot be regarded as spam.

Those who do not like to read long postings or who are not interested into the role of French in geocaching, are not forced to read what I write.

Cezanne

February 19, 2004

FYI

cezanne Posted: Feb 18 2004, 03:45 AM Third (this is only a side issue here as it does not apply to French), there are are many languages for which no widely available translation software is available. Take for example, Hungarian. I'd love to understand the texts in the Hungarian cache data base.

Hungarian language translation search

hope it helps you out <_<

February 19, 2004

I think this topic has gone on long enough, language issues dominate every political and social event in this country every day. Now, must it also creep into a sport where language is not a prerequisite for participation. Make your posts in any language you like, the key to this sport is to get off your butt, get outside, and get caching!!!!!

6.8k · February 19, 2004

I think this topic has gone on long enough, language issues dominate every political and social event in this country every day. Now, must it also creep into a sport where language is not a prerequisite for participation.

I agree that the discussion has gone on long enough, but please note that my intention was not all a politicial one (I do not like political discussions at all). I am neither Canadian nor do I live in Canada. Moreover, my mother tongue is neither English nor French. So I guess that my observation that geocachers who would like to discuss in French on this site are not offered the same chances as those who wish to use e.g. English, German, Spanish or a Nordic language

comes without any bias or political background. The topic also extends beyond Canada.

Cezanne

February 19, 2004

Phern,

All that I am saying is that as far as cache pages go, the online translators would give you enough information to complete a cache. No I would not want to carry on a heavy conversation with them.

Cezanne,

I have not seen any restrictions to language postings on GC.com I believe that you are free to post in your native tongue. In fact, if you look in the foreign country areas people post freely in a number of languages.

Less talk, more caching <_<

Happy Caching!

Logger

6.8k · February 19, 2004

Phern,

All that I am saying is that as far as cache pages go, the online translators would give you enough information to complete a cache. No I would not want to carry on a heavy conversation with them.

But that definitely is only true for caches with a very simple description. (Perhaps most caches in your region are of that type, I do not know)

For more complex caches, however, there is no chance at all, not even for very frequent language pairs where the two involved languages are sufficiently close to each other.

Have you ever tried to apply online translators to more complex cache pages in cases where you could judge whether what you guessed is sufficiently close to reality to allow you to find all the data to obtain the final coordinates of the cache?

I have not seen any restrictions to language postings on GC.com I believe that you are free to post in your native tongue. In fact, if you look in the foreign country areas people post freely in a number of languages.

But there does neither exist an area for French speaking cachers nor does any of the existing subfora contain a description that explicitly invites and welcomes postings in French. This is exactly the point I tried to make in my posts.

There is a difference between "not forbidding" something and "welcoming" and "encouraging" it.

Geocaching.com even neglects the fact that Switzerland is not a German speaking country (German is only one of 4 official languages there).

For speakers of German, Spanish, the Nordic languages (Swedisch, Finnish etc) there are dedicated places where these people know that postings in their native language are welcome. Nothing of that type exists for native speakers of French.

Hopefully, we can now stop to repeat the same arguments over and over again.

No new arguments have been added recently.

Cezanne

PS: Perhaps you want to try to apply an online translator to translate the German version of the cache listed below into English. The cache page also includes a human made English version so you can compare. Be honest when you judge whether you would be able to go along with the output of the online translator.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...b8-26a32997dcd8

I could list many other caches where the same problem arises (also most of my own caches) - so it is not just a pathological example. I just took the cache above because I like it very much,

Edited February 19, 2004 by cezanne

March 2, 2004

Wow!

Why does anything fun always have to be turned into politics....

I live in Montreal, my first language is french wich i learned in an spanish speaking country because my parents felt i was important, i also learned spanish and english....

WHY you might ask.......... BECAUSE I CAN. I don't go around asking people to translate everything....

I just feel priviledge to know 3 languages and i dont make a fuss about it.

We have schools where we learn these things..... and i feel it's make sense to have a person adapt itself to the environment instead of the other way around.

I love and protect french language for many reasons but i can assure you that none of them include the bill 101 or because i live in Quebec.But mostly because it's probably the most complex language to learn properly and because it 's just incredibly precise and beautiful.

In Quebec we do have caches in both french and english and i have yet to read a negative comment about it

So... my point is : IF none of us have made a complaint about it why do english speaking Canadians do?????

I love geocaching and would hate to see it become a political issue!!

If anyone needs to translate something please let me know and i will gladdly help to the best of my knowledge

That's all :rolleyes:

Maraudeur

French

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