Purpose
Tags are primarily designed to allow users to mark and find sentences that belong to a certain category. The most important use of tags is to indicate sentences that need special attention: @change, @check, @delete, etc.
If you want to simply mark the source of a sentence, it is best to use a comment, especially if (1) the name of the source is very long or (2) you don't expect to be adding a large number of sentences from that source.
Tags can only be added by advanced contributors, corpus maintainers, and admins. If you are a regular contributor and wish to add a tag, you should request it from someone who can do it for you.
Tag names are to be written in English. For an explanation of this policy, along with further notes, see Trang's tag guidelines from 2010 ("Use English for tags, unless you really can't").
Tags you should know about
OK
The tag OK indicates that the sentence is considered correct by the person who tagged it. You should only tag sentences "OK" in your own native language.
Utility tags
Tags whose names begin with "@" indicate sentences that require attention. They are listed below. The following are representative:
- @change - The sentence needs to be changed.
- @check - The sentence needs to be checked.
- @needs native check - The sentence needs to be checked by a native speaker.
How to help
You must be an advanced contributor in order to tag sentences. However, even if you are not a trusted user, you can still leave a comment that contains the same text as a tag (for example, "@check"). An advanced contributor may later choose to add a tag based on your comment.
Whenever you notice a possible mistake that can be evaluated by either a native or non-native speaker, add the @check tag and post a comment explaining what you think the mistake may be.
Whenever you add sentences in a foreign language or encounter sentences written by a non-native speaker, are not completely sure they are correct, and want a native speaker to validate them, add the @needs native check tag.
Whenever you notice a sentence that you are certain is unnatural or wrong, add the @change tag and post a comment to suggest a correction or better phrasing.
Whenever you can, browse through sentences that are tagged @change, @check, @needs native check to discuss the sentences with other members and help decide what to do with these sentences.
Once the case of a problematic sentence has been solved, tag it OK. More generally, you can browse and check others' sentences, and tag them with OK to indicate you consider they are correct. But only do this when you are 100% sure that the sentence is correct.
Note that Tatoeba will not allow you to use the OK tag on your own sentence, whether you have written it or adopted it.
You must be a corpus maintainer or admin in order to delete tags. However, even if you are not, you can add an OK tag to a sentence that contains a @check, @change, or @needs native check tag, and a corpus maintainer or admin can later delete the other tag. The OK tag will generally be left in place to indicate that a native speaker has checked the sentence.
List of utility tags
Here is a list of the most used utility tags.
- @change
- @change or delete
- @change or unlink
- @check
- @possibly copyright infringement
- @check eng-to-jpn translation
- @check flag
- @check link
- @check tag
- @check translation
- @delete
- @delete maybe
- @link
- @needs completion
- @needs native check
- @not a sentence
- @wrong audio
- @wrong translation
- @wrong transliteration