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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?
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.
Actually I did it one time, but every response I got was in English even if the user was a Japanese speaker. So I started worrying that the translation was incorrect, even if it was specified that I wasn’t a Japanese speaker. I wonder if maybe, especially in the Fediverse context, Japanese users might be pretty used to English and Latin alphabet in general so that it may be easier to them if I just write using the language I actually know in order to avoid mistakes
Using English is totally okay!
I did it all the time and we interacted just fine.
Using machine translation can lead to mistranslation, even your heartwarming comment can be interpreted as hostile.
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.
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
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.
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 and 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.
いや、大丈夫だよ。
Honestly though, I think it depends on the context. I think it's generally OK on open multilingual platforms especially with mixed audiences.
I see lots of English comments on Japanese vocaloid videos, for example, and I think most content creators enjoy having fans from abroad.
Ich_iel gets "mad" about it, but when they say "sprich Deutsch" just respond with "macht mir" and they get confused.
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.
Edit: this is more common in Facebook. One single post will have various languages. Chinese, Hindi, Arab, Spanish, Swahili, and so on just in a single post. Sometimes, you can say that different social media, different internet culture. Twitter-alike social media usually more uniform in terms of language.
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.
Jokes never translate well. Even between somewhat-related languages, like western European ones. Best to just not.
More than that Japanese people have a completely different sense of humor from the stuff you usually see in the West. Even a fluent but non-native speaker will have a lot of their jokes fall flat simply because the Japanese and Western conceptions of a joke are very different. In what way? I have no idea, still trying to figure it out. I don't know if that gap is that big in other cultures, but definitely best to just not.
Even if people are talking in English, it still can display cultural difference. Especially nowadays we get Singaporean English, Indian English, Asian English, etc.
For example, a word in English Asia have neutral meaning, but in American English it is a slur. Unfortunately a lot of Western people does not realize this and tried to "standardize" the language. People should learn contextual language instead of policing from their own cultural mindset. Especially, billingual or trilingual people often code-mixing language.
I've seen Japanese artist deleted their account because they mistaken a joke towards their art as hate comment.
Yikes! I wanted to comment that it would be clear that you're using a translation service of some kind if you reply in a different language from the post, and the other part might take that into consideration — but clearly that isn't a given.
Happy cake day
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~
I would be a little careful of words with opposite meanings though or idioms. Like "that song is sick" or "that's tight". Be direct with your post so the auto translator can pick it up properly.
Hmmm... I thought it would be rude, but considering the consensus here, people speaking other languages should just respond using their languages to English comments and posts. There are way more non-English speaking people on the planet than English speakers. It would make the fediverse truly international if people did what you did!
Thanks for possibly starting a movement :)
Mer chönd das scho probiere, aber denn müsst mer ja di ganz Ziit en Übersetzer zur Hand ha, wär denn doch nöd die best UX würdi säge. Das würd d'Neuakömmlige nur no meh verschüüche.
That's not a language, it's a dialect and nowhere near standard. I think there's quite a difference between responding in a language that can be translated by existing translation tools vs whatever offshoot of a dialect you wrote that in. After all, people from the UK will respond in English, not Cockney, Geordi, Brummie or whatever else. And they don't write words how they sound when spoken, which is what you're doing.
Surprisingly your text was translatable by DeeplL
As to the UX, I don't see the problem. Lemmy allows you to select which languages you want to see and if people consistently respond in a language you don't wan to see, you can always block them. It's a pity Lemmy doesn't allow deselecting "Undetermined" because it would turn this into a non-issue.
The point is that languages without large speakerbases might consider barging in with the most recognized languages rude, while languages with similar status might find it normal.
I just used the TWP plugin to translate that comment inline and got, "We could try it, but then we'd have to have a translator on hand the whole time, which wouldn't be the best UX, I think. That would only alienate newcomers even more."
Is that not correct?
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. [email protected] is one that comes to mind where this has happened in the past.
My personal opinion is that it's 2025 and translation is free.
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.
Just don't expect nuance or depth. Or, in case of languages that aren't closely related to yours, to be understood.
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.
Nie mam pojęcia czemu my mielibyśmy to wiedzieć. Może zapytaj tych Japończyków?
Listen here you little... well done
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?
We lack a translate button. Rednote and weibo have translate buttons. We need that.
I often see people reply in other languages, even under English posts (usually in German over here).
I guess, you could try to reply in Esperanto,it's most non offensive language I know.
Yeah, that way nobody will understand it
I'd say, personal preference. There will always be some people that are going to be annoyed by it.
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.
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
Je ne pense pas
I don't think most people would care unless the community rules forbid it. Some might be curious, some might skip it, and you might get a nettouyo being a racist twat every now and again.
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.
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.
Also ich würde behaupten, dass es in der Tat nicht sehr cool ist einfach in einer anderen Sprache zu antworten.
Okay where do you even see Japanese posts?
Misskey has a massive Japanese population in part because it was written by Japanese speakers.
Japan.
Mastadon seems to have a lot. I don't see much outside of it personally.
Misskey has more of it. In fact, the second biggest fediverse instance is Japanese, mostly filled with illustrator, comic artist, photographers, gamers, and other otaku culture enthusiast.
Before mastodon.social, the biggest fedi instance is also Japanese, but it was different instance run by corporation (now seems to be abandoned after being sold to another corpo).
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.