What languages do you write comments in when identifying?

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)

3 Likes

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…

6 Likes

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 :zany_face:

5 Likes

(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.

2 Likes

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

2 Likes

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

2 Likes

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.

1 Like

Yes, of course, even Ancient Greek. Writing it seemed excessive to me! I eliminated it from the final draft of the published text.

1 Like