Answering in Spanish only...
I've noticed several new members that are not trying to learn English, but only want to learn Spanish. Is it fair for them to have to post on some of the games in both languages (English and Spanish) since this is mainly a Spanish learning site?
13 Answers
The site is intended as a tool for learning both Spanish and English - regardless of what the actual proportion of students is.
The idea behind requiring answers in Spanish and English, and correcting grammar and spelling on both, is that anyone can look at the answers and learn something.
El propósito de este sitio es servir como una herramienta de aprendizaje tanto de español como de inglés, independientemente de cuál sea realmente la proporción de estudiantes de cada idioma.
La idea detrás del requisito de escribir respuestas en español y en inglés, y de corregir la gramática y la ortografía en ambas, es que cualquiera pueda ver las respuestas y aprender algo.
EDIT:
Reading the later posts, it seems like I misunderstood your question a bit. I see now that you were referring to people whose native language is neither Spanish nor English. I believe that other posts have already given satisfactory answers, but I'll state my opinion anyway. Only certain games require the answer in Spanish and English. The reason for that is what I explained in my original post above. This site is for learning English *and / or * Spanish.
For that same reason, those are perforce our common languages. There are plenty of tools and threads that are suitable only for learning Spanish and only for learning English. But it could get very confusing if we started receiving questions in Polish, Russian, Tagalog, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Hindi, to name but a few of the natives languages that some of our members speak.
Furthermore, this site was obviously created and is maintained by native English speakers, so I guess the ancestry permeates the contents. 
Leyendo las publicaciones posteriores, me parece que malinterpreté un poco tu pregunta. Ahora veo que the referías a personas cuyo lenguaje nativo no es ni español ni inglés.
Creo que las otras respuestas ya han ofrecido respuestas satisfactorias, pero igual compartiré mi opinión. Sólo algunos juegos requieren que la respuesta sea en español y en inglés. La razón para ello es lo que explique en mi respuesta original que puedes leer arriba. Este sitio es para aprender inglés y / o español.
Por esa misma razón, esos son por fuerza nuestros lenguajes comunes. Tenemos bastantes herramientas e hilos que son adecuados sólo para aprender español y sólo para aprender inglés. Pero la cosas podrían ponerse bien confusas si comenzamos a recibir preguntas en polaco, ruso, tagalog, árabe, chino, japonés o hindi, por nombrar tan sólo algunos de los idiomas nativos que algunos de nuestros miembros hablan.
Adicionalmente, es obvio que este sitio fue creado y es mantenido por angloparlantes nativos, de modo que supongo que la ancestralidad permea los contenidos.
I'm not fluent in English due to it not being my native language, but still I'm not here in order to learn more English. I can't speak for every country of course, but English is on the schedule at school from like 1.grade because it is reckoned for being a world language, and the most frequent language used for business, and therefore very convenient to know.
English is therefore not necessarily the problem when people wants to learn Spanish at this site. I'm guessing English is a language that most people on this site understand (I'm thinking especially on those learning Spanish). I admire those who would be able to learn Spanish here, but know nothing or only a little English.
I will agree with Gekkosan, but put it in a different way. I see this as a site for people who are using English as a medium to learn Spanish, or Spanish as a medium to learn English. I know that I argued in favor of a Dutch speaker that wanted to create Dutch- Spanish flashcards, but that person communicated with us in English, and did not ask us to create anything for them, just to be able to make use of a resource in a way that anyone else could ignore. But outside personally created flashcards, I think we are striving to be an English-Spanish community. I am thrilled with the number of people at this site that have both English and Spanish as second languages, but they are all sufficiently capable in one of those to communicate effectively and use it as a means to learn the other. I think if we were to start having questions posted and answered in French or Russian for instance by people who were trying to learn English and had no interest in Spanish, or vice versa, that would be a significant change in this site.
(I will add that I have no objections to the friendly comments that happen occasionally in other languages, but those are not comments aimed at teaching and learning).
(As I have said before, the real thing I think we need to do is make the site more attractive to Spanish speakers that are at earlier stages in learning English)
Hi katy!
In threads like WOTD, for example, for the corrector it's crucial that people post in both languages. For non native speakers like me, if you post in Spanish only, sometimes it's just impossible to guess what the speaker is trying to say.
Posting in both languages really helps in these cases.
In a nutshell, no, I don't think it's fair and perhaps, a little leniency should be offered to them. It is clearly beneficial to have answers put in both Spanish and English for context's sake (as Pesta mentioned) and for practice. However, I don't think it's so horrible to let a "non-English-nor-Spanish" speaker slide if they only know one of the languages (1 person out of 100 - rough estimate). It's not that serious. 
I'm afraid I have to respectfully disagree with two of the members I admire most. 
Learning one language is tough enough. If it takes someone 4 hours to compose a post in Spanish, as it does me, then I would not expect them to take another 6 hours to post in English, as well. 
Since I am trying to learn Spanish, and like most members on this site, am fluent in English, I do not mind when someone posts in Spanish only.
I also don't mind when they make flashcards in their own language. Those flashcards can be of great value to those who speak their native language.
