Is it rude to reply using English under posts in a language you can’t speak?

Comments

• jonathan@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I don’t do it, but if I did, I would consider apologetically offering the machine translation inline with my post. Why put the burden on them to do it if you want it to be read?

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  • nasi_goreng@piefed.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Depends on the context, commenting in your native language is often totally okay.

    Let's say: a Japanese artist posting an art with Japanese caption, they would totally happy to receive comment from various language, displaying a cultural exchange.

    This behaviour of native language comment is actually common in Asia and Africa, but not in Western countries...

    Just be wary of joke or sarcasm that might interpreted as hate comment.

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• splendoruranium@infosec.pub ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I often reply under Japanese posts, and I always assume users will use a translator as I do, but maybe in the context of a Japanese this may look rude?

  Can’t speak for others (obviously, as this is about individual etiquette perceptions) but I would consider it to be polite to only enter conversations with unknown parties in languages that the parties have shown to be capable of speaking and understanding.
  Using a new language entering a conversation would therefore signal either familiarity (“I know they understand me”) or rudeness (“I don’t care if they understand me”) to me, I suppose.

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  • Jumuta@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    nah, it’s better for information integrity to reply in the language you understand imo, comments translated using translator services are very obvious anyway

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    • recently_Coco@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I wonder, then, if the move is to type your comment, run it through a translator yourself, then post both? I saw that move a lot on Rednote before it added its own translator.

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    • splendoruranium@infosec.pub ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      nah, it’s better for information integrity to reply in the language you understand imo, comments translated using translator services are very obvious anyway and some people are multilingual

      Sure, I agree? Maybe there’s a misunderstanding here. Maybe I should add that it simply would never even occur to me to enter a conversation if I didn’t natively understand the language that’s being used.

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    • skullgiver@popplesburger.hilciferous.nl ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      ActivityPub has a feature where most post objects can actually have different language representations within one item. On a protocol level, MissKey/Mastodon/Lemmy can have the same message in different languages, and the client can pick the one to display. Unfortunately, I’ve never seen anyone make use of it. Seems like a waste. If used, users with their display language set to German/Japanese will see the “machine translated:” post first, and people with English as a language will see the original. English first, and good implementations would allow the user to switch languages to compare.

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    • Sl00k@programming.dev ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      On xiaohongshu before the translate feature people would write in both languages for ease of translation and so the other side wouldn’t have to translate it themselves.

      That’s probably the best situation especially when we don’t have text limits.

      It was however hilarious watching everyone find out in realtime just how bad Google translator is for Chinese and literally everyone having to swap to GPT or DeepL.

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• Enkers@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  いや、大丈夫だよ。

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  • DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Ich_iel gets “mad” about it, but when they say “sprich Deutsch” just respond with “macht mir” and they get confused.

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• nasi_goreng@piefed.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Not really.

  In Asia, people often just comment in their own language. Though, English is preferable for easier translation. Unless some extreme nationalist, most people simply happy to interact with you.

  Just remember that it could be misunderstood, especially with sarcasm or joke.
  I've seen Japanese artist deleted their account because they mistaken a joke towards their art as hate comment.

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  • Cris_Color@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Hey, happy lemmy anniversary, I’m glad you’re here!

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  • Karl@programming.dev ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Happy cake day

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• ritsku@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Generally Japanese posters enjoy knowing they have fans overseas! And it’s better to type what you intend than attempt to type in a language you cannot speak. It doesn’t look rude at all though~

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• Michal@programming.dev ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  If you answer in the language you know best, it’ll be easier to others to understand or translate, especially if it’s English.

  You could translate your message to match the language of the comment, but if you don’t know the language, how can you know if it conveys your message correctly?

  Overall, I’d say it depends on the specific community. If you try to inject yourself into a conversation in a Japanese language community, it may indeed come off as rude or ignorant.

  The best solution may be to post in both languages?

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• khaleer@sopuli.xyz ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I guess, you could try to reply in Esperanto,it’s most non offensive language I know.

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  • Blackmist@feddit.uk ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Yeah, that way nobody will understand it

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• Wanpieserino@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  We lack a translate button. Rednote and weibo have translate buttons. We need that.

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• Dagwood222@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  My personal opinion is that it’s 2025 and translation is free.

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  • quickenparalysespunk@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    thanks for literally devaluing all the work of my fellow translators and i that was stolen by Google and Bing and all the other crawlers/thieves.

    it’s the same as with artists’ work being stolen by Stupid Diffusion and the rest.

    not mad at you of course. but calling it free was too good a match for devaluing to pass up.

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    • Dagwood222@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Think of it this way.

      There’s an actual medical condition known as Chauffeur’s fracture.

      en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chauffeur's_fracture

      Back in the day, before the invention of the self starting engine, drivers would have to hand crank the cars, and sometimes a backfire would cause a particular type of injury.

      Also, there’s a great line in the movie “The Interpreter” with Nicole Kidman.

      Two UN interpreters are chatting about work. "I had a good one today. The American said it was “pie in the sky.” "

      “Oh, that’s a tough one. What did you use?”

