Platform: App
App version number, if a mobile app issue: 1.37.2 (638)
It looks like I’m seeing more than one language in the app? Some names are in French and others are in English and it’s really random which ones are which language. I should only be seeing English theoretically.
Screenshots of what you are seeing:
see discussion here:
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/common-raccoon-raton-laveur/75745/3
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/common-names-in-french-instead-of-english/43005
Interesting I’m not having this issue on the website, only the app. Maybe the bug was fixed there and not on the app yet?
If it’s a locale thing, maybe Quebec should be treated as it’s own “country” for iNat’s purposes? As those in Canada know, and perhaps many outside don’t, that’s really the only place where French is more common than English.
I do get why locale takes priority over language, locales have different names, even if it’s the same language. A good example is cabbage butterflies. In the US, they’re called “garden whites” not cabbage.
I have this issue sometimes, but I see names in languages of other users (identifiers). So if someone here, in Ukraine, uses Russian language to identify species, I see the name in Russian, same with Polish and English. Even if user doesn’t use that language anymore, I still see other languages in old identifications for some reason.
I’m wondering if maybe you have a similar issue that we have in Canada where people within the country speak different languages based on what part of the country you’re in? I don’t know Ukraine well enough, but I’m in Canada, and the cause of this bug seems to be that the algorithm gets confused by common name prioritization when its dealing with a multilingual country.
Yes but if someone is in the US but has their language set to French wouldnt it make more sense to display the name “Piéride de la rave” than “Garden white”? I’m not denying that animals have regional names or that they should be displayed in those regions I’m just saying I imagine most people would expect and prefer to see a name in the language they have speak (so matching your language should be prioritized over matching your locale when displaying common names)
Fair point. I’m not sure if does display like this, would have to hear from someone who has.
my understanding is that is exactly whats happening to you right now, it’s why youre seeing “raton laveur” despite your language being set to english
Another general concern I have here is confusion. I didn’t know what a phymate d’amérique was until I went to the website and saw it was a jagged ambush bug. This is just an app issue, and I think with only French and English it’s manageable, but as another user pointed out, there are areas where Russian and Polish get fuddled with other languages as well.
Ya… hence my suggestion of maybe treating Quebec as a region or leaving off French as a locale and only treating it as a language. Someone in Quebec might have their language set to English and 90% of Canada isn’t French, so treating French terms as local terms for Canada doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
But wouldn’t it be strictly better to just always first try to match your language, and then match your locale, rather than the other way around as is currently done? This way French-Canadians outside of Quebec (of which there are plenty) still get the French-Canadian names, and Anglo-Canadians in Quebec (of which there are plenty) still get the English names. This would also simultaneously address many other similar situations in multilingual countries rather than an ad hoc solution which might be harder to implement in areas where languages don’t cleanly follow administrative borders.
Ya, I’m aware and agree there are exceptions both ways, that’s why I also said or
[quote=“felicia54513, post:10, topic:75760”]
leaving off French as a locale and only treating it as a language.
[/quote]
earlier.
Can’t speak for other countries well enough, but as you pointed out there are many, and many are more complex.
To be clear right now it seems iNaturalist will pick a common name according to the following list of priorities
All I’m saying is they should switch the priority of 2 and 3, which seems like it would completely fix this problem, and be a much better approach than creating a special locale for Quebec.
Makes sense. I wonder if part of the issue is that Canadian French and European French have different common names and maybe that’s why it’s not all observations and seems kind of random from an English prespective. In that case maybe making French (Canada) and French (France) two language options would make the most sense. I know many other language options on various apps have a similar system.
Yes. For now in Canada in the few cases where a locale common name priority is needed in French, the solution seems to be to also add a locale common name priority in English for Canada.
Based on this whole brainstorming exchange we’ve had, I think the answer is for Canadian French to be its own language. I’ll send that as a feature request.
I don’t think it’s a good solution. The problem comes from multiple languages in the same country.
I think @yongestation‘s solution to prioritize ¨A name matching your language but not your location¨ is a better approach.
Ya, also I noticed that iNat already has Canadian French as a separate language. I did submit a feature request but changed its details accordingly. Awaiting mod approval right now.