I would go so far to say, I encourage those who are not fluent in English, and only wish to study Spanish, to use this site 
After all, they have to read most of the threads directions, etc. in English!! In my opinion, that's enough practice for them. 
Perhaps, if allowed to feel comfortable participating here, they might even become curious about English, as well.
I wonder how much we are influenced in our responses by an unconscious anglo-centric bias??
In short, I really do not like exclusionary policies when no harm is done to me. 
I think you have misunderstood (or your post does not accurately reflect your understanding). There is no requirement that posts be made in English and Spanish. Those who feel comfortable doing so (or who would like to "take a stab at it") are encouraged to do so. The only requirement is that posts be in either English or Spanish (or both). For the obvious practical reasons (there are some 6,000 languages in the world), members can hardly be expected to field questions in any/all languages.
A learner of English (or Spanish) may derive some some benefit from reading/attempting a question in English (Spanish) about Spanish (English). However, questions in Hausa/Quechua (or whatever you consider to be an exotic language) are very unlikely to be intelligible to anyone but the original poster. It simply is not possible to be all things for everyone.
In point of fact, we have had some posts about Arabic (generally stemming from the influence of Arabic on Spanish). I, myself, have in the past made occasional reference to similarities/differences between Spanish and Japanese/Vietnamese but these were for the purposes of explaining Spanish rather than in/about those languages (often in the nature of pointing out that there are many different ways of saying something).
It's brave and bold of Heidita to do that, but it's not easy, and it's impossible to offer the right corrections the first time.
thanks pesta, this is one of the ways to make you , the learners see, if the text would have been understood by a native speaker. I always say that I almost understand everything, jeje, you should hear my students throw sentences at me, o m g, jeje.
anyway, on the daily threads the rules are clear, the member must post in English and Spanish. On other threads this is not mandatory, as long as the member's Spanish is good enough of course, we cannot go around just guessing what he means
On some of my threads Spanish only is required, it all depends on the thread.
Is it fair for them to have to post on some of the games in both languages (English and Spanish) since this is mainly a Spanish learning site?
Of course it is fair, the rules are very clear on that, I did not see you were talking about the games, the games, that is daily threads and a - z threads.... are very clear, you have to post in Spanish and English.
The English is for context, if nothing else, as others have said.
I must mention the exception here... I refer to Heidi's occasional thread for our stories in our target language (not both languages). Her corrections sometimes leave her wondering what was meant by the author, and there's nothing to refer to. She leaves comments asking "what were you trying to say?".
It's brave and bold of Heidita to do that, but it's not easy, and it's impossible to offer the right corrections the first time.
I think it is very good as in many cases it would be impossible to understand what I meant if I didn't supply the translation. It would be horrible for our kind moderators to have to ask us what every other mishapen sentence was supposed to mean. Obviously this does not apply to all students..
I wonder how much we are influenced in our responses by an unconscious anglo-centric bias??
.... It is a good idea to check the users profile.....
I think this entire thread is helpful, even if there is no simple solution. It was very thoughtful of Katy to bring this up.
Terri and MaryMcc have made some very good points - it is important to check a poster's profile before responding because the information contained there may change the way we respond - hopefully for the better. I think we all have a certain bias towards people who are articulate and who write well in our native tongue. I know I do anyway.
How many times have you seen a question ignored or answered brusquely because it was written in less than stellar English or Spanish? But if you knew that the poster's native language was neither, would it make a difference in your response? Would you make allowances and be more patient? I'm studying Spanish, but if this were a Spanish only site, I'd be in serious trouble! You wouldn't know without checking my profile if I were an Oxford don who recently took up Spanish lessons or an illiterate 10-year-old from the slums of Mumbai who stole an iPhone from a tourist and started texting posts to SD! In fact, most of us would not appear half so clever as we do now if there were no English allowed on this site. It's easy to misjudge a person or misread a question if the grammar is fractured and the spelling is somewhat mutilated. But that doesn't necessarily make it a question without merit.
I sometimes see someone post & they are told to use correct grammar, but when I see their profile they are beginners in English & Spanish. Must be rough..
It is hard, but if posts are left uncorrected then it is very confusing for those who are learning English. It is a good idea to check the users profile, if they claim to be fluent then it isn't unreasonable to expect them to at least try to write correctly.
If it is clear that they are not a native English speaker, or their profile says they aren't, then I think corrections should be offered even if they are not aiming to learn English. Otherwise people who are learning English may think it is correct.
Edit: OH sorry Kathy, I completely misunderstood what you said. It is a good point. If you do not speak a word of English and are learning Spanish here why should you have to write a sentence in English? Well I think in this world that is a really unusual situation, for most people English is the most practical second language to learn first, but it does happen. Of course if you want to travel to a Spanish Speaking country or if you live in one that is the language you are going to learn.
I guess people could always try to get around the rule using Google translator, I mean there are people here who do that anyway and pretend not to >_< grrrr
Misunderstanding: (I am happy to help anyone learn either language whenever I can, I don't care what their first language is or if I stand anything to gain personally from helping them.
A lot of regular members of this board have neither language as a first language and i find the idea of excluding them repugnant.)
