FediTips has moved!

Little headsup, Mastodon developers seem to be testing a language selector in the posting interface (see attached image).

The idea is you set the language you're posting in which will make it easier for other people to filter your post out if they don't speak it.

You can already set your default language in the Preferences/Settings section, but the idea of this new feature is to let you optionally change the setting for each particular message. This is handy if you toot in several languages.

I have no idea if/when this will be rolled out, the developers' instances often get test features like this.

#Mastodon

May 16, 2022 at 6:25pmWeb
Show threadFediTips has moved!May 16, 2022

p.s. I'm guessing this is also because a lot of people leave their post language setting as English even if they don't post in English.

There are two language settings on Mastodon: your interface language and your default posting language. The interface language is what you see on the interface, but the posting language setting is what your posts tell the language filter. (So, if you have it set to English the filter will treat your posts as English even if you use a different language.)

As well as helping multilingual people, this feature (if it is rolled out) will hopefully make people more aware of what setting their posting language default is, which will then make the language filters work better.

Show threadFediTips has moved!May 16, 2022

p.p.s. Just to make clear, this is not a translation system.

It just lets you tell Mastodon what language you are using in that toot.

This makes the Mastodon language filter work better, and lets other people filter their timelines more effectively.

There is a translation system in development but this isn't it.

Show threadFediTips has moved!May 16, 2022
p.p.p.s. Been playing around with it, it remembers the last few languages you selected automatically, so you don't need to go through the whole list each time you switch 👍
Show threadfyrfli  May 16, 2022
@feditips I, for one, will welcome a translation system. I like to pretend I understand more than just English. 
Show threadmorpheoMay 16, 2022
@feditips all of us who use multiple languages (in one toot) are giggling right now (:
Show threadDragoCubedMay 16, 2022
@feditips automatic language detection will fix it for reals I reckon
Show threadJi Fu (Domestic Terrorist)May 17, 2022
@feditips fedilab has a translator built into their app, and it seems to work pretty well to me
Show threadMatthew MalthouseMay 17, 2022

@feditips Translation would be welcome.

Filtering out other languages, not wanting to see them, strikes me as rather sad.

Show threadInsufficientC8H11NO2May 17, 2022
@feditips thanks for answering my question before I had to ask it! ❤️
Show threadmergergMay 16, 2022
@feditips yeah I'll have mine set to only show me English and Spanish posts and then I'll read a sentence of a post and suddenly stop understanding it and realize it was in German the whole time
Show threadpiece of shit garbage whoreMay 16, 2022
@mergerg @feditips is that my fault
Show threadmergergMay 16, 2022
@miracleorange @feditips no I've actually never seen u post in German, do u do that often?
maybe I should learn German it seems like all the cool ppl speak it (plus I kinda wanna move to Germany)
Show threadpiece of shit garbage whoreMay 16, 2022

@mergerg @feditips not often, but I had a lil exchange with someone in German a few hours ago

it's actually an interesting language for a native English speaker because it basically shows you where English came from (because English is a germanic language), and because of that, it's not as difficult to learn as other languages either because there are a lot of cognates and similar grammar structures

Show threadmaruMay 17, 2022
@feditips also important is accessibility for people with screen readers
Show threadGustavo 🎮🔭🇵🇷May 16, 2022
@feditips nice! I wonder if this is the precursor to a translating mechanism.
Show threadJessikat Irisviel (she/her)May 16, 2022
@astromecanik @feditips I hope because in reading sound as a very different idea.
Show threadGustavo 🎮🔭🇵🇷May 16, 2022
@Jessikatme @feditips what’s your guess?
Show threadJessikat Irisviel (she/her)May 16, 2022
@astromecanik @feditips I don't guess
Show threadGustavo 🎮🔭🇵🇷May 16, 2022
@Jessikatme @feditips 🤷🏽‍♂️
Show threadLeti UchihaMay 16, 2022
@feditips What if you toot something in two or more languages, that's it, you write in a toot the same message in two languages?
Show threadFediTips has moved!May 16, 2022

@letiuchiha

You can toot whatever you want in any langauges, this is just an option for helping the language filter work better.

If you use different languges in different toots, this feature is perfect because you can change the posting language for each toot.

If you use different languages within the SAME toot, that would cause problems for any language filter. You can't half filter toots, they are either visible or not..

Show threadLeti UchihaMay 16, 2022
@feditips What a pity /g :<
Show threadFediTips has moved!May 16, 2022

@letiuchiha

I'm sorry, maybe I misunderstood.

What would you like the filter to do?

The discussion thread on the Mastodon github had the developers exploring options like allowing different language versions of the same toot, so that it can reach people with different filter settings.

I don't know if that's happening or not, but is this what you want to happen?

Show threadLeti UchihaMay 16, 2022
@feditips No, you understood it well, it was what you said about splitting the filter
Show threadLeti UchihaMay 16, 2022
@feditips Btw, thank you for answering 
Show threadFernando RibeiroMay 16, 2022
@feditips this is a really wonderful tool.
Show threadJaceMay 16, 2022
@feditips The existing language filter feature does not seem to help control what comes up in my feed. I’m sorry, I’m a monolingual.
Show threadFediTips has moved!May 16, 2022

@dysamoria

The idea here is it will make the filter work better, because people will more accurately describe what language they are tooting in. So people should see fewer toots with an unfamiliar language.

Apparently the problem with the filter at the moment is short text is hard for a machine to guess the language of.

Show threadnohhueMay 16, 2022
@feditips So not the solution to the problem. I don't get why it isn't a default on option. The federation timeline is a mess because you can't get rid of foreign language tweets.
Show thread#WikiPartyMay 16, 2022
@feditips How about specifying script? A user may use several languages but fewer, or only one script. Of course, the real breakthrough would be a "Translate Toot" tool.
Show threadFediTips has moved!May 16, 2022

@michaelgraaf

I'm guessing scripts don't line up neatly enough with languages?

Show threadAlexander BochmannMay 16, 2022
@feditips Ohhh, excellent. I had been hoping for something like this for ages, and especially after the language auto-detection was dropped recently. Finally the language filter on timelines may get a chance to be useful.
Show threadJessikat Irisviel (she/her)May 16, 2022
@feditips instead of filter language add a translate system will be better and that way more people interaction
Show threadFediTips has moved!May 16, 2022

@Jessikatme

They are doing that as well, but it will take time.

Show thread♾️ Yuki (스노 雪亮) 🐬 🦣May 17, 2022
@feditips Meron sa mastodon.social (Tagalog)
Show threadGold-Tinged ExcrementMay 17, 2022
@feditips good because I'm tired of filtering out a preposterous amount of mandarin and greek users who don't tag their language
wish they would allow filter by regex, would make this a whole lot easier
Show threadDavid F. MendesMay 17, 2022
@feditips hope it comes soon
Show threadJi Fu (Domestic Terrorist)May 18, 2022
@feditips I mentioned in a reply to somone else, but those of you looking for automtatic translations of status updats ("toots"), if you have an Android/Linux device you can use #Fedilab Their built in translator seems to work fairly well. I like the lite version codeberg.org/tom79/Fedilab_Lit… @apps
Fedilab_Lite

A lightweight version of Fedilab but with all essential features

Codeberg.org