Game & Forum Discussion > Forum Suggestions & Ideas

International Board

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ThatsNotOk:

--- Quote from: Bawfle on December 25, 2018, 11:12:17 pm ---The reason why the game and forum are English encouraged is because it is considered a 'default' language, as it is the most spoken language across the globe.
--- End quote ---

That is not true. Mandarin Standard Chinese is the most spoken language across the world. After that is Spanish. Then, finally, English.

I still think it would be quite good as a meeting place regardless. That's really the thing that matters to me, and the potential increase in participation is just a "happy side-effect" I could offer to make the idea appeal to those who aren't trying to locate friends.

Jango_Fett:
some people are scared to speak a language they aren't fluent in, and as a result can and will skip out on opportunities to interact with people due to the language barrier.
that is something you cannot overcome without extending a bridge yourself in trying to reach out to them and showing them that there isn't anything to fear.

a good way of doing that is meeting them on what is their familiar ground: their base language.
some people are more comfortable speaking in their native tongue than english, and i personally do not see a valid enough reason outside of time and effort to not try and accomodate these players.

combined, they are not at all a minority. i would say that the foreign speaking playerbase has actually grown over the years, although they're not as vocal as they used to be.

one of my earlier memories on feralheart was speaking to someone who only knew polish, and even at the ripe age of 13 i was able to take buffy's advice in the opposite direction:
i pulled up a translator to figure out what he was saying, so i could respond in kind.
it is not that hard to do it either way. i mean this in as non-hostile a manner possible when i say this.

copy pasting things on feralheart can be a pain and a half, but when you're going out of your way to interact with somebody on their level you may as well go all out.

they are definitely valued members of this community, and considering everyone around here preaches that everybody should feel welcomed or accepted...
i don't see why this would be a problem.
if you need people to moderate things in certain languages, you could certainly find a few willing members who can just let you know when someone's being especially naughty in estonian or whatnot.

hell, i'd be more than willing to help out with translating things since i'm going to start learning said estonian and swedish in the [hopefully] near future.
moderating a foreign board is only as hard as you make it. if you set it up with all your ducks in a row you can only succeed.

another bonus to this apart from making 'foreigners' feel more welcome, is to maybe even encourage them to pick up english so they can interact with other people on their own. in european countries most schools teach people to be bilingual, but if they're nervous they don't sound 'native' enough they won't try. this could be the small push to get them to break out of their shell and start yappin.

again, i understand that this would be difficult. but i believe it would be a difficulty worth getting over for the sole sake of possibly improving other people's lives. whether or not it's through a silly animal game's community forum.

ThatBlueOreo:
Personally, I think this is a good idea. Not only is this bettering the community as a whole, but it is helping people who speak foreign languages feel more comfortable in navigating both the forums and meeting up in-game. I also think it's a good idea, like Bawfle said, to include Auto-Translated pages for topics like this so people without English as a native or secondary language can communicate. Nonetheless, it'd be awesome to have both of these ideas implemented; as Jango mentioned I'm sure people would be willing to help translate pages on the forums.

Bawfle:

--- Quote from: ThatsNotOk on December 26, 2018, 04:31:33 am ---
--- Quote from: Bawfle on December 25, 2018, 11:12:17 pm ---The reason why the game and forum are English encouraged is because it is considered a 'default' language, as it is the most spoken language across the globe.
--- End quote ---

That is not true. Mandarin Standard Chinese is the most spoken language across the world. After that is Spanish. Then, finally, English.

I still think it would be quite good as a meeting place regardless. That's really the thing that matters to me, and the potential increase in participation is just a "happy side-effect" I could offer to make the idea appeal to those who aren't trying to locate friends.

--- End quote ---

Aye, I knew this. Generally I meant that people prefer to speak English, as most countries provide English as a learning language and people enjoy learning it and using it. Especially in the gaming world/platforms. I'm sorry I wasn't clear enough.

But this is not my point.

