When are questions about the Hebrew language in scope, and when aren't they?
Do they have to be about Biblical or Rabbinic Hebrew in particular?
Do they have to be related to a holy text or a Jewish practice?
Do we want to handle general "please translate this Hebrew" questions?
Do we want to handle questions about modern Israeli usage?
(Inspired by this recent question, which the community has decided to close, informing this discussion with some action.)
To add to jake's answer:
I think the best way to treat this is to look at our FAQ:
What kind of questions can I ask here?
Jewish Life and Learning - Stack Exchange is for students and teachers of Jewish law and tradition.
There's a difference between a question about Jewish Life and Learning, and a question about something relating to Jewish Life and Learning. The fact that Jews use hebrew, does not make questions about hebrew the same as questions about Judaism.
(Similar to the way questions on StackOverflow are limited to programming. Programmers may use computers to do their work, but questions about computers belong on SuperUser)
With that being said, it becomes quite clear that it depends on what the question is truly asking. In other words, we don't necessarily limit to a type of Hebrew (Biblical or Rabbinic) nor to "holy text". We simply want questions that are genuinely about Jewish life and not purely about the Hebrew language.
The same would apply to translation questions, and "modern Israeli usage" questions. We are bound to stumble on some borderline questions, but I believe the "inspired question" is clearly about Hebrew and has nothing to do with Jewish Life and Learning.
Of course, one can always propose an SE site about the Hebrew language support the Hebrew Language and Usage proposal. It appears a site about Yiddish is also in the definition stage.
As of right now, I think that a distinction must be drawn between questions like "What is the proper translation of this phrase in Tosafos?" and questions like "I saw this word on the local Israeli restaurant and I'm wondering what it means."
That being said, a possible protocol is for translation questions to include the source for the word or phrase from legitimate biblical or rabbinic literature. That way, someone can ask: "I was reading Mishna Berura and got stuck on these words." But it will prevent questions involving tattoos or hebrew lyrics from pop songs heard on the radio.
Also, with regard to Modern Hebrew, the above protocol will probably prevent most of the questions relating to Modern Hebrew, unless it is with regard to its usage in some of the contemporary halachic seforim like Sh'mirat Shabbat K'hilchata or the like.
There is now a proposal for Hebrew Language questions, and they should be migrated or asked there.
Many Jews live in Israel and speak the Hebrew language. Rav Hershel Shachter (of Yeshiva University) has said that Modern Hebrew is still lashon hakodesh. "Puk chazi" - this is what many Jews do, and therefore it is a Jewish thing to do. If people are not interested in such a question, they do not have to downvote it, but if they are, then they can upvote it. About half the Jews in the world nowadays live in Israel, where they speak Hebrew. New Olim, as well as Baalei Teshuva and Jews who are interested in connecting to Judaism through learning about our national tongue can benefit from these questions.
