[Tagging] Default Language Format; language:default or default:language?

[Martin Koppenhoefer]

sent from a phone

> On 2. Oct 2018, at 16:13, Joseph Eisenberg <joseph.eisenberg at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> On Tue, Oct 2, 2018 at 8:06 PM Martin Koppenhoefer <dieterdreist at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> What are the criteria for adding it (e.g. is there a minimum percentage?)?
> 
> I think there should usually be a majority, but that's up to the local community to decide.


in multilingual regions you will typically have a majority and minorities. Aiming at the majority only would effectively result in a single name in most multilingual areas 


> 
> So for example in Brussels you add both French and Flemish to get to a majority; this is already estabilished. 


according to wikipedia, French is now the defacto language in Brussels with 90% of the population speaking it ;-) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brussels
this is from the german wp showing languages spoken at home: 
https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brüssel#/media/Datei%3ATaalverdeling_Brussel-DE.png

it is a typical situation with one majority and the other languages in minority, but significant.

There could also be situations with many languages and no clear majority of course, it wouldn’t matter if we say we put “significant” languages, according to what the locals think should go there as a default (just like the name tag). It is a delicate subject because we should strive to include minorities but also beware of trolls, and voting might not help in this context.


>  
>> What about locally common formats to separate different languages in (multilingual) names, shall we have a different tag for this?
> 
> Sorry? Do you mean, should we have a tag that says "use a slash /" or "use a dash -" to separate two names?

yes, for example, but also in which order to put them 


> 
> I suppose it could be controversial to change the default language format tag for a particular community.


we’re not tagging communities but the situation at a given location. Communities sometimes move, our locations don’t. 

Admin boundaries will move though, so defaults moving around can occur.


> But in practice, would be much easier than changing the content of every single "name=*" tag. 


it would only be easier if you didn’t check them one by one, which would be effectively the same as applying an automated edit to every single name tag in the area.

Cheers,
Martin 
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