Default description language

[Rosemary]

Am I correct in thinking that the default description of a book should be in the language the book was originally written in?

E.g. if I find that the default description is in Hungarian for example, for a book originally written in German, do I change the default to a German description?

Sorry if this is in the manual, but I did search it and couldn't find the answer.

[lethe]

No, if there are several translations for a book it's better to keep the default description in English. (Best would be not to have a default description at all. /soapbox)

If the original book is in Hungarian, but there is a (f.e.) English translation, that would be more helpful for the majority of readers.

ETA Now I'm beginning to doubt my own words. Maybe the default should be in the original language. *is all confused now* (Did I mention that I hate default descriptions?)

ETA2 No, I think I was right the first time. Say there is a Dutch book with English, German, French and Swedish translations. Say we cannot find Swedish and French descriptions for the book. The English description would then be more helpful as the default than the Dutch would be.

[Rosemary]

I don't like default descriptions either :) and no offence, but this sounds like your personal opinion. I would have thought there would be a rule for this...? No?

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Since the description can be entered/changed according to the edition language, sometimes it doesn't really matter which description is the default. It is important, however, that the description actually *be* in the edition language.

I have asked previously in the Feedback group for there to be a way on the editions page to see which editions are using the default description.

[lethe]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "It is important, however, that the description actually *be* in the edition language."

Yes, but as I said, sometimes one can't be found. And since GR abhors a vacuum, the space will then be filled with the default description. And a default description in English is better than one in a language less universally understood.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

lethe wrote: "Yes, but as I said, sometimes one can't be found. And since GR abhors a vacuum, the space will then be filled with the default description. And a default description in English is better than one in a language less universally understood. "

Yes, but it's not like you can't put something in that space. I think it will even take a space and then not fill it with the default, but I *know* if you put a dot/period in that space it will not find the default for what is now no longer a vacuum.

[Rosemary]

I know what you mean, Elizabeth, but I often find them in random languages and I'm not sure what to do. For example today I was adding my copy of The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum, a book originally written in German. It had the default description in a script I couldn't read (maybe Arabic or an Indian script). That's clearly not right, but I didn't know whether to change the default to English or German. I picked German, not wanting to impose the domination of English on non-English-language books. I just wondered if there was a rule about this.

I see that Lethe is not a native English speaker and picks to change them to English :) maybe I am being over-sensitive about English language imperialism ;)

[lethe]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I have asked previously in the Feedback group for there to be a way on the editions page to see which editions are using the default description."

Not exactly what you have asked for, but did you notice there is now a question mark next to "use the default description"? If you click it, you can see what the default is. (At least, I think the question mark is new. Don't recall seeing it before.)

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Rosemary wrote: "I know what you mean, Elizabeth, but I often find them in random languages and I'm not sure what to do. For example today I was adding my copy of The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum, a bo..."

That's what happens when someone adds a book and then marks the description to be the default and then all of the previous editions using the default get changed. You can see on the edit page what used to be the default and change it back. I copy the off-language description so that I can re-enter it as a single-use on the the wrong edition.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

lethe wrote: "Not exactly what you have asked for, but did you notice there is now a question mark next to "use the default description"? If you click it, you can see what the default is. (At least, I think the question mark is new. Don't recall seeing it before.)."

No, because by the time I'm on the edit screen, I can already see that that edition is or is not using the default description.

[lethe]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I *know* if you put a dot/period in that space it will not find the default for what is now no longer a vacuum."

But wouldn't you prefer a description over a dot, even if the description is not in the correct language for the edition? As long as the description is neutral and not edition-specific, as happens all too often?

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

lethe wrote: "But wouldn't you prefer a description over a dot, even if the description is not in the correct language for the edition? As long as the description is neutral and not edition-specific, as happens all too often? "

If the description is in the wrong language, no I would not.

[lethe]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "If the description is in the wrong language, no I would not."

We will have to agree to disagree then :-)

[Mike Briggs]

I agree with Elizabeth (Alaska) in this instance.

[Sharadha]

Just to pick up some insights from this thread - the description in a Little Women specific edition (2004 publish) (as alerted in this thread) was in Spanish (different from the ISBN source) - the ISBN description is as below:

"In picturesque nineteenth-century New England, tomboyish Jo, beautiful Meg, fragile Beth, and romantic Amy come of age while their father is off to war."
(Source)

Based on the existing Spanish description, I used Google translator to change the description to English - was this what should be done or do I take the description from the source quoted above and set it to default description (for this edition)?

Thanks,
Sharadha

[rivka, Former Moderator]

There is no such thing as a default edition for a single edition. The default edition of a work will appear for every edition that does not have another description already -- or which had the previous default edition.