Using iNaturalist to learn names in other languages
Now, you can see common names in multiple languages!
iNaturalist has been translated into 57 languages, but many people want to use the platform in one language while learning common names in another.
We’ve recently added functionality to address this, allowing you to experience iNaturalist with multilingual common names. For instance, the image to the right displays the Mayan Name Ta alongside the Spanish name Chamiso for an observation of Viguiera dentata on the iNaturalist iPhone app. (Viguiera dentata is also known as known as Tahonal and Tajonal in Spanish and Taj and Sak xo´ xiiw in Mayan)
This feature aims to facilitate knowledge sharing and learning on the platform. In the Yucatan peninsula, Maria Cecilia Alvarez (@naturalista_cecilia) has been working with university students in citizen science and environmental education. Proficiency in both Spanish and Mayan names opens up broader opportunities to engage with and share knowledge with local Mayan communities about indigenous species.
The image below features @jhovannyflota and @yessi_yam, two students from the Regional Technological University of the South, Yucatán, observing Ta on their campus. The Yucatan Peninsula is one of the most important regions for the production of honey and Ta is an emblematic pollinator species for beekeeping. Ta's antimicrobial properties also makes it an important medicinal plant used by indigenous people across Mexico.
To use this feature, go to your account settings (A) and navigate to the Content & Display section (B). From there you can select lexicons (C), add them (D), and control how they are displayed alongside Common names in the same language as your locale. Your locale determines the language that the whole site appears in and is set in the Account section or from the footer of the website. You must configure multiple common names from the website but once you do, they will display on the iNaturalist Android and iPhone mobile apps. Additional detail is available on the iNaturalist Forum.
Comments
Awesome feature, I love it and will totally use it. BTW, the account settings link doesn't currently work.
Sounds tika/cool.
link fixed - thanks!
I have been wanting this feature for ever, very excited it has been added :)
The blog inspired me to add 20 mushroom names in Dutch. Is there a way to reverse the species list from less frequent upwards? Something like this https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=7506&subview=table&taxon_id=47170&verifiable=any&view=species&order=desc
This is why Im still using iNaturalist
thank you staff!!!
This will make many very happy! Nice!
This is really neat! i did notice one confusing thing though. I added Abenaki and Mohawk languages as well as English. Both Abenaki and Mohawk have names only for some species, and oftentimes there is a name in one or not the other. For instance when I look at Moose there is an Abenaki name but not a Mohawk name... vice versa with hemlock. For both the name is displayed in the same place and it doesn't say which language it is. It would be helpful to know which name was being displayed. Not sure the best way to do that... but just a thought.
@loarie, Do you have some basic stats on vernacular names by language?
Great stuff!
Thank you, this is awesome! I have been switching my language from english to spanish to help me learn names I havent had to use in the past and for signage for my job. It is so important to have these up =)
@apseregin https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/finding-out-common-names-numbers-per-language/17902
Sounds like a great feature!
Super exciting! Will be using this a lot to help me learn my Spanish. Will be very helpful when travelling too!
While very nice feature, this makes UI messy. I would prefer some hover effect or button to show desired translations when needed.
I think people have been messing around with vernacular names by making them up. Here are examples of German common names which i really like but they seem to be nowhere except for iNaturalist:
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/486814-Mallota-cimbiciformis
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/887762-Acalypta-musci
I think it would be important that names cannot be added anonymous.
@bagous em, they're not anonymous, data is stored, just not displayed
Thank you very much. Great job you are doing.
@bagous if you think a name is wrong or shouldn't be there, plesae flag the taxon in question by going to the taxon's page, clicking on Curation, then clicking on Flag for curation.
Amazing! @andrawaag, you were one of the people who requested this feature https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/display-common-names-in-multiple-languages-on-taxon-labels/9378/17 I am so excited this has been implemented!
What I love about this feature is that it will also help me see when common names in one of my main languages are missing (so I can add them!)
Fantastic! Since I am always juggling with three languages this is very useful. Unfortunately most Spanish names don't show, probably because they are not assigned to a place? Most insects don't have common Spanish names anyway, but at least the birds should.
Love this update, thanks! I changed my settings and now I can see everything in English, Spanish, and French at the same time. For the UI, it would also be interesting to see a hover effect (maybe as an experiment?), just like what @kaupunkilinnut has suggested.
This is awsome feature! Thank you.
Add a Comment