I received a buddy request...which I accepted. I went to the cat´s site to say hello to the new cat friend and found no where to write.

It stated the profile, etc. was in the language Eesti and was therefore hidden......I might add i see no reason to hide another language....it would not strain my eyes to see it.........but, I thought, ´well, if I can´t write, I will give a virtual gift´.....I gave a hair brush but never was I shown the gift as English cat sites always show. I clicked on the ´virtual gifts´ and it went to a specific page but still the site did not reveal the two gifts it said had been given by myself and another, by someone else.

Still no where to write a ´hello´ ever appeared as i ´wandered´ clicking on this and that on that cat´s site.....

So, went to the person´s main page and, at least, saw the person was from Estonia, Viljandi maakond.....and finally, a box was there for me to write a hello to the cat through that page.....of course, the person may not understand English but at least I went through the motions of saying hello.........

Is this everyone´s experience when dealing with a site in another language......?????

I don´t see why it has to be that complicated just because it comes up in another language. Simply allow whatever is on the site, in any language to be seen........would be my recommendation!!!

Wonder if that person has ´such fun´ dealing with English sites from that person´s language.....ha!

Curious to see if others have found the same????

And.....how does one say in Eesti (which language group does that belong to?):

"Oh, so happy to have you as my new friend......So, do you have any good mouse hunts in Estonia????...........I have eaten all the ones in my backyard......ha!.......Deelee in California"

Songbird

Users can make their cats profiles in these languages that they understand and can speak. For example an Estonian user can create a profile in English for their cat.
But if the cat does not have profile in English, then the pictures are shown (everybody can understand them ) but noting else on the profile is shown.
The comments under profiles are seen only on this language page that the comment was written. Only exception is "my comments" where all comments are shown and it does not matter in what language they were written and on what language page.
The gift is shown also on the language page. If this Estonian user opens an English age for her cat, then the gifts will also be shown, but not before that.

At one point, it would be great to have all the languages seen on one page, but actually, it would be too much information that would cause disturbance.

The buttons are on the same place for all the language sites, so it is easy to surf on them and elarn and see other users and get to know the language.

Oh, so happy to have you as my new friend......So, do you have any good mouse hunts in Estonia????...........I have eaten all the ones in my backyard......ha!.......Deelee in California Ma olen väga õnnelik, et näen oma uut sõpra... Kas teil on ka toredaid hiirepüüdmisi Eestis???? .... Mina olen vist kõik oma tagaõue hiired juba nahka pistnud.... eh!... Delee Californiast

Estonia - Estonian - is part of Finno-Ugric language family. You can read more about it in Wikipedia

Estonian is a really difficult language. We have only 1,4 million citizens in Estonia, but we even have Universities in our own language (it is probably one of the smallest nation in the world that has access to even medicine in doctoral degree in their own language)

same thing happened to me a couple of hours ago!!!!!!!!!!!! I went to the page of a new buddy of Maya and sent him a kiss (as a gift) but I couldn´t see that kiss anywhere! I even clicked on his estonian page but I couldn´t see it there, either! I don´t know what happened to that gift... the bad thing is that the cat´s owner won´t be able to see it either.. well, in the english page one can "see" 3 gifts ( the third one is the one I sent ) but then clicking on it it comes out that the kitty only received 2 gifts....I don´ t understand anything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just checked my buddy´s profile once more.Now three virtual gifts appear on the profile button but still can´t see them clicking on it.

Thank you so much, zuzlik for the explanation and translation.....

Still, I would think the entire page being shown in whatever language would not be any more confusing that having nothing showing just because it is in a different language......

Personally, I would welcome seeing all original writings, as they present themselves, on that cat or person´s page. .......and............I am not talking about translations of those writings in any and every language......just as the site is written.............

That way, I could get a better understanding of a particular language and learn......I have in fact, corresponded with others over the years in other languages....their native tongue........got a dictionary and learned.

By seeing how the language is written by a person, I get a feel for that language, not just a book learning experience, detached from everyday living.

Please ask the techs to consider that seeing a complete site in another language when we click to go there, is not confusing as long as at least one box shows up on the site that allows for comments to be made in friendship, in any language, by anyone.

I was disappointed to be ´locked out´ in that sense.....it seemed unfriendly even though I know that was not the intent.

Again....thank you so much for your time in explaining the techs thinking.......

Songbird

I had found the same thing, what I have started to do is to use a universal translator in the users language then I can add a comment - it takes longer but hey I am increasing my vocabulary even if only slightly!!!

I´m not sure if the gifts work when you give them to a member on their own language site. After a misunderstanding (based on the language differences) I gave a gift to a cat called Turbo and left a thank you comment for the member. I don´t think it showed up because usually things like that are acknowledged. It was a while ago, and I had forgotten about it until now.

I don´t think the gift showed up at all.

It would be nice to have all the profiles visible on the English siite, but I see the technical point of view that it would be very cumbersome indeed! The site is working really well at the moment!

Hmmmm, you may be right M&D...maybe that cat never got my gift.....oh, well, I tried.....I did copy what zuzlik translated for me along with the English and pasted it into the one box that did reveal itself, so I hope she could at least read that.......

ebigum......I clicked on the Latvia language and finally figured out how to navigate in the other language and get the cat´s page....it was Sallu in Latvia.......it was fascinating to see that language and was fun to try to ´read´ what i could........I happen to love languages because it adds to the fun to be able to communicate with a lot of nice people, although, trust me, the Latvian language and I would have a difficult time getting to know one another.......ha!

