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How should we choose good names for tags?

Currently, I've got two principles in mind.

  1. Where practical, use similar tags to those on English Language & Usage, and other Language stack exchanges.
  2. Use simple words, that are easily understood by people learning English. Avoid words that only someone fluent in English would understand. Also, avoid highly technical words that even a native speaker may not understand. For example, don't use "orthography", but use "writing" or "written English".
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    I think that ELU and other Language SE sites can provide a good base for "common" tags. I also agree that avoiding terms such as "orthography" would be a good idea.
    – Deco
    Commented Jan 24, 2013 at 6:45

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The same tags used on EL&U can be used on ELL, with probably the exception of tags specific for some topics, such as .

I disagree that should be avoided.
The site is English Language Learners; it is for user learning English, not for users who aren't native speakers of any language. As the concept is used not only for English, but also other languages, and considering the equivalent word for orthography is very similar in most of the European languages (e.g. ortografia in Italian, ortographe in French, ortograafia in Estonian, ortogrāfijā in Latvian), I don't see any reason to avoid using . Eventually, can be used instead of , but I would avoid , and .

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  • The languages you gave as examples were from Europe. The most common Japanese translation of orthography, according to Wiktionary, is 正字法 (seijihō).
    – Golden Cuy
    Commented Jan 24, 2013 at 9:34
  • Still, the concept is also used for Japanese, or Corean, or any other written language.
    – avpaderno
    Commented Jan 24, 2013 at 9:39
  • And the languages I used for my examples are from Europe. ;)
    – avpaderno
    Commented Jan 24, 2013 at 9:58
  • The Hungarian word for orthography is helyesírás. I think it's quite clear that in this specific case, the tag we should use here is spelling, not orthography. And we definitely shouldn't go about copying tags wholesale from ELU.
    – Martha
    Commented Jan 24, 2013 at 15:17
  • While wholesale copying is probably not advisable, it's usually a good idea to ensure that tags are at least related on sites where migration is a distinct possibility (for example, ELL/ELU/Writers). In this case, spelling and orthography can be synonymised just as they are on ELU. Which is the primary and which the synonym might be debatable. Commented Oct 21, 2015 at 8:44

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