different languages

Hello. I appreciate this platform a lot and have already experienced wonderful sits.

my question is about communication in different languages.

With the search function i found in this regard only the idea to offer TH in various respective national languages. I see the great cost and effort that would demand here.

my request is simpler. would it be an idea and doable to integrate a field in the profile do indicate the languages spoken by everybody?

when i write an application, i do it in english, i have to check everything in a translator and translate it back, because my native language is different.
of course i also ask, mostly in the first text, for other spoken languages. e.g. german, if i am applying in the german speaking area spanish, if i am doing this in a spanish-speaking country. Etc.

Sometimes, by the time I have translated everything, all the application slots are already full.

Hence my question. If I see in the profile the spoken languages of the HO, I can apply directly in my native language, everything would be easier and above all clear and free of translation misunderstandings.

what do you think? have i overlooked this function?

4 Likes

I agree, Sakuri, it would be excellent if everybody - sitters and home owners - would indicate in their profiles what languages they speak. This would be very helpful and interesting indeed!

And if THS wanted to expand internationally it would be of course amazing. All they would have to do to achieve this, would be to offer the whole website in several language options - but that is their management decision and would require the help of professional language experts like myself (I do such projects mainly in English, German and Czech).

At the moment, the whole company is focused on English-speakers only, therefore there are - sadly - very few sit offers in Africa, Asia and South America as well as in many European countries, for example in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe.

If you don’t speak English this is probably not the right site for you, because every advertiser here expects to find a respondent who speaks English. I have even done sits in France and in Portugal where the home owners did not speak a single word French or Portuguese, therefore the location does no necessarily indicate their linguistic abilities. In other words: A sit offer in Spain does not mean that you can communicate with the advertiser in Spanish. Have you searched for similar companies with headquarters in the Spanish-speaking world?

BTW, you can get an instant and very good translation of everything I just wrote at DeepL Translate: The world's most accurate translator (free of charge).

2 Likes

Thank you for the info re Deepl.Translate as I find Google Translate is so often inaccurate

I’m also loving Deepl. Translate, thanks for the tip. I just had a compare and really liked the fact that Deepl. offers alternatives. This worked far better for a phrase I entered that has a double meaning. Deepl nailed it, Google offered only a direct translation.