I am a bit embarrassed that I can’t write identification comments in languages I am fluent or close to. I started to learn names of common grasses and mosses in Hungarian a month ago.
( English is my 3rd language)
English. But the technicalities are mostly Latin (femur) or even Greek (elytra) terms, so the language of the comment per se is not the difficult part in the dialogue…
I find that DeepL is really great for Deutsch! Way better locallization/understanding than Google Translate in my experience. (I also have to double-check my written german)
It might not help you for mixed sentences still ![]()
(Sorta) fluent in spanish and portuguese. I usually check the user’s bio or else use whichever is most common in the country obv was posted. I think I replied “you’re welcome” once in russian which I had to look up.
Me too, though I can write in a few Indian languages too. On iNaturalist I use only English, not having the letters on the keyboard is a major reason.
I mostly identify reptiles in the Northeastern parts of North America, so I mostly use English. I have identified one or two painted turtles in Quebec, which I have used basic French for. This thread is making me think that I should start identifications in Italy to hone my Italian skills.
English under most observations. French under observations made in French-speaking regions (Québec, France, Madagascar). I leave comments in Spanish cobbled from my own limited knowledge of the language and Google Translate, although I try to make these as short as possible. I truly realize the minuteness of my Spanish vocabulary when a user replies to a question like “Plantado o salvaje?” with a sentence I struggle to understand. I definitively want to learn the language eventually
What OS and desktop environment are you using? I use KDE on Linux, and I have four keyboard layouts set up.
Usually I use English, unless the observer has asked a question in German or is obviously an older German person.
Very rarely (if I know that English isn’t really spoken by most in the area an observation was made in) I will use deepL to translate something, and leave a disclaimer that I’ve just translated something and don’t know if the translation makes any sense.
I basically only use english, unless I have been adressed in german or spanish before. Generally, english is the language that most other people coming across a certain observation will understand as well.. it sometimes feels a bit impolite to me to switch to german or something else for no reason
However, since we’re all here labeling living organisms using Linnaeus’s taxonomic classification, we should all learn Latin, and write and communicate in that language, as stated in the text: “Praeludia sponsaliorum plantarum.”
If the comment is inappropriate, don’t suspend me; instead, tell me so and I’ll remove it.
That works for the ivory towers. Greek is also required.
Yes, of course, even Ancient Greek. Writing it seemed excessive to me! I eliminated it from the final draft of the published text.