Irish language use on boards.ie

RealJohn

I couldn't find a recent thread on this but surely it's time to revisit the rule that you are obliged to post an english translation if you want to post in Irish on any forum on boards other than those specifically for Irish speakers. There are several issues I have with the rule, many of which have probably been 'done to death' already but given that it's an ongoing issue, I think it's one that ought to be discussed regularly.

Firstly, and probably most significantly in the context of a 'new' discussion, Google translate has become quite good. If someone doesn't want to be excluded from a discussion in Irish, let them use Google translate. Why should those who want to use our native language be forced to do all of the work just in case someone wants to join in? Similarly, if the mods think that there might be something untoward going on, they can also use Google translate to check and then, if they need something clarified, they can ask the poster to do so. I know Google translate isn't perfect but it certainly make a pretty good attempt in most cases.

On the reasons that have probably been done before, I appreciate that boards.ie is not a state body and isn't obliged to provide content in Irish but given that Irish is the official language of the country I think it's quite unreasonable that anyone should have to provide a translation from the country's official language for the benefit of those who don't understand it. I feel that this is unnecessary discrimination against a significant minority of the Irish population.

Even if we were to say that it isn't reasonable for people to post in Irish any time they like (in the middle of threads that contain only posts in english for example) I don't think that it's unreasonable that people be allowed to start threads in Irish in any forum (other than language specific forums obviously) without having to provide translations and in this event, no other poster in that thread should have to provide a translation when posting in Irish either. I don't see much of a reason to prevent other posters from posting in english in such a thread (although it would be a little rude) but I think it's unreasonable that a person who wishes to start their own thread in Irish, which might be aimed primarily or indeed exclusively at Irish speakers, shouldn't be able to do it in the relevant forum rather than having to post it in a forum specifically for Irish speakers and hope that one of them is interested. There are other forums wherein it might be beneficial to people to be able to post in Irish but they're not allowed to do so without posting a translation and all that achieves is making people less inclined to post in Irish at all.

I'm sorry if this is a bit rambling but I really don't think this kind of discrimination is reasonable. I appreciate that boards.ie is not a democracy and that some rules are necessary but I don't believe that this one is necessary anymore. Obviously people posting in Irish just to disrupt things shouldn't be encouraged but those who post in good faith shouldn't be forced to post an english translation.

Slot Machine

Boards is an English language website. Outside of relevant forums, why would someone want to start a thread in any other language other than to be exclusionary?

For all the text in your post, I don't see any valid reasons for why someone would want to use anything other than English.

Zaph

Just to be absolutely clear on this, there is no discrimination against Irish speakers on Boards. Outside of certain forums people posting in any language other than English must provide an English translation of what they posted. As I explained in the thread in Teaching and Lecturing, this is more for the benefit of the mods than the posters as they must be able to understand what's posted if they are to be in a position to moderate effectively. And our mods do plenty as it is on this site without us imposing the need for them to have to constantly use Google translate so that they can do the job that they have volunteered to do. It might be different if they were being paid and it formed part of their job, but Boards very much depends on the goodwill of a lot of people freely giving their time, and we're not about to abuse them by imposing unnecessary extra demands on them.

Another consideration is that many posters won't understand what's being posted, so why should they be inconvenienced just to satisfy the demands of a small minority who don't want to post in English? As has already been stated, the working language of Boards is English, and this is because it's more widely understood than any other language spoken by our members, so that won't be changing any time soon.

So in summary, you're right, this has been done to death many times already. However I don't agree that it's something that needs to be revisited regularly, so I'm closing this thread before it descends into the rubbish that usually ensues when this is brought up.