stingrazFeb 28
Rafael Pérez 🌱

Dear everyone.

If you post in more than one language, please remember to set the language of your post correctly. It's the only way the language translator on the official mobile app works properly.

Many thanks.

Please consider boosting to raise awareness of this issue.

#fediverse #mastodon #language #posting #settings #translation #mobile

Jan 14 at 1:46amMastodon for Android
Show threadRafael Pérez 🌱Feb 27
This applies to the Mastodon official mobile app. The official Mastodon web app has a link ("Translate") that just works regardless of the post's language setting. It shouldn't be too hard to implement post translation this way on the official mobile app.
Show threadFelicitas Pojtinger 🌅Feb 27
@rperezrosario I wish the UI just automatically switched it over when it is confident enough it's not English instead of just warning ...
Show threadRafael Pérez 🌱Feb 27
@pojntfx That would be great.
Show threadTim JFeb 28
@rperezrosario However, the link only appears if the language set for the post isn't your own. So if someone has accidentally set their post to your language but written in their own, there'll be no Translate link. So the language setting still matters.
Show threadARGVMI~1.PIFJan 14

@rperezrosario

Note that, by default (at least in Mastodon 4.1), replies will be tagged with the same language as the post being replied to, *not* your default posting language!

So be sure to check the language when replying, even if you speak only one language.

#Mastodon

Show threadRafael Pérez 🌱Jan 14

@argv_minus_one

Duly noted. Thanks for the heads up.

Show threadDeborah Preuss, pcc 🇨🇦Jan 14
@rperezrosario if I just boost, I'd guess the language setting comes from the boosted post? (Do you know?)
Show threadDaniel AJ SokolovJan 14
@rperezrosario Unfortunately, there is no "mixed" option.
Show threadmirabilosJan 14
@newstik @rperezrosario "mul" - multiple languages
Show threadDaniel AJ SokolovFeb 27
@mirabilos @rperezrosario I don't see that option.
Show threadmirabilosFeb 27
@newstik @rperezrosario check with your client’s docs / authors. All ISO 639-2 codes are supposedly an option.
Show threadDaniel AJ SokolovFeb 27
@mirabilos @rperezrosario I am using the official Maston web version v4.5.7, no client.
Show threadmirabilosFeb 27
@newstik @rperezrosario then you use a webclient of some sort; check what that client supports and how it can be selected.
Show threadDaniel AJ SokolovFeb 27
@mirabilos @rperezrosario As I've said, the official Mastodon webclient allows selection of various languages, but not "mul" or similar, and only one at a time.
Show threadmirabilosFeb 27

@newstik @rperezrosario oh, have you edited the post? (Hm, seems so.)

I didn’t know you were using the stock Mastodon webclient, from before you edited the post it was not clear.

Well, then go figure out how/where to set the language there. I don’t use it. (I saw it once when setting up an account on a Mastodon instance as a backup account, ran away screaming.) I cannot help with that, as it’s highly specific to the client you’re using.

If it does not support the full list of languages, do file a bugreport.

Show threadDaniel AJ SokolovFeb 27
@mirabilos @rperezrosario Thank you, I know where to set the language. This post I have set to "Kanuri" - never heard of before. There is no "mul" option, believe me.
Show threadmirabilosFeb 27
@newstik @rperezrosario that’s why I said, file a bugreport…
Show threadmirabilosFeb 28
@newstik @rperezrosario ah, 8 hours later I got your edit notification. Your instance must be quite overloaded ;-)
Show threadRafael Pérez 🌱Feb 28

@mirabilos @newstik

It's Friday and yes, it's pretty big (mastodon.social).

Show threadmirabilosFeb 28
@rperezrosario @newstik ah, not yours, I meant Daniel’s
Show threadDaniel AJ SokolovFeb 28
@mirabilos @rperezrosario Unlikely, it only has a few dozen users and is run in a large data centre. I'm not sure what the issue was.
Show threadwoe2youJan 14
@rperezrosario And also please hashtag in the same language you're posting in.
Show threadRafael Pérez 🌱Jan 14
@woe2you Interesting, yes.
Show threadwoe2youJan 14
@rperezrosario Keep an eye on the gaming hashtag and you'll see all sorts of languages. Some of them also have the equivalent hashtag in whatever language they're in, but a lot don't.
Show threadŠtěpán 💤Jan 16
@woe2you especially for many tech-related terms, some languages either don't have their own words or the people still use the english versions more, even when speaking. @rperezrosario
Show threadSkewray Research (ZF¬C)Jan 14
@rperezrosario I just mute everyone who fails to mark correctly. Problem solved!
Show threadRafael Pérez 🌱Jan 14

@skewray

That's one way to fix it 🙂.

