Habj wrote:
Myself a non-native speaker of English, I fully agree that diskussions on en WP should be held in English. However, IMO the policy should not be that posting in other languages than English would be "not allowed or sternly frowned upon". Rather, efforts to write in English should be encouraged. I.e., don't say "don't write in foreign languages". Say "explain what you mean in english, and if you quote sources in other languages please translate. If you find doing so difficult, please try and find someone who can translate for you" and then gently point them to the relevant Babel user category as a means to find people to ask.
I have myself recently translated a quotation in Swedish, used to support a point of view, on an article talk page. I can happily do so again, if someone thinks (s)he has a good source to support his/her opinion but is not brave or confident enough to translate it to English - and finds the matter important enough to take the trouble to go ahead and ask me. If it was not important enough to take the trouble, then (s)he needn't post it.
While it is very helpful to translate sources, one cannot escape the fact that the source was in another language, and if someone is to verify that source it will be in that original language. Translated book or article titles are very unsatisfactory because reversing the translation may not lead to the correct source.
Ec