[Tagging] Which languages are admissible for name:xx tags?

[pangose at riseup.net]

On March 25, 2020 11:50:15 AM GMT+01:00, Phake Nick <c933103 at gmail.com> wrote:
>在 2020年3月25日週三 18:34，Frederik Ramm <frederik at remote.org> 寫道：
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> On 25.03.20 11:19, Phake Nick wrote:
>> >     My guess is that about 5% of name:xx tags in OSM actually
>represent a
>> >     unique name in its own right; all others are either copies of
>the
>> name
>> >     tag ("this city does not have its own name in language XX but I
>want
>> >     every city to have a name:xx tag so I'll just copy the name
>tag"), or
>> >     transliterations (or, worst case, even literal translations).
>> >
>> > Isn't that the function of the key?
>>
>> Unsure which of my list items you mean - copying the original name is
>> not the function of the key; a data user can simply fall back to the
>> name tag if no name:xx is given. Making a transliteration is also not
>> the the function of the key, since transliterations can be automated.
>> Making a translation is *certainly* not wanted!
>>
>
>How can a data consumer know that whether end user of a certain
>language is
>going to understand the original language?
>And transliteration cannot be automated. There are many specific rules
>and
>exceptions when transliterting place names in different language
>software.
>There are already some OSM-based software that would offer automatic
>transliteration but their results are far from being usable. Making
>translation is *absolutely essential* for people from different part of
>the
>world to make use of OSM data. Last time when I was travelling in some
>foreign nations, I have to give up using OSM because of poor coverage
>of
>translated name for my language in that country which make me unable to
>understand what the OSM map is saying.
>

Could you elaborate on this? I would like an example object that you tried navigating to and failed. 

Thanks in advance.