Make Aarin more open to other Languages?

[Hime-sama]

Still...being a non native english speaker myself...having to speak and write stuff in english in the forum at least help me improve the language little by little..I even have my trusted dictionary near me in case I don't understand something

[Black Lotus]

I like the idea and I agree that some of the forumers here are too shy to speak/post because of language barrier. I experienced it in some forums too before.

But for now, just like what Carmel pointed out, it will not happen (at least for now). This idea is still kept in our mind just like what Aarin said:

You will not know unless you try you can say on forehand that it will be trouble, but you can't know it unless you try.
There are like more then 20 000 active people and many of them has this problem, and i really think there are enough people who want to help. i can understand that to find people fore those jobs is hard, but i know vbulliten supports enough to make groups so you can make a other group besides mods ^^

But ok i respect aarin decision, i didn't know there was a topic before this one otherwise i woudn't start this.

But still my way of view is same as in life, you won't know anything unless you give it a try.

[Lent]

Still...being a non native english speaker myself...having to speak and write stuff in english in the forum at least help me improve the language little by little..I even have my trusted dictionary near me in case I don't understand something

Lol, you´re right, Hime, it does help if you get active, still many choose not to and I don´t know whether a forum is meant to do that for you. I have a vietnamese friend whom I directed to this forum and she hardly ever posts here because her english is not that good.
And being restricted to english for each and every tiny little thing is sometimes very hard. I even got scolded once because I was talking to someone in german in the shoutbox, explaining something. I find that a little funny, given that there are people from all over the world on this forum although I understand the necessity of sb rules and am a big supporter of them. Even though my english is okay, being able to help out in my own language to newbies and such would be something I´d really like to do.^^ I know how confusing it can be to come to such a big forum in the first place plus having the language barrier to cope with.

And I think loving yaoi and shounen ai and wanting to share that with as many people as possible and maybe get more people to get involved in the forum means (at least I think so) at least opening up to the idea of opening some small sections to other languages as well. I mean it´s like with everything here, if you don´t want to, don´t take part but there are lots of people who would like to take part in such a venture. It´s an exciting thought, really. I support english as the first language here definitely, but let´s not forget that without all the consideration from subbing groups for instance who are not always english natives but still choose to put out their stuff in that language, most of us would not be here. So why not give a little of that consideration back to others who are not that fortunate to know the language so well?

That being said, I of course respect Aarin´s decision as well, and as I understood Kriska22, it´s no for now but maybe at a later time. That´s something I can live with and I offer my help if such a time ever comes, just like Black Lotus and many others certainly.^^

[blue_genjutsu]

Very well said in all your posts here, lent. Maybe one day it can be done here. And like I and lent have said, we're not saying to set up different languages for all the forums here or to have little "niche" forums just for non-english speaking members, but to add (a little at a time), a few forums that can be "Help" forums for our non-english speaking members. They would be for asking questions and getting help. Like how to find something on this site, for one example.

It would be great if later down the road, they could be able to have chats in their own languages in a sub forum but that is not what I think we should worry about right now. Start small, see how it goes, see if it works.

[Lent]

Maybe one day it can be done here. And like I and lent have said, we're not saying to set up different languages for all the forums here or to have little "niche" forums just for non-english speaking members, but to add (a little at a time), a few forums that can be "Help" forums for our non-english speaking members. They would be for asking questions and getting help. Like how to find something on this site, for one example.
It would be great if later down the road, they could be able to have chats in their own languages in a sub forum but that is not what I think we should worry about right now. Start small, see how it goes, see if it works.

Very well said. Absolutely agree

[suhi]

I'm a member on an anime forum that has such a "Diplomatic corner " section. Mind you - I dont get out of my native languge section very often - it's just too convinient , overall the said forum is mostly active on those language sections and very slow on the main ones. As I can judje from what's going on in my native language thread and some others i got to read through - they're totally out of hand.

[Lent]

I don´t think that would happen here though because I for one am much too interested in talking with people from different countries rather than stick to my own folks all the time. I do that each day in my normal life, I don´t wanna do that here in the forum . And I think the appeal of this forum is international and will stay that way because this is just why people come here in the first place.

[Ferus37]

You know....I've been reading these posts and thinking....
I am NOT a native speaker of English, though my grasp of the language is fairly good, and I have to admit that I get annoyed when I'm on a primarily English site and find thing written in for example Spanish in between the English posts....

Sub-forums might be a good idea, but I think it would also create a divide between members....I wouldn't be able to talk at all with people anywhere they didn't speak either English or Norwegian. And I KNOW that I wouldn't be frequenting anywhere they ONLY spoke Norwegian. I like meeting new people, and if I want to meet Norwegian people I go outside.....
You risk getting people grouping up in the places where they speak their own language and lose some of the diversity of the forum I think....But maybe that's just me being pessimistic....I don't know....

But the real reason I wanted to post here is because I thought up a way that we might be able to help out the people who have trouble with English, without waiting for someday in the future when MAYBE we can get it to work....

I suggest that we could start a thread (maybe in the introduction, or somewhere new people can easily find it) where the ones who have difficulty with English can post, saying that they're looking for help understanding certain things. The ones who are interested in helping out can go there and find people who speak their own language. Then the helper and the one who needs help can PM each other.
It would be like a kind of hook-up thread where you could find each other, and then do the rest by PM. That way everyone can get the help they need either with translations or with understanding parts of the forum without all the work of having sub-forums and finding mods for them.
Also people who want to help can offer up their services on the thread. Saying for example: "Hi! I'm Norwegian, so if any of you Norwegians out there have trouble with your English I'd be happy to give you a hand! Pm me anytime!!"
(I WOULD be happy to offer my services to anyone I can help, and I love getting PMs....)

So...that's pretty much it....I don't know what anyone else thinks about it, but that's kinda why I put the suggestion up here.

[blue_genjutsu]

Your idea is good too, Ferus37, if the word got out to everyone to offer to help those who only speak or read a certain language. The thing though, is to get people to offer to help in the Introduction thread and also elsewhere. Not all new members bother about the Introduction thread, especially if they don't even understand what it is or what it is saying.

[suhi]

But the real reason I wanted to post here is because I thought up a way that we might be able to help out the people who have trouble with English, without waiting for someday in the future when MAYBE we can get it to work....

There was Translation Center thread for this purpose (I can't find it right now for some reason) - but maybe you're right that it won't hurt to put it around Introduction Section
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Another thought on the subject - grouping by languages might cause grouping by nationality and/or religion, which is not very healthy for forums - judging from the mentioned earlier anime forum, I'm a member on.