10
$\begingroup$

This was a suggested edit to this post (link to revision in Spanish):

screenshot of suggested edit

From what I can make out (largely thanks to Google Translate), the proposed translation is pretty much correct (and makes minor alterations in sentence structure).

Now I understand that such edits always carry the possibility of distorting the author's actual intentions (which counts in favor of rejecting the edit), but if it is the (seemingly) only means of making (a fairly good) question more accessible to the rest of the community, why not approve the edit (especially when it appears to be accurate)?

P.S. I neither approved nor rejected the said edit, but it looks good IMHO.

As of now, Martin and TAR already approved the edit. Accordingly, I've retracted my (unclear) close-vote on the said question and upvoted.

$\endgroup$
2
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ You shouldn't retract CV or upvote it. It shouldn't get translated, because it's a terrible question. $\endgroup$
    – Mithoron
    Commented Nov 15, 2017 at 16:51
  • $\begingroup$ @Mith Well, the merit/correctness/usefulness of the question aside, I removed my close vote (unclear) because the question was no longer "unlcear" (after Mart approved the edit). :-) $\endgroup$
    – paracetamol
    Commented Nov 15, 2017 at 16:56

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
10
$\begingroup$

Yes, that was a strange one, but I decided it does no harm in accepting the edit. The history itself is preserved for anyone who wants or needs to know.

As far as it goes with the authors intention, we regularly edit posts here and in rare cases some of the initial intention gets lost. However, especially in this case, I think allowing the translation to stand on its own merit is superior to closing (and probably deleting) the post. It is in the better interest of the OP and also our site.

$\endgroup$
10
$\begingroup$

Such edits should be allowed; they preserve the original intent of the author in the purest way possible while promoting the question from close-worthy (‘unclear what you’re asking’ — aka I don’t speak Spanish) to keep-worthy (we can now all understand what OP is asking).

If you do not speak or read enough of the foreign language in question to confirm the approximate validity of the translation (as I would not be able to with Spanish), please click skip and let those who can decide.

$\endgroup$
5
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ "If you do not speak or read enough of the foreign language in question to confirm the approximate validity of the translation (as I would not be able to with Spanish), please click skip and let those who can decide." Martin speaks Spanish? ;-) But yes, good point. $\endgroup$
    – paracetamol
    Commented Nov 15, 2017 at 14:16
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Also, I don't speak/read Spanish but I could make out (fairly) that the original post and the proposed translation were in agreement. (I plugged it into Google Translate, and then put together any loose ends... going by the similarity in sentence-structure and meaning with French) O:) In this case, would I still have the (moral) authority to approve /reject the edit? $\endgroup$
    – paracetamol
    Commented Nov 15, 2017 at 14:21
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @paracetamol Use your judgement, but I would conclude that that falls under ‘reading enough’. For example, my Finnish is still rather poor but I would very likely be able to confirm the validity of a translation. $\endgroup$
    – Jan
    Commented Nov 15, 2017 at 14:28
  • $\begingroup$ Okei, niin se on kyllä silloin! \o/ $\endgroup$
    – paracetamol
    Commented Nov 15, 2017 at 14:32
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ Well, I don't speak Spanish, but my computer did speak it well enough to make me accept it :D $\endgroup$
    – Martin - マーチン Mod
    Commented Nov 16, 2017 at 2:00
-5
$\begingroup$

This steps seems logical, but another better way of dealing with this would be to add the same question in another language for those specific users. So if A wrote answer in English, B can translate it in Spanish, and English users see A's answer whereas Spanish users see B's answer.

$\endgroup$
1
  • 5
    $\begingroup$ Stack Exchange is an English network with the exception of the language sites (whose scope is only language questions). Stack Overflow, the mother site, is available in multiple languages by the company’s support. On Area51, other different-language sites are often proposed but closed; a post titled ‘Internationalisation, State of the Stack’ (or something along those lines) will say why and what the team thinks. $\endgroup$
    – Jan
    Commented Nov 16, 2017 at 7:02

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .