What 'language' of terminology should we use?

Question

Do all Siberian Huskies have blue eyes?

This question got me thinking.

We aren't supposed to make edits to Americanize words (e.g. behaviour to behavior), but what about terminology? In this case, the name of the animal?

Originally it was referred to as a Husky Siberiano, which I believe is the Spanish term for Siberian Husky. I left it in my edit because I understood it. Now it's been replaced with the English Terminology of Siberian Husky.

Are we going to try to keep terminology consistent by using the English versions? I'm especially interested in how we want to handle latin names. If someone uses a latin name for an animal should I replace it completely, or maybe just add it's English name to it in parenthesis?

I can definitely see how a question that uses the latin name for an animal (which is commonly done with fish, but sometimes with reptiles and amphibians too) would be less likely to hit search results as people would be searching by the English name. But then again, some people might search for it by the latin name, and some people might also search for it by the Spanish Name.

So how do we handle these terms that can be in several different languages?

Answer 1

I think that if it's the common name of an animal, then we should edit it to be the English version of the name. The name was in a different language, and just happened to look similar because it was Spanish. If it was another language, it might have been confusing as to what animal was being asked about.

As for Latin names, I think we should edit in the common name in parenthesis (So it would look like: Latin Name(Common Name)). The Latin Name is not the common name written in latin, it's the scientific name for the animal. Some animals have common names that are similar to each other, and the only way to really differentiate them is by the Latin name. But, it doesn't hurt to add the common name in so that people who aren't familiar with it can know what animal is being asked about.

Answer 2

I agree with Matt's answer, just wanted to say that my way of editing adds the common name in like this: Pokeweed, Phytolacca americana. If the name might be unfamiliar to some I create a wiki link, in case it helps the curious. On GL, I have to add the scientific name more often than the common, but it's not bad to edit, so long as you don't be intrusive or change the gist of the question. :)