Show threadNicola RomanòJan 16
@skewray @rperezrosario or a better way of solving it is teaching people they can, and how to do that? I never realised until now that I could!
Show threadIbrahim TencerJan 14
@rperezrosario or they could just fix the software
Show threadRafael Pérez 🌱Jan 14
@ibrahimtencer That would be ideal. I don't know what the performance hit would be for checking every post on creation for used language automatically. That's at least one additional translator api call per post.
Show threadIbrahim TencerJan 14
@rperezrosario I don't know either, but you know as well as I do that only a small fraction of users are going to set the language on their posts manually with any regularity.
Show threadmirabilosJan 14
@rperezrosario one of my two clients does not support that 😿 but on the one which does (this one) I do.
Show threadPiggleston PecanpantsJan 14
@rperezrosario Yes, please and thank you.
Show threadisolJan 14

@rperezrosario

I can't see why people are willing to type out, for example and from my experience, the Esperanto hashtag, but not set the posting language to match. 🤔😤

Then, instead of Esperanto acting as a common language, the post gets mangled into Esperanto-text-translated-as-if-it-is-Spanish/German/???

I showed this problem multiple times, then just gave up, as posters would argue rather than set the language.😢

Show threadLuc     Jan 14
@rperezrosario Also good to know that if you use Mastodon in a web browser, the language picker turns red if it detects you are typing in another language than the default.
Show threadLuc     Jan 14
@rperezrosario …and also that my app sometimes gets it hilariously wrong, for instance when I type the refrain of Michael Jackson's 'Earth song' 😅
Show threadRafael Pérez 🌱Jan 14
@Lucseleventje Lol.
Show threadRafael Pérez 🌱Jan 14
@Lucseleventje I noticed that while using the web interface earlier today. I guess it's a matter of time and effort before that feature makes it into the mobile client.
Show threadSvenjaJan 14
@rperezrosario I have set my Mastodon to only see english and german Posts, because I don't understand other Languages good enough. Nevertheless I get a lot other Languages because the Posts Languages are not set correctly there. I hope if I reply it will be set correctly, my Client can't do that itself so if I want to post something in english myself I use the Mastodon Webapp.
Show threadRafael Pérez 🌱Jan 15
@svenja Yes, I can understand how that can be a problem. Another consequence of misconfigured post language settings.
Show threadSusanneJan 15
@rperezrosario Touché. I didn't know that.
Show threadElena. (she/ her)Jan 15
@rperezrosario I would generally agree. And I think posts like these are always good, because not everyone knows about that feature.
However, on some software this may not be an option (yet). E.g. I am on a Sharkey server and I can only set an overall language of my profile, but cannot set the language of an individual post. I would love for that to be possible and I blieve there already exists a ticket for it in their issue tracker.
I am very sorry for anyone who would like to read/ easy translate my non-English posts, but at this moment I can't do anything about it.

I post this just as something to keep in mind, not as a criticism of this post or you, Rafael. Because as I said, I generally agree.
Show threadRafael Pérez 🌱Jan 16
@theresmiling Thank you for sharing that. Sorry to hear of that limitation. Maybe language per post is a feature they might implement hopefully in the near future. There's so much interesting stuff out there in other languages and the translations have gotten generally good.
Show threadElena. (she/ her)Jan 16
@rperezrosario I agree! I love the translation button that my instance is providing. It's so cool to be able to easily translate and read posts in languages I don't know.
There is so much potential here and I am confident that one step at a time we're going to use it.
Show threadRafael Pérez 🌱Jan 17

@theresmiling

💯

Show threadleiliaJan 15

@rperezrosario

Unfortunatelly #Friendica doesn't allow you to set the language per post, only per account. 😔

Show threadRafael Pérez 🌱Jan 16
@leilia That's a bit of an oversight on their part. 😓
Show threadDarth Hideout 🏳️‍🌈Jan 15

@rperezrosario

THANK YOU

https://mas.to/@darth_hideout/115600856153595068

Show threadRafael Pérez 🌱Jan 16
@darth_hideout You're welcome. 😁
Show threadsunflowerinrainJan 16

@rperezrosario
Makes sense, but I don't see an option for setting language in the app I use. It's a fairly basic app.

I'll try to remember to post in only one language per toot, though.

Hashtags - my French contacts post in French, and the few that add hashtags usually use English for the hashtag. Dunno why.

Show threadmiaJan 17
@rperezrosario also the language filter relies on it, so setting your language helps people who filter by language
Show threadhgfernanJan 19

@rperezrosario Thanks for reminding us of that.

In the Mastodon Web interface the post language is above the Send button, to the left.

Show threadsunflowerinrainFeb 27

@rperezrosario

Good point, though I can't conform.
I toot in more than one language, sometimes more than one in a toot. I can't find a setting for the language of a toot in my app, but it automatically recognises most* languages of others' toots for translating, even when there are two or more.

* Most European as well as some Asian, that is. Doesn't yet cope with e.g. Saintongeais and Cornish.