Foreign Language Forums?

Morrus

Well, that was fun

Staff member

• Dec 24, 2012

• #1

I'm throwing this idea out there for both mods/admins and everyone else as a potential idea.

The idea is that we gradually add forums for different languages. Each modded by a native speaker who also speaks fluent English.

Pros -- there are a LOT of people who don't visit [notranslate]EN World[/notranslate] because they don't speak English. We'd love to have them here!

Cons -- there would be people on the boards saying things that others can't understand. We do have a limited inbuilt translation capability, though (see the flags at the bottom of the page).

Thoughts? I don't imagine English speakers will care particularly about a bunch of people speaking, say, Chinese; they won't interact. But are there any potential pitfalls you see?

 

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Dice4Hire

First Post

• Dec 24, 2012

• #2

I would certainly support this idea, but I think it would end up in a lot of dead or nearly dead forums. I think some of the major languages would be a good idea, but which ones?

 

Nikosandros

Golden Procrastinator

• Dec 24, 2012

• #3

The idea is certainly interesting. How do you plan to "lure" non-English speaking posters here once the corresponding board has been set up?

 

Umbran

Mod Squad

Staff member

Supporter

• Dec 25, 2012

• #4

In general, there's nothing intrinsically wrong with the idea, if you have some indication there's sufficient market for such places.

I note that moderation of such forums would be sketchy, at best, until such time as speakers of foreign tongues of appropriate dedication and character were identified - and identifying them may also prove difficult, since it is hard for us to tell which of them really is hitting the right tone.

 

Lwaxy

Cute but dangerous

• Dec 25, 2012

• #5

I know for the Germans, this might likely be a wasted effort. Germans have at least one forum that's as well known as [notranslate]EN World[/notranslate] (well, not quite but almost, for German speakers) and the people there usually don't want to venture elsewhere. Either they speak English and just don't like what [notranslate]EN World[/notranslate] has to offer, or they don't and don't want to go where there is predominantly English language.

And what Umbran says. Could lead to all sorts of misunderstandings and misfortunes.

 

Neurotic

I plan on living forever. Or die trying.

• Dec 25, 2012

• #6

I'm Croatian. I know one more playing here, but as I see it, most of literature and game books are in English and most players speak passable to good English. Most of native speakers probably would cringe at my heavy slavic accent, but here, they don't have to hear me speak

As such, and given lack of DMs even now, I think there would be initial furor, opening of national forums for a group of people and then they would see more adventures in English forums and rejoin, leaving dead threads all over the place. What national forums would accomplish (I think) is that separate groups who played together in real life could gather online and play. They would probably need forum dice back for it to be practical.


Exception to this would be IMO Indians and Chinese. The reason is that they are most numerous and English may not be as widespread as in European countries.

 

El Mahdi

Muad'Dib of the Anauroch

• Dec 25, 2012

• #7

deleted

 

Last edited: Jan 19, 2015

Morrus

Well, that was fun

Staff member

• Dec 27, 2012

• #8

I think we might trial this with a single forum for one language. Give it 3 months and see what happens. If it doesn't work, no harm done. If it does - great!

So we need to decide two things: which language; and who would be willing to moderate it (it would need to be a native speaker of that language who also speaks fluent English so that they can report to the rest of the mods/admins). That'll need to be an existing EN World member.

 

Mustrum_Ridcully

Hero

• Dec 27, 2012

• #9

I don't know, I only glanced at German forum alternatives, but it seemed they had active membership. I don't know how much overlap there is, but it could very well be it may not be relevant.

I think the challenge might be getting to communicate its existence to non-visitors of the board. Anyone already here probably doesn't really need a foreign language board anymore, and anyone not yet here - well, he would need something to drag him here.

Maybe word of mouth can do some of it, but I believe you would also need some kind of "killer app". 3E got big as the resource on D&D 3E. [notranslate]EN World[/notranslate] may need to offer at least more than just a foreign language form - it may also need to offer foreign language news with that.

I know [MENTION=90399]TheClone[/MENTION] is relatively active in the blogging and news area on RPGs in Germany. I don't know if he or people like him would be interested in helping [notranslate]EN World[/notranslate] out on that front.
Imagine a few a key articles translated to German with a degree of quality beyond that Google Translate or Babelfish has to offer?

 

Morrus

Well, that was fun

Staff member

• Dec 27, 2012

• #10

German is clearly out; we have a 100% "we Germans don't need your dirty stinkin' forum" consensus from the Germans in this thread. (I kid...)

I'm thinking maybe Portugese (thinking Brazil here). Or a really big country like India or China.