      “Castles in Spain.”

      “Nice.”

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  • Lumidaub@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Just don’t expect nuance or depth. Or, in case of languages that aren’t closely related to yours, to be understood.

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    • Dagwood222@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Dos’t thou thinks’t that the wiley mechanicist can not create an operator that can plumb the depths of language with ease? Our language is as unchanging as the mountains, and shall ever be so.

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• J52@lemmy.nz ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I’d say, personal preference. There will always be some people that are going to be annoyed by it.

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• misk@sopuli.xyz ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Nie mam pojęcia czemu my mielibyśmy to wiedzieć. Może zapytaj tych Japończyków?

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  • Obi@sopuli.xyz ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Pierogi?

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• swampwitch@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I’m not sure about other places, but in mod comments on Nexus it’s fairly standard to just reply in your native language and have the other person translate.

  You’ll often see discussions with one half in English and the other in Chinese, for example.

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  • Infynis@midwest.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Yeah, this is the way. It’s better to let the other person do the translating, rather than presenting maybe your ideas by using a translator. It would be like running everything you post through an AI first. Best to give as much intent as possible

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• FrostyTrichs@crazypeople.online ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I don’t think it’s a major offense to reply in your own language but since most of Lemmy is English speaking I try to respect the spaces that are clearly meant for something else.

  I like to translate what I’m posting to whatever language the community is using. If I mention I’m using a translator the OP or another commenter will reply in English if they feel comfortable. !bubatzgartenclub@lemmy.world is one that comes to mind where this has happened in the past.

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• user224@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I often see people reply in other languages, even under English posts (usually in German over here).

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• weker01@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Also ich würde behaupten, dass es in der Tat nicht sehr cool ist einfach in einer anderen Sprache zu antworten.

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• VintageGenious@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Je ne pense pas

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• SARGE@startrek.website ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I’ve had more conversations than I can count with people I would never be able to talk to in person, all using our own native languages.

  The original posts are in English, people comment in their native language, and I use a translator, then respond in my own language. Is the translator perfect? No! Neither is theirs.

  With the way most translators I’ve used work, it’s easier for the non-native speaker to try translating, since the translator might try and use different words that entirely change the meaning, but likely list possible alternatives. A native e speaker will understand the alternatives while a non-native speaker probably won’t.

  That’s my thought process anyway.

  Never had anyone who wasn’t pearl-clutching or virtue-signaling complain about it. And I’ve had tons of conversations with people I’d never have talked to otherwise.

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• Yerbouti@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Just use a translator and state it in your post. You can literally do this with a simple right-click in firefox. Enough with the anglo domination.

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• TimewornTraveler@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  This seems very rude. I see foreigners do this all the time. they take over subreddits that aren’t designed for them.

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• deadcatbounce@reddthat.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Are you learning japanese? You might enjoy trying. Duolingo has a free tier which is annoying but the annual sub is reasonable if you look for offers.

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  • mayhm@bolha.forum ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    For learning japanese I would not recommend Duolingo, people often recommend using The Moe Way, Tae Kim and Organic Japanese with Cure Dolly. I’m just a beginner, but I tried learning with duo and it was not good. Learning using The Moe Way was way more faster and logical

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    • deadcatbounce@reddthat.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I don’t study Japanese. I suggested the most popular app.

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    • Enkers@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      While I agree, the best practice is one you can do regularly. If duo’s gamification helps you keep actively studying, then while maybe not the best way, it’s better than nothing.

      Ideally the best use of duo is minimally, as a springboard to keep you doing other more immersive studying.

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• superkret@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Don’t do this in !ich_iel@feddit.org

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• Battle_Masker@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I’d be wary about using a translator, even if you use one that accounts for grammar and double meanings like deepL. Tho that’s based on a comment I saw from game developer Katsuhiro Harada. He says he prefers English speaking players just type in English so he can translate himself cause oftentimes the player will translate something incorrectly and confuse him. All in all it really depends on who I guess.

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• systemglitch@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Only if I have to, and I include the Google translate so they know I’m clueless.

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• atrielienz@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  If that’s the only language you have to communicate, I’d say more power to you. If you can translate what you’re saying using online tools, that might better facilitate communication and conversation.

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• SorteKanin@feddit.dk ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I wouldn’t consider it rude in the Danish communities we have in Feddit.dk, but that’s also cause basically all danes are fluent in English, so it shouldn’t be an issue.

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• quickenparalysespunk@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  YouTuber Takashii just uploaded a video of street interviews in Japan on the topic of what tourists should/shouldn’t do in Japan.

  youtu.be/fXV89VQ5dJQ

  at least one person said that in Japan, foreigners should try to speak Japanese. some people might see a Japanese thread as a little piece of Japan. especially since English language education there is not on a high level.

  and monolinguals outside the Anglosphere do sometimes complain that their languages are being replaced/invaded by English.

  that said, i think fediverse users (if that’s where you’ve been replying) are less xenophobic than general population.

  just remember that in Japan if one wants to complain about another’s behavior, it’s common to go to one’s home turf or filter bubble to do so rather than speaking to the offender directly.

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