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Is it rude to reply using English under posts in a language you can’t speak? (lemmy.blahaj.zone)

submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I often reply under Japanese posts, and I always assume users will use a translator as I do, but maybe in the context of a Japanese instance or conversation this may look rude?

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[–] [email protected] 87 points 4 days ago (4 children)

I don't do it, but if I did, I would consider apologetically offering the machine translation inline with my post. Why put the burden on them to do it if you want it to be read?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Actually I did it one time, but every response I got was in English even if the user was a Japanese speaker. So I started worrying that the translation was incorrect, even if it was specified that I wasn’t a Japanese speaker. I wonder if maybe, especially in the Fediverse context, Japanese users might be pretty used to English and Latin alphabet in general so that it may be easier to them if I just write using the language I actually know in order to avoid mistakes

[–] [email protected] 20 points 4 days ago

Using English is totally okay!

I did it all the time and we interacted just fine.

Using machine translation can lead to mistranslation, even your heartwarming comment can be interpreted as hostile.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

Everybody learns the Latin alphabet and English in school (used to be Jr high but pushed back to elementary recently). Proficiency levels are low, especially in speaking and listening, and shyness/fear of mistakes are factors. However, reading can be pretty decent. Of course, people very good at English also exist.

Could also be that many use machine translation, at least for the output side.

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