Still, I don´t understand why (when I went to the language of that cat´s site as it is in it´s language) nothing showed up beyond what I had seen before. This time I had clicked on the language in the box at the top of my screen that takes you to each countries listings.......so I expected Sallu´s site to reveal itself in its total glory as our sites do when we run back and forth between them in English.......I was at the Latvian site in the Latvian language but all was set to see me as an English speaker, i guess.....oh, well, I tried......

Songbird

I would love to be able to just see people´s pages no matter what language they are in. I belong to a rabbit site where that is the case. Obviously, the forum that I see is only in English, but the profile pages show up in whatever the native language is. It´s really cool. I sometimes will use an on-line translator to write a message (and I always tell the other person I´m doing that so that they understand any errors and so they don´t assume I´m fluent in their language). Mostly I only will write a short note and at least send a buddy request. It really makes me feel connected with people around the world. It would be nice if it worked easily here on UC....there are some great cats (and owners) out there that I´d love to acknowledge better.

One of my cats (Bowie I think) got a gift from another language user, and although I got an email to say a gift was received, it never showed up on Bowie´s page neither in English or the other language concerned and I checked on both versions. So I logged in on other language and just sent in my comment as I didn´t know how to translate so hopefully they realised that was my attempt at an acknowledgement! I don´t know how to access/use the universal translator thingy.

Pipster, here´s a link to a good online translator. You don´t have to sign up to use it. Simply type in the text you want to translate, choose the language from the drop down menu, click Translate and voila! - there´s your translation: Online Translator

This translator offers English to Spanish, French, Italian, German, Russian, Dutch and Portugese. I´ll check to see if there are translators for the other UC languages and post them here if I can find any. Perhaps other users know of them and will post a link.

Fireheart 438.......wish the mods and tech creators would check out the rabbit site and see how they did it......

I am with you.....would love to ´connect´ in everyone´s language.......

Just having to see a cat´s page in another language is not the problem they are assuming......

Songbird

marcatmm.....thank you so much......so very kind of you........

but.......still wish the site would handle the language differences in such a way that the site retains the individual common language based cat sites while allowing everyone to view and connect on all sites, not just our native language ones......

As it is, it appears that if I can read and write French, I can not use the cat´s regular page because the site identifies me as only an English user....yes, I can write in one box, but all else is hidden......

Not an ideal way to do things, as far as I am concerned as for me it is all about the connecting and I do speak and write some French......

......so I am locked out.......how sad.......connecting is why I am on this site but the site is limiting......or so it appears.........

Songbird, you can make a profile for your cat on any of UC´s national sites. You can use a translator or dictionary to fill in information on the profile if you don´t speak the language. Then you´ll be able to sign in on any national site where your cat has a profile and interact with the other cats just as you do on this site.

Further to my post above, here´s an online translator for English to Danish, Croatian and Tagalog which works the same way as the Babel Fish translator in the previous link: Online Translator II

Wow.......how complicated when you really think about it......

The rabbit site makes better sense.....more user friendly.....

After all, what this site has set up is rather time-comsuming to have to go to all the languages but i appreciate what you are sayiing.........

Let´s see, being I know people in France, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Columbia, South Africa, Canada, Australia and Italy.......what a nuisance.......ha!

but......again, you are a gem....thank you for all your time and the extra translator site.......we can always count on you and zuzlik to care and take our concerns seriously......

...........still, though, have to repeat............wish some techs would figure out a better way of doing this language thing like the rabbit site........

Wait. There is a rabbit site? Do you have the link?

Okay......just be forewarned......had to have some fun with the second translator site........and.....while it works, just put a disclaimer in when you put a translated phrase into a cat´s site box because.....you really have no idea what it is translating something to........

to wit.......I put in the sentence "ooooooo, is it hard to find mice under all that snow????? I chose ´Croatian´

The site said......Ooooooo, is it tvrdo pronaci misevi pod svi taj snijeg???? (my computer won´t allow me to ad the accents marks, etc. that are above the letters)

Then, I said in French

The site said........Ooooooo, est-ce que c´est severe a trouver souris sous toutes thanksggiving neiger????..........(again can´t imitate the accent marks, etc.)

The translator put in ´thanksggiving´........what is that???????

Sooooo............use it but be aware of it´s limitations.........ha!.....even if you haven´t a clue what they might be because you are not even a smidgen familiar with the language.....of which, I might add....... who knows what is wrong, besides the obvious ´is it´ words that start off that croation translation........

It is however great to have at least some way to translate our sentences.......ha!......I also realized that in the French, that my choice of English becomes critical.....like using ´hard´ instead of the word ´difficult´ which would make for a better translation in French........

......but that is the fun of languages.......

(darn machine.....this was a repeat of above entry.....go figure.....ha!

Songbird

I would prefer it if we could just see everything regardless of the language the user has chosen to set up their pages in.

I think the main site (fields etc) should be visible in the user´s chosen language no matter whose page you are viewing and only the user´s content should remain untouched (ie written in the user´s language).

But I´d like to see all the gifts and comments, even if I can´t understand the language! Just to know that someone has gone to the trouble of leaving a comment is appreciated!

Songbird, that French translation was pretty funny! I´m very dubious about using those translation sites for phrases because very often they don´t give anything close to what I want!

Clerihewed...........Just go up this page and click on fireheart438´s icon and at her site, click on catmail and send her your question and she can give you the link......

I checked out the Online Translator marcatmm and it doesn´t appear to be able to translate English to Estonian on there!