Hey Mates,
I thought a time ago about the outrage on Null-Byte, when some spanish guy translated the articles and said they are his own. “How could a thing like this can be avoided?” was the question and some smart guys thought of copy protection, watermarks, etc. but I think a better way could be taken. What would be if the board supports translating of their tutorials? Of course it shouldn’t be that these translated articles are published on different sites, so a big feature (Yes, the big stands for the work, which has to be done to add a feature like this ;)) would be to add a translate function do the forum.
Think about it like this: Different members from different countries say they are interested in translating the very valuable articles here, but can’t put it on their site and reuploading in a translated form on this site would be stupid too, so the forum adds a button (Or something other; it’s just an example ) to every article called “translate”. Every member who’s interested could translate now this article to their own native language as easy as creating a new topic. When he’s done he publishes the translated post and it’s put in a “translated” category (You could also copy the category system to each new language with main categorys, subcategorys, etc. but I think it would get too complicated…; However, it’s your choice ).
Ok, now the article is translated and published on the forum here, but how the guys who need the translated article know that a translated article exist for the post they read at the moment? I think a little combo box or something similar at the top of each article with the different languages in which the article is available could be great (Again: Your choice )! Now when he clicks on one article he can instantly see: “Oh, I could read this very complicated Windows Internals article in my native language? That’s great, so I don’t have to lookup words and it get’s easier to understand such a complex topic!”.
Finally the last point, which I think is the real beauty of this system. Think of an experienced IT dude, who wants to share his great knowledge about rocket science here. The only problem is his bad knowledge of specialist words in english… I think if he wastes much time on just looking up these words his motivation for writing such a valuable article would fall very fast… Now think of this dude who posts the article in his native language and let it get translated by other members. After some days another Afghan guy on the board sees how usefull this article could be for other members and instantly translates it to english, because he knows how the specialist words are translated or just because he is motivated enough to take the time for looking up the words. Now every member can (In case he can read english, but I think the majority can) read his article!
Ok, a last note here: Remember dudes who want to ask something, but are awfull at english? They just ask the question in their native language and it can be answered by another member without much communication problems!
Of course this system would cost much effort to get installed (At least I think it costs much effort), but I think it would be more than just worth!
The problem with this is that we don’t want a plethora of languages on the site. That would cause a lot of confusion and create a lot of barriers. Also, most of our traffic comes from English-speaking countries, and a lot of programming was designed with English in mind.
Thus, while I see the utility of a translation system, I would think that Chrome’s browser translation service is already sufficient.
At the current you can change the UI language, but you are talking about the posts. It’s a great idea.
The problem with translation, is that things don’t always translate well. You’ve probably seen literal translation with Google Translate before, for example in English I’d say “Turn off the light” in Italian, id say “Close the light”, see the difference? Different languages can be tricky, however I am willing to learn little bits of other languages, and I know people are willing to learn bits of English.
I have no issue with people posting articles in their native language, the only potential issue is that people might not respond to them as frequently as they would an English article.
Would the translator be able to understand and therefore communicate the entire article in a manner such that it would be delivered correctly and accurately to the reader? I’m not just saying word for word translation, I mean how the information as a collection or whole is conveyed. Would technical jargon be an issue? Would the translator be able to understand the meaning behind said information?
English should be primary. Again, English is the language of Computer Science; AND most people visiting this site are from the US/UK and speak English.
Well @oaktree in my eyes it’s not important which Nation now visit the website the most. For me it’s important which people will come in the future. Now for the people aren’t good in English the side is a lot of , because here are only texts in English. But if there is a translate-function for them these people will post and read articles here, so there is more traffic from other countries than US/UK. Also it’s not important that English is the language of Computer Science, because if the texts will be translated you needn’t have problems with the codes of the article. Otherwise google translator isn’t good like an translation by an expert of this language. And if you are an English native speaker you can’t know what’s for us that aren’t native speakers.
Well, English is the official language of 0x00sec. Of course, you’re welcome to come on the IRC (##0x00sec on freenode) and seek out someone who knows your native language as well as English. With this person, you can compose an article in your language of choice and he/she can help you make an English version, which a person like me (skilled English speaker/writer) can spruce up to make more understandable for everyone. Is this okay?
The thing is: everyone has ideas; language is just how you express your ideas to others. If we don’t have a standard, this place will be a mess. Think about programming, for example: The best programming languages, like C++, Ruby, or Python, have standardized versions so that the ideas expressed in anyone’s code can be understood by anyone else.
Well this mustn’t be a mess, because there is only a table in which language this article was translated and a button to translate this article. Also the post needn’t get posted another time you only must click on the button to translate this article. And code is other than text. Text can be write in totally diffrent ways but code is only writen in little diffrent ways. @oaktree
Ye they can be answered in any language out there as long as it is a PM and not a reply.
I don’t want this forum to turn Spanish, Russian or whatever.
Part of learning hacking / computer science is being able to learn independantly.
90% of all literature about IT that’s out there is in English. You can’t become independant without learning English. Learn it one way or the other. This is not to be a dick. this is to protect those that seek comfort and are not aware of the limitations this will cause.
If you don’t understand a word -> dictionary (google m8).
I’m not native English speaker and this is how I learned it.
So no more excuses and google is your friend.
Well I don’t either. I only think you can set an option for only English. I only think it’s easier to read than in English and to understand. Also I think more about those aren’t better than me in English.
) to every article called “translate”. Every member who’s interested could translate now this article to their own native language as easy as creating a new topic. When he’s done he publishes the translated post and it’s put in a “translated” category (You could also copy the category system to each new language with main categorys, subcategorys, etc. but I think it would get too complicated…; However, it’s your choice 
).
)! Now when he clicks on one article he can instantly see: “Oh, I could read this very complicated Windows Internals article in my native language? That’s great, so I don’t have to lookup words and it get’s easier to understand such a complex topic!”.
, because here are only texts in English. But if there is a translate-function for them these people will post and read articles here, so there is more traffic from other countries than US/UK. Also it’s not important that English is the language of Computer Science, because if the texts will be translated you needn’t have problems with the codes of the article. Otherwise google translator isn’t good like an translation by an expert of this language. And if you are an English native speaker you can’t know what’s for us that aren’t native speakers.