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Comment by makach | Hacker News Reader

ah, this reminds me of how much JOY I am having using my localized Microsoft Excel. All formulas have been translated to my native language and it's just BLISS to work with. This makes it MUCH easier to search the interweb for my specific formula question.

We obviously need much more localization. Particularily in error messages.

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I honestly can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. I can think of ways going for specific formula could be both better and worse. The localised error messages are also a double edged sword - if you can solve your own problem based on the message, they're better, but if you need to Google it your chances of finding a solution go down due to fewer hits.

They're definitely being sarcastic.

Well, here's the thing: I heard the same thing from some people I studied with and they were 100% serious.

It's not just what they're saying that gives it away, but how they're saying it. The way they used ALL CAPS in particular is a tell.

Localized error messages have pretty much been a curse for me every time I encounter non-trivial ones. Quite often they end up being horrible mistranslations of the original text and terminology that make them hard to understand.

I get the need for interface localization, but I prefer no translation to a bad one. And many translations are bad.

I encourage you to remove the sarcasm from your post and look at what's left. You probably wouldn't have even posted it.

Let's ween off sarcasm.

Good luck starting that in a post about Italian.

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