Hi all,

This topic has been popping on and off from 'to-review' list for quite some time now and we'd like to hear some feedback from you.

By internationalization we mean allowing the use of some other languages than English for posting on Baanboard. However, some restrictions would apply:
* using a shortlist of most commonly used languages only
* posting in a certain language would have to be done in a separate forum (irrelevant of the topic)
* each language forum would require at least one native speaker moderator

For practical reasons we would consider adding only 5 forums at start covering the languages in highest demand.

I'd like to hear pro and cons about this. The reason why we are juggling with the idea is that there are a lot of small(er) Baan forums out there that take the preference of users as they can express themselves in their native tongue. However, this also leads to a higher degree in the fragmentation within the Baan community. Thus the idea is an attempt to strengthen this community.

So please let us know your feedback, good or bad, bold and daring. I'd also like to stir a discussion on what languages would qualify for the top-5 position.

I am sorry to say I could not contribute in another language. The new forums may allow someone to post in a language they do know, if they do not know english. They could also ask someone to post in the english forum. Kind of like a translator. So I think this would be okay.

Mark

I must say it would be nice to be able to convers in german or spanish again, however i agree that it would result in some fragmentation as far as posts are concerned, imagine if you knew of a solution to someone's problem in another language forum - you would then have translate the solution for that person. Rather allow board members to record a list of languages spoken against their logins so that it could become general knowledge. That would then give other people the opportunity to ask a question in their mother tongue directed at certain people with the necessary language skills who could translate the question to english and if possible answer the question. However all solutions should be posted in english. In extreme circumstances (where the answer is not understood) it could be answered in the prefered language, but the english equivelant should be present. So I guess in some respects this would follow along the lines of Mark's suggestion to have 'translators' active in the forums. However as this would add a lot of overhead to posting a question/solution it should be limited to extreme cases only.

Regards,
Rupert

I agree with Rupert on the suggestion to have languages added to the user's profile. This will give users a chance to write PM's in their native tongue.

As for posting in other languages, it would be best to have separate forums for this. Maybe start with one new forum for all non-English languages. If this then grows too fast, from there it would be possible to see which language needs a separate forum.

Also, a button for machine translation could be added to the threads, although I know the translation is sometimes quite horrible. I suggest something like InterTran (http://www.tranexp.com:2000/linking.shtml) (quite good!) or AltaVista (http://uk.altavista.com/help/free/free_searchbox_transl), or any other available on the web.

Some good suggestions already!

Mark: I agree with you and alot of people would face the same problem so that's a disadvantage.

Rupert: yes, fragmentation is unavoidable. This is where we will take a loss. Superb answers and questions could be posted in Spanish with someone looking for that answer but not able to speak Spanish, he/she would still get stuck. Adding languages to a user profile is no big deal but same applies as with other attributes: people have to complete them to be useful. I think translating solutions by members wouldn't be realistic, it would require a great amount of dedication and that is something we just cannot enforce.

Nico: NO, it's not the idea that we stimulate private messages! Whatever goes on in PM's is surely lost to the community. Rather having members PM-ing in their own tongue, we'd like to see them posting in their native forum. The extra button is good idea, shouldn't be too hard to implement.

As to languages: Dutch, Spanish, German? What other ones?

I suggest French and Italian.

My guess is that there are not lots of active BB members from Italy and France, while they have lots of Baan profisionals...

This will help make the Baan Board more international. It may help you guys go public at some point...

- Bader

Good suggestion Bader. What do you mean by 'going public'? :confused:

Going public in the stock market...


- Bader
:D

Ahum, I don't think so :D