cache description in country's own language, idea

[+zo kom je nog eens ergens.nl]

In our country, the Netherlands, a lot of caches are described in two (or even more) languages. When you print this caches you have lots of paper in your hands. Also in other countries in Europe we were glad that beside the country's own language, the descriptions were in English.

 

With the new print pages (where you can click on/off the parts that you want) I got the idea: that would be perfect for the languages problem: when the cache owner has a field 'long description english' AND a field 'long description own language' > the cache page shows both, and there is an option to print only the language you want.

Same for the short description.

 

For my owned caches I would love to have the different fields to fill in on the form. It is easier to handle then the one field (witch is way to small for all the text in even one language).

[+mousekakat]

I think that is an excellent idea!

[+Isonzo Karst]

yes, a very nice idea

[+zo kom je nog eens ergens.nl]

just a question: is it planned for an update? or still wishful thinking?

[+Corey]

What about "Long description" (local) and "Alternate Long Description" (English or some other). They could be collapsed using the arrows on the printer page.

I've gone paperless - maybe not the right person to answer.

[+zo kom je nog eens ergens.nl]

exactly, that's what i mean. Living in an Euregion place (Living in the Netherlands just nearby the Belgium (french speaking) and the German border), it would be very welcome.

Nevertheless: more people will enjoy it when they go caching at their holidays (that are quite a few!)

[+trainlove]

The powers that be once said that version.2 was supposed to have the ability to display whatever language you want to select, not forcing someone to post in multiple languages.

I can't find that quote though in the couple weeks since someone else asked the same question as you. But that original quote was perhaps sometime in january 2007 not '08.

[+zo kom je nog eens ergens.nl]

is this option still on the huge 'to do' wishes list of gc? Or is it wishfull thinking that once this option will come at the site???

 

since paperless cachen is not always the smartest thing, I still hope this will come!

[cezanne]

is this option still on the huge 'to do' wishes list of gc? Or is it wishfull thinking that once this option will come at the site???

 

since paperless cachen is not always the smartest thing, I still hope this will come!

 

I would welcome the possibility of being able to separate different languages in my cache descriptions. If the feature is implemented properly, it could also be helpful for paperless cachers. (Typically paperless cachers do not love long cache descriptions and the descriptions of caches offered in two or even more

languages can become quite long.)

 

A number of cachers including myself have asked for such an option many years ago. I cannot remember of ever having encountered a positive reply from Groundspeak.

 

It appears to me that the services of the version 2.0 of the website (that have been mentioned above) go in a different direction, such as a user interface in other languages than English. As automatic translations deliver only useless crap, there will never be any reasonable alternative to multilingual cache descriptions produced by the hider of a cache (or another human being with a reasonable command of the languages under consideration).

 

www.opencaching.de offers the possibility to offer separate language versions, but ironically that site is hardly used in an international way. This site could profit much more from a "language separation" feature

which allows to display/select the text in only one of the offered languages.

 

Cezanne

[toczygroszek]

Great idea!

[+Hynr]

For three months I cached in the Netherlands and was frustrated by the many caches where only one language was presented. I had to do a lot of extra prep work. Thanks to that I can now decode some Dutch. So it was good for me. Still it would be great if some headway could be made on this.

 

I think that there is not going to be a solution coming from Groundspeak on this issue. I really don't see them restructuring the database to add an additional field. We would do better to develop some sort of standard for coding the information. For instance if any cache description contained some "tags" for language then we could use post-processing to deal with it. So here is an example:

<Language Dialect=“Deutsch”>

Dieser Cache ist ein großer Kunststoffbehälter mit ein paar Spielsachen für die Kleinen. Hinzu auch ein Logbuch. Bitte das Loch nicht tiefer graben und den großen Stein weider so draufstellen wie vorgefunden.

<Language Dialect= “English”>This cache is a large plastic container with some toys suitable for small children and log book. Please do not dig the hole any deeper than it already is and place the big rock back exactly where you found it.

<Language Dialect=“Nederlands”> Deze cache is een grote plastic container met een paar speelgoed voor de jongeren. Daarnaast is er een logboek. Niet de enige gat dieper dan hij al is. Plaats de grote stenen terug precies waar je het gevonden.

</Language>

With this sort of markup language tagging one could then quickly spot whether a cache description has multiple languages and let us quickly get to the language of our choice.

 

Having several language versions share the same field might not be such a bad thing. I found that many cache descriptions on multicaches in NL seemed to try to use as many words as allowed, resulting in excessive complication and gratuitous mathematics So having to use the same space for several languages could be a good thing. If you run out of room, just make two caches out of it and everyone will be happier anyway.

Edited August 17, 2009 by Hynr

[cezanne]

So having to use the same space for several languages could be a good thing.

 

I do not agree. I would prefer to be able to separate the languages.

 

If you run out of room, just make two caches out of it and everyone will be happier anyway.

 

There is no length limit for cache descriptions. Moreover, I prefer one long cache to two shorter ones. So I will not be happier by what you suggest. Moreover, I prefer multi caches with virtual stages to those where one has to find a micro at each stage. The former caches tend to have much longer descriptions than the latter ones.

 

Cezanne

[toczygroszek]

What do you think about additional attribute like "EN" if description or clues are available for English speakers and "not EN" if is only in local language and you have to known some words (e.g. puzzles and multis)?

[+Starf]

What about "Long description" (local) and "Alternate Long Description" (English or some other). They could be collapsed using the arrows on the printer page.

 

Totally agree ! Implement that.

[+Starf]

*bump*

 

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