| Pages in topic: [1 2] > |
| User | Thread poster: Yaotl Altan Country flag option |
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Yaotl Altan 
Mexico
Local time: 18:27
  Member
English to Spanish
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Users should have the option to insert the flag of the country they live in. A little flag displayed in the Proz directory will be the best and fastest way to graphically find translators in Proz lists.
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Gerard de Noord
France
Local time: 01:27
Member (2003)
German to Dutch
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Yaotl Altan wrote:
Users should have the option to insert the flag of the country they live in. A little flag displayed in the Proz directory will be the best and fastest way to graphically find translators in Proz lists. |
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Some of us don't like to emphasise that we no longer live in our target language country.
Besides, little flags are sooooo last century.
Cheers,
Gerard
Note to self: replace flags with language options on all my webpages.
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Yaotl Altan
Mexico
Local time: 18:27
Member
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER |
Gerard de Noord wrote:
Yaotl Altan wrote:
Users should have the option to insert the flag of the country they live in. A little flag displayed in the Proz directory will be the best and fastest way to graphically find translators in Proz lists. |
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Some of us don't like to emphasise that we no longer live in our target language country. |
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Exactly, Gerard. It would not be compulsory, but optional.
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Gerard de Noord
France
Local time: 01:27
Member (2003)
German to Dutch
+ ...
| | Let's just be cautious | Sep 13, 2010 |
What's optional this year might be recommended next year, encouraged the following year and mandatory for the rest of our lives.
Cheers,
Gerard
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Yaotl Altan
Mexico
Local time: 18:27
Member
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER |
Right now, it looks like this:
If my suggestion is implemented, it would look like:
There´s no problem if a user doesn't use the flag, as his/her entry will remain the same.
Kind regards!
[Edited at 2010-09-14 01:16 GMT]
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Tomás Cano Binder, CT
Spain
Local time: 01:27
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
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Personally I don't see the need for the flags. Flags (especially in my country) are always a source of arguments and tension. I think it is OK if we don't fill this portal with flags.
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Heinrich Pesch
Finland
Local time: 02:27
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
+ ...
| | You can put the flag into your image | Sep 14, 2010 |
I don't think flags are better than words. Words are searchable (cntrl+F).
What flag would a Finn put up, if his native language is Swedish?
Translators are searched according to language combination, not country of residence or birth.
Regards
Heinrich
[Bearbeitet am 2010-09-14 05:22 GMT]
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Anabel Canon
Spain
Local time: 01:27
Member (2004)
English to Spanish
+ ...
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Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:
Personally I don't see the need for the flags. Flags (especially in my country) are always a source of arguments and tension. I think it is OK if we don't fill this portal with flags. |
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Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 16:27
 Member
English to German
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Yaotl Altan wrote:
Users should have the option to insert the flag of the country they live in. A little flag displayed in the Proz directory will be the best and fastest way to graphically find translators in Proz lists. |
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So... I am a US citizen and I live in the US. But I was born in Germany, I am a native speaker of German and I translate into German (the reversed language pair is taken care of by our co-workers). Which flag option should I chose and - why on earth (literally) should this be important in terms of finding the perfect translator?
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Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 01:27
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| | Good idea, but it must be optional | Sep 14, 2010 |
Yaotl Altan wrote:
Users should have the option to insert the flag of the country they live in. A little flag displayed in the Proz directory will be the best and fastest way to graphically find translators in Proz lists. |
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This is a good idea, I think. Those who do not like it are those who would not benefit from it, but I think most translators would benefit from it.
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Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 01:27
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| | Optional and mandatory | Sep 14, 2010 |
Gerard de Noord wrote:
What's optional this year might be recommended next year, encouraged the following year and mandatory for the rest of our lives. |
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Can you think of other examples of optional items in the ProZ.com profile pages that became mandatory after it used to be optional? I know of many items that are optional but that are still optional. In some cases, the visitor is told "user chose not to say" and in some cases the item is simply absent from the profile page.
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Yaotl Altan
Mexico
Local time: 18:27
Member
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER |
Nicole Schnell wrote:
Yaotl Altan wrote:
Users should have the option to insert the flag of the country they live in. A little flag displayed in the Proz directory will be the best and fastest way to graphically find translators in Proz lists. |
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So... I am a US citizen and I live in the US. But I was born in Germany, I am a native speaker of German and I translate into German (the reversed language pair is taken care of by our co-workers). Which flag option should I chose and - why on earth (literally) should this be important in terms of finding the perfect translator? |
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Easy, the flag of the USA as you live there. As many people do related to translation rates, if you don't like to use it (this would be optional), then you could choose "user chose not to say".
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Peter Motte
Belgium
Local time: 01:27
Member (2009)
English to Flemish
+ ...
| | No flags, please | Sep 14, 2010 |
Flags... They're too simple for something like translators. They don't tell a thing. Target langauge country and source language country are both valuable and interesting places to live. The first one to have good handling of the target language, and the second one to understand the source language.
But the story doesn't end there. What about people with more than two langauges?
What about the extensive use of media (chatt, tv, telephone, internet...- to compensate for the country where you don't live?
And, yes, flags are so 20th century. They were a cheap way to put pictures on a website, but lots of us decided in the end they are... too simple. I deleted them from my site.
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Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 01:27
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| | Wrong discussion | Sep 14, 2010 |
Peter Motte wrote:
Target langauge country and source language country are both valuable and interesting places to live. The first one to have good handling of the target language, and the second one to understand the source language. But the story doesn't end there. What about people with more than two langauges? |
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If you have a problem with the fact that the translator's country of residence is indicated in the search results, then that would be a separate discussion. The fact is that the country of residence is already indicated in the search results (it is not optional, AFAIK), so the proposal of a flag is not a proposal to make the country of residence known.
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Tomás Cano Binder, CT
Spain
Local time: 01:27
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
+ ...
| | Flags are powerful symbols | Sep 14, 2010 |
Samuel Murray wrote:
If you have a problem with the fact that the translator's country of residence is indicated in the search results, then that would be a separate discussion. The fact is that the country of residence is already indicated in the search results (it is not optional, AFAIK), so the proposal of a flag is not a proposal to make the country of residence known. |
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Although in theory you are right, in practice flags are powerful symbols. When some German national looks at Nicole's line in the list, the US flag will jump to their eye and they will irrationally think "American, thus originally native in English." Not a good feeling if you know a tiny bit about Germans. Since this world moves at ludicrous speeds, a decision based on the flag will be final and will take place in a fraction of a second.
Yes, in theory the same person would be scared away by the name "United States" in Nicole's line in the list, but a flag stands out a lot more.
No flags please!
(And sorry Nicole for using your name for this example! I hope you don't mind!)
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| Pages in topic: [1 2] > |
The translation workplace 