In response to other replies, I hear you. However, the effort I meant wasn't based on whether or not one can be bothered or doesn't want to put in the effort to accommodate foreign language users, but it's more 'advanced' than that. If this board were to happen, you'd have people speaking many different languages, and the fact that people of the same language would be 'willing' to report users who do misbehave (such as foul language) really isn't enough to reassure staff that this will be a continuous dedication from a single user. This is why Moderators or Mini-Mods would need to be assigned to actually accommodate these people as well. This is because this would essentially make it someone's job. But again, there's then the issue were Moderators would need to gather a list of foreign language users and question whether they:

Are active on the Forum
Are dedicatated
GENUINELY speak that language fluently and aren't just in it to play Mini-Mod
Are responsible
Have no recent ban History
Have a good reputation
Are reliable overall

But course, overall a Mini-Mod would be expected to do their job on this board and help users that need it, and to join in on discussions, and report posts/users to the Admins who have the ability to ban a user on the forum (whether this function has expanded to Moderators as well is unknown to me). As well as explaining why a certain word is a foul word. The reason I bring this up is because there have been a few occasions where Moderators have banned users through rough Google Translation, and the translation being inaccurate because a single word could mean something either foul or innocent depending on the context it's in that most translation sites fail to recognise. This is just one of the boundaries that I was talking about. So, overall, the Mini-Mods job on this board would only be to Report and Assist.

I suppose the only other way you can convince or reassure people (like me) who are very spectacle of this is if there are people that can be listed right this moment that are genuinely fluent in one specific language in each Game Rule translation. People who you, as users, can see tick all those requirements that are listed.

For example:

Swedish:
Shally
PrettyReckless

Spanish:
Thierry

and so on...

Just keep in mind that people who you may list are just people that Staff may consider if plans of this board were to be confirmed by staff. Also keep in mind that all people that Staff essentially choose to moderate the board would have to agree to the responsibility and actually want to do it in order for the entire board to work functionally.

Hopefully I've not missed anything out. I'm also not trying to speak on behalf of staff, if that impression is given. Just from experience and generally thinking logically.

Jango_Fett:

--- Quote from: Bawfle on December 26, 2018, 11:34:38 am ---
This is why Moderators or Mini-Mods would need to be assigned to actually accommodate these people as well. This is because this would essentially make it someone's job. But again, there's then the issue were Moderators would need to gather a list of foreign language users and question whether they:

Are active on the Forum
Are dedicatated
GENUINELY speak that language fluently and aren't just in it to play Mini-Mod
Are responsible
Have no recent ban History
Have a good reputation
Are reliable overall

--- End quote ---
like i said previously, that's not really an issue if you know what to look out for.
although i can't really make a good comment on the process of getting people like this, since i know very little of the current staff training process.
but from my basic understanding of it, it doesn't seem too different from the normal vetting process MITs and MITs to-be go through. It's just now targeting something more specific on top of this.



just a quick 2 other things so i don't accidentally make a poem -

1.
To address the 'contextual word not translating nicely' bit you brought up.
That is easily solved by just finding someone who knows the language. Just asking them would save a lot of time, no mini-mod required[Although those still would be useful, and I don't see the issue with that]. Or hell, even seeing for yourself which version of the word is used most commonly. Like how the term for a bundle of sticks in English is the least used definition of that word. No need to ban the word unless it's just such a massive pain that it isn't worth keeping around.

2.
You could always put a 'limit' on which languages could be spoken, and go on from there.
Certain languages could be vetted or put in limbo until you can verify that there are people capable and also willing to moderate for that language. Obviously having it be a free for all wouldn't work, because then the Staff would actually be swamped and at a loss for what to do at any given time. It'd be too overwhelming and ultimately defeats the purpose of... Well, the whole shabang.

You could say, only allow[currently] the languages that have translations of the Rules already set up.
I know some of the people who made those posts in particular aren't around anymore, but it is a place to start.

I will still stand by what I said of I can only see this working out in the end if the proper work is put into it. The beginning will be rough, as the start to most things are. But I believe it's something worth doing, or at the very least giving an attempt.
I will die on this hill.

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