For international Web sites, why doesn't Ning make it possible for the site visitor to select the language?

[David Paul Appell]

We would like for visitors to Tripatini.com to be able to see the site in Spanish, or German, or Chinese, but the Google translation tool provides very awkward translations. Should it not be relatively easy for Ning to create a feature whereby site visitors select the site language from the list of languages the Ning platform has been translated into, rather than be limited to the one language the Network Creator chose? 

[Patrick Chappelle]

Though I have always had an interest in the languages and cultures of peoples all over the world, my travels ahve been limited to the Americas and the Caribbean. However, I am aware of how widely English is spoken in other countries, but that's not quite what I meant. Here in the U.S. I have seen immigrants who have lived here in New York all of their lives, yet can not form one full sentence in English. This is because the U.S. goes out of their way to make sure applications and other accommodations are made for them, so there is little incentive for these people to learn English. Would it be possible for you or I to live thus in China or Saudi Arabia? Of course, I do understand the lack of such accommodations for English speaking in these countries stem from the fact there aren't legions of English speaking people relocating there. Nevertheless...

 

I do agree with your final point, David. Unfortunately, Americans are more than comfortable in their ignorance of other languages and cultures. 

[Andrew Aker]

We just work on the Chinese level so far...  If we want to get to the international level, we need our network to be available in Chinese first.  

 

China is indeed a rising economic and political power, and is learning English, but step by step, not through Total Ning Immersion.  

 

I've tried to get our students and parents to learn the site functionality through English alone, and that just isn't working.   

 

As far as diplomacy goes, speaking the local language garners a lot more rapport than forcing our own language and culture upon them...

[Nicolas Stephanou]

Ning used to have this feature available at the level of member's profile where each member could choose his preferred language as explained here: Set Your Preferred Language on Ning

Unfortunately this feature has disappeared with the switch that Ning did a few months ago.

This is a priority for our network as well and is the main reason which makes us think to migrate away from Ning.

[Evan]

Hey Nicolas!
I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to weight in for anyone browsing. Ning has never offered the ability for a member of a network to choose the language they want to view that network in. The screenshot you're referring to is on Ning.com, where you can set your language, but not on the network.

This is a feature that's compelling, obviously useful, but also very hard, and that's the reason it hasn't happened yet. We're still exploring options for it, but we haven't been able to come up with a good solution that won't take months to implement just yet. Hopefully soon.

/Evan
Ning Product Manager

[JFarrow]

i know of a great solution which might be an option, seeing as the jquery is already part of the platform

http://code.google.com/p/jquery-translate/

 

and even more awesome:

http://tympanus.net/codrops/2009/11/30/jtexttranslate-a-jquery-tran...

[Evan]

Hey JFarrow,

You're welcome to use that in the meantime. That's definitely not the right solution for the platform, as we have translations of the network interface in 25 languages already — it's just an issue of how to surface them properly and ensure a good experience.

/Evan
Ning Product Manager

[Nicolas Stephanou]

Hi Evan

When we started a Ning Network in 2008, we were able to offer our members to choose between English and Greek to view the network's interface in. This could be done on signing-up but could also be changed from the profile settings at any time. I must say that I remember this feature having bugs but it did exist! The feature might well have been interrupted earlier than the major changes in 2010 but, unless I'm loosing my mind, it was there in 2008 and 2009.

[Evan]

Hey Nicolas!

I've been with Ning since the start of 2008, and I can say fairly confidently that we've never offered that feature. I certainly could be wrong, but I don't think we've ever had that.

/Evan
Ning Product Manager

[Tony]

I like all of this.. but what about even to begin with just button the can translate any forum or blog post into any another language, so we don't have to use code to put up a lame google or microsoft ad on our pages or  social media bar..

[Jens Anonym]

We are also looking for the same possibility like David already explained, a google translator is just very awkward in their translation, it would be much better to have the option to change the phrase by oneself.

I think this is actually a big disadvantage of the Ning Software... I think quite all software have the posibility to add languages!

With best regards

Jens

[Nicolas Stephanou]

A google or any kind of automatic translator is certainly not an alternative. I also think that Ning is ignoring all international communities that are in need of a multilingual interface.

[Theo Buijsrogge]

Why doesn't anyone from NING react on this topic (and similar posts)? It really would be a great advantage to have this.

And is it really such a big problem to program it?

Where is this topic on their roadmap?

I would love to see some answers

Thanks