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Gustavo wrote: "Now that GR is available in different languages ..."Has there been a recent change that I missed? Foreign language books are available, but Goodreads itself is in English.
And certainly there is no provision for changing spelling of authors such as Jules Verne, just cause its a different spelling in spanish.
Well, the author name was just a suggestion, but I just gave the 1st example that crossed my mind… there are lots of cases like that, such as in the languages written in different alphabet. Still there's no intention to begin a polemic, if nothing can be done that's the way it is. Regarding the GR language I have it in German… it changed automatically a couple of weeks ago.
Gustavo wrote: "Regarding the GR language I have it in German… it changed automatically a couple of weeks ago. "I had no idea. I live in the US. I wish they'd announce this kind of stuff sooner, rather than later.
As for author names, they're working on an AKA feature which will account for pen names and variations on spelling. I assume that will include language based variations on spelling. The AKA feature is in the works, but it is a big change, so I have no idea when it may be finished.
Well, that's a good thing that the language changed, I can certainly appreciate that. But like mlady rebecca said, it would been nice for GR to tell us. As for AKA, we live in hope :)
Mod
There was an announcement some time ago, I believe.
http://www.goodreads.com/help/show/30...
Good to know, sometimes you just feel out of the loop. I obviously missed this one :)
That's a help item. I was expecting an announcement thread in Feedback or a blog entry. I guess it doesn't affect me directly, except I hate to pass on bad information.
mlady_rebecca wrote: "As for author names, they're working on an AKA feature which will account for pen names and variations on spelling. I assume that will include language based variations on spelling. The AKA feature is in the works, but it is a big change, so I have no idea when it may be finished. ..."
Been wondering about such a feature, good to hear it's in the works.
For book descriptions in other languages, I guess we have to keep relying on people to put them in the according language when entering foreign editions.
(And hope that they add the original work title)
Mod
There have been a couple discussion threads, but the help item was easier to find.
Gerd wrote: "I guess we have to keep relying on people to put them in the according language when entering foreign editions. "Are we supposed to write the descriptions according to the book version's language?? I thought descriptions had to be always in English…
Great news about the AKA! I think it's big step into intrgrating other languages and their speakers! Cheers to that!
Gustavo wrote: "Are we supposed to write the descriptions according to the book versi..."I usually scan the backcover text of the book if I have it, why add a English description if the book is in whatever language anyway. If people can't read the description, chances are they can read the book neither. :)
Long as the original title is given/the books are correct combined anybody interested will know which book this is English.
I totaly agree... still I think it'd be nice if sometime you could set a default description for each language, so it automatically applies to all versions in each specific language. Hopefully it can be done sometime in the future...
As I understand it the changing language option works with holding a template for each language you need, obviously that's not a workable solution for book descriptions, and auto translations are just not very reliable.
Gustavo wrote: "I totaly agree... still I think it'd be nice if sometime you could set a default description for each language, so it automatically applies to all versions in each specific language. Hopefully it c..."If I don't go wrong it works already in this way.
An example, the same book but the italian edition:
La luna e i falò with the italian description
and the english edition:
The Moon and the Bonfire with the english description.
Only if the description field is empty the description in english is inserted by default (if I don't go wrong).
I believe that if a book is translated into Spanish (for example) that the description should also be that of the Spanish edition. If there is no description available in Spanish, it may default to (or a librarian may add, because something is better than nothing) the English description. However, that's assuming there is a description readily available in that language.
If a person using Goodreads speaks and reads only Spanish, what good would it be for them to see a translation of the information for an English (or any other language) book? They wouldn't be able to read the book, even if they could read the description and chances are there is a Spanish version elsewhere on the site that would be the one they would purchase/read/own. Not to mention many book titles change when they are translated into other languages which could cause confusion if they were to be translated by the site.
Gerd wrote: "As I understand it the changing language option works with holding a template for each language you need, obviously that's not a workable solution for book descriptions, and auto translations are j..."
Yes, this is more than likely exactly how it works. Goodreads would need to employ multiple translators for each language in order to keep up with translations at the scale with which Goodreads generates and updates content. While auto-translating is an option, and getting more correct in their translations, it's still not perfect and who knows what strange stuff it could pull out of the interwebs. :)
Sure, but when you set an English description as default it applies to most of the versions of a book without its own description, and in that case a person who doesn't speak English won't understand a word from it, even if they are looking at a version of the book in their own language (for instance, Spanish). The suggestion was about setting one specific default for each languge (one for Spanish, one for German, etc.), so that it applies to all books set in that specific language. And there wouldn't be any need to hire translators whatsoever, because a Spanish-speaking (or the respective language) librarians could add one and set it as default... just as it works with the English/general default right now. It'd just be a little effort for librarians who speak other languages.Anyway, seems like it's a bit more complicated than I thought...
Gustavo wrote: "...one specific default for each languge (one for Spanish, one for German, etc.), so that it applies to all books set in that specific language."That is actually a good idea! It would help with books that have been published in multiple countries with multiple editions. For example, if an original English book has 10 German editions out of which only one has a German description...why not make it possible to set that as the default German description without overwriting the English description on the English books?
Actually this should probably be adressed in the feedback group, since it's not a librarian issue. It would be a great feature for books that have been translated into many languages!
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Books mentioned in this topic
The Moon and the Bonfire (other topics)La luna e i falò (other topics)
Also, now that we're at it, sometimes author's names are translated (e.g. Jules Verne, who is better known in the "Spanish world" as "Julio Verne")... Just if something can be done about it.