know the native language of somebody who replies

Question

Hi,

This is a very active forum with a lot of kind people to help others if they have questions about the spanish/english language. But the problem is that one can't always be right. E.g. I do my best to reply to the best of my abilities if I think I know the answer, but since neither Spanish nor English is my native language chances are that I make mistakes even when I think I'm right.

I suppose that's the case with many others too.

So I was wondering if it wouldn't be possible to include something like 'native language: spanish' or 'level in spanish' when answering to a question, just to see how sure one can be of a answer.

Just an idea.

This "problem" has been discussed several times. The idea is that everyone should fill out the information in their profile. - Gekkosan, Jun 3, 2010

Unfortunately, it apprears that the language field cannot be made mandatory on this site, so a lot of people leave it blank. :-( - Gekkosan, Jun 3, 2010

Answer 1

I do not ask many questions about Spanish online because I have unlimited resources where I live. However, as an engineer I never take any answer as fact unless it comes from a datasheet or other reliable published source and sometimes I will double-check that depending on the criticality.

That is just part of life, never believe everything you hear or read; it is the responsibility of the person using the answer to make sure it is correct especially if it is being used for a life changing decision or grade.

That's one part of the problem, yes. But it is also important that people publish their native language and language proficiency in their profiles, because sometimes it makes a difference in terms of how an answer is best delivered. - Gekkosan, Jun 3, 2010

For example, I might write this answer in Spanish if I saw that your native language is Spanish. Or I may craft the answer is simpler terms if I see that your native language is neither Spanish nor English. - Gekkosan, Jun 3, 2010

I partially agree with the language proficiency on the profile. However, there is no real way to verify the accuracy of their self-assessment. - 00a52084, Jun 3, 2010

Adding a bio to the profile may be more helpful: education, years of experience, approximate age i.e. 20-30. Again unverifiable. - 00a52084, Jun 3, 2010

Answer 2

As Gekko says, this should be something to fill out on the profile page. Unfortunately, the site has not made the information mandatory. I wish it would.