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I remarked this problem from this post:

Flagging non-English questions

Lets say I see a really good question in a foreign language and I am fluent in this language.

I want to translate it in English so all users can understand it.

If I do that, we have following occuring problems:

  • Source: To guarantee that the translation is correct, the original text should be preserved and visible (at first ?) so that other people can verify that this is a correct translation.

  • Grace period: If we would allow someone to translate questions, we need a grace period. If these questions are open, there is a very high probability that the question will be closed and removed -> useless work done. We would only need a few hours.

  • Mark as translation in progress: To prevent flagging and complaints it should be possible to mark this question so that people see that a translation is in work.

If you support the idea that people may translate questions, is it possible to introduce documentation rules, grace period and translation mark into Stackoverflow ?

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  • 4
    I see nothing wrong with translating these, but I also don't see it as very valuable, as the OP won't understand any answers in English.
    – Flimzy
    Jul 19, 2012 at 0:00
  • @Flimzy I think that if the OP understands English enough to read the FAQ and spend some time on the site before asking, then they can reasonably understand English. If they can't, their question will probably be closed for reasons beyond the fact that it isn't in English.
    – gobernador
    Jul 19, 2012 at 0:51
  • @gobernador: If they had read the FAQ, they would know not to post questions in other languages. :P
    – Flimzy
    Jul 19, 2012 at 1:57

1 Answer 1

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The source will be preserved in the edit history.

A grace period should not be neccessary. Closed questions can be edited and reopened.

So, just do the translations, and flag to reopen if it has been closed in the meantime.

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  • "The source will be preserved in the edit history". That is not the problem, the problem is that onlookers are not aware that this question has been translated and native speakers can not crosscheck if the translation is correct if you dont see the original is foreign. "Closed questions can be edited and reopened". Can. How much reputation is necessary to reopen the question ?
    – Thorsten S.
    Jul 18, 2012 at 23:05
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    If you like, include a note "Translated from [language]". You could even link that note to the first draft in the edit history.
    – JGWeissman
    Jul 18, 2012 at 23:09
  • Thats a good idea.
    – Thorsten S.
    Jul 18, 2012 at 23:11
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    If you don't have rep to reopen, flag it for moderator attention (even if you do have enough rep, flag it to get more open votes). If that doesn't work, or is painfully slow, bring it up in meta, and you have more evidence your feature request is useful.
    – JGWeissman
    Jul 18, 2012 at 23:12
  • No objections so far.
    – Thorsten S.
    Jul 18, 2012 at 23:16

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