Language

As anybody can find reading my profile, I'm a Spanish speaker and obviously it's easier for me to write in my own language BUT

I believe this is site designed in English and it's not right to read reviews in different languages, until now I've seen some in Spanish, French and even Portuguese.

Luckily I can understand most of what it's written in all this languages because all have a latin root but English speakers can't, and this is a place for everybody to understand, where will this stop, maybe tomorrow we'll find a review with Thai characters or written in Russisch Alfabet.

I believe everything must be uniform, so I suggest that all reviews in other language different to English should be deleted.

There are lot's of places to write and read reviews in other languages, I visit some in Spanish and the administrators of those pages delete any post not written in our language and it's Ok, so I believe Prog Archives should do the same.

Iván

Iván and danbo: I agree with both of you!

Iván raises an interesting point though. I, too, would not understand a posting in Thai or Russian and that brings it to the crux: what if the site administrators or other members cannot understand the content and it is highly defamatory or politically oriented or - for that matter - an incitment or threat of some kind? Highly unlikely, I know, but not impossible. Ignorance is bliss, but...

On the other hand, it would be such a shame if enthusiasts who cannot express themselves in English could not participate in any way (although one such review on the site just consisted of the word "mierda" and I would have preferred an explanation of why he thinks it's a mierda!). I find it a bit sad in some ways that the world appears to be busy learning English, but I suppose we are in a global economy with the Internet, some sort of lingua franca is needed, and English is as good as anything else for that purpose (So much for Esperanto).

So, on reflection, I agree with Iván (desgraciadamente ).

And, while we're at it, I think the data stream from Vega should be deleted too.

It's easy enough to find an online translator - even if they all tend to do a very rough job.

I don't think people should be co-erced to write in English if they don't want to (or possibly can't!); it's easier to express your thoughts if you write in the language you are most familiar with. Otherwise you are spending half your thought processes translating.

I think that it's better for people who really want to read the reviews to put in the translation effort, so that at least they can get a good idea of what the reviewer meant. Also, you could use Private Messenger to communicate with them and ask questions about what they meant - thus getting  a kind of "personalised" review.

You can't do that on Amazon!

Perhaps "co-erced" was too strong - just making a point in my normal size 12 boots kinda way

I see this whole translation thing as being like prog music itself; It's written and "performed" by the artist using the "language" (could be actual language or musical style) the artists choose.

You, as an intelligent progger then spend a lot of (enjoyable) time deciphering - and getting lots of pleasure out of doing so, because the closer you get to the essence of what the artist was trying to put forward, the more enjoyable the whole experience becomes. If it's blatantly obvious, it quickly becomes boring - and would, in fact, be pop music, not prog!

 I'm inclined to agree, Ivan!

Guidelines ask for English!

I'll try to write a review or two tomorrow.... hopefully in English!

I still disagree. Lately, there are some long Spanish reviews that I read and enjoy, and I guess many people too. I'm not the owner of this site, but I think that many people really like Progarchives.com beyond their own language, and could be unfair don't let him/her to express. BTW, each one can decide which review deserves to be read or not.   

Sigo en desacuerdo. Ultimamente, hay algunas largas reseñas en español que yo leo y disfruto, y supongo que otra gente que no habla inglés también lo hace. No soy el dueño de este sitio, pero me parece que si alguien se encariñó con Progarchives.com sin ser anglo parlante, sería injusto no permitirle expresarse. Y, en todo caso, cada lector tiene el derecho de decidir qué reseña leer y cuál no.    

Marcelo: Te puedo dar el nombre de 10 páginas sobre Rock Progresivo en español, y me cuentas que te responden si osas escribir algo en inglés. Creo que hay un lugar para cada cosa y cada cosa en su lugar.

Como podrás inmaginarte no tengo nada contra mi propio idioma, es mas me encanta visitar esas páginas y escribir en mi lengua, pero también creo en el orden y el respeto de las reglas, por algo soy abogado.

Marcelo, I can give you the name of 10 prog' web pages in Spanish, and you can tell me what do they answer if you dare to write something in English. I believe there's a place for everything and everything must be in it's place.

As you can imagine, I have nothing against my own language, I love to visit those pages and write in my own tongue, but I also believe in the order and respect for rules, that's why I'm a Lawyer.

Iván