@DevAndArtist Just as an example, I believe that this exchange perfectly captures the problem with "just ask posters to write in English." If they don't speak English, the suggestion is downright unhelpful, but I don't really believe there's a good way to request that (especially of someone whose English proficiency is unknown) without potentially coming across as insulting.
English may in fact be the "bevorzugte Sprache/preferred language" amongst English speakers, but if the forums are meant to be welcoming to non-English speakers as well, it makes no sense to enter a thread between two (or more) non-English speakers and inform them, no matter how politely, that they aren't using the "preferred language". Preferred for whom?
In fact, such requests appear to be explicitly in violation of the addition to the guidance provided here that was added in response to @SDGGiesbrecht's excellent thread:
- Different users may have different preferences in choice of language for discussion and are encouraged to use their language of choice.
- As a matter of courtesy, responses to a post should be in the same language as the original post in order to maintain the original inclusiveness of the discussion and not inadvertantly exclude other participants already engaged on the thread (including the author of the original post).
IMO, requests to use a different language, even polite ones, are a form of discouraging other-language usage and are inappropriate on a monolingual thread.