Comment by Zambyte
4 days ago
It seems better for people to simply write in their native tongue. By translating what you write before sharing it, you are robbing readers from the opportunity of using future, better translation technology. It freezes text at the current capabilities of translation software. It also drives us towards a monolonguistic world, and I think a lot would be lost in that (said as a monolonguistic English speaker).
In the abstract, sure. But in terms of practical communication, especially something like a lightweight group discussion, you want to be seen by everyone, not just by those who happen to use live translating software on the receiving end. Because English is dominant in US-centric social media, perhaps you are rarely in the situation where you will be completely left out of a conversation you want to participate in if you only use English, but there's a real friction to leaving text untranslated. Think Reddit or even HN. Would most people even bother to translate the Farsi comment to see if it's insightful, or would they just skip it? Or even scold the author that this is an English dominant space and they should try to conform to that?