language barriers

[ladybug93]

i was just reading some comments with misspellings and improper grammar, and i couldn't help but be amazed by the foreign presence here on the forum. you all seriously amaze me with your ability to participate here. sure, it can be difficult at times to decipher what people are trying to say, but i can't imagine being involved in a forum in a different language from my native tongue.

for those of you that haven't studied other languages, it is extremely difficult. even if you get to where you can understand another language pretty well, producing that language (writing and speaking vs reading and listening) is still another level of proficiency that is much more difficult to achieve. and english is one of the hardest languages in the world to learn because we've taken from so many other languages and built this nonsensical way of communicating that violates its own "rules" just as often as not.

anyway, i just wanted to recognize all of you that fight through the language barrier to participate here. it's truly impressive.

[JSumm]

Could not agree more! I'm glad we have such an international presence here. Hope that only grows. Also great to have different perspectives from around the world. Helps to stretch our perspective.


Also, some of the grammar errors and mistyping are from me, and I grew up here. . Cellphone keyboards do not agree with my fingers.

[James Y]

I spent most of my 20s living in Taiwan, and only formally studied Mandarin there for a few months. I mostly developed my ability to communicate in it by listening and speaking to people, and watching Mandarin-language movies. I also learned to read Chinese to a limited degree, to where I could read Chinese translations of Japanese Manga (comic books) and books on martial arts history, as well as the Chinese subtitles on American movies.

Mandarin is a tonal language, with 4 tones, so depending on the tone you use, similar-sounding words can mean different things. In Mandarin, there is also the standard Beijing accent that was taught in the language school I studied at over there, but in Taiwan, people speak Mandarin with a Taiwanese accent. To further complicate things, Taiwan used the old Chinese characters in reading and writing, and Mainland China uses a simplified method of Chinese characters in books, which I never got the hang of reading.

TBH, I've met and communicated with many people for whom English is a second language, whose reading comprehension and writing of English far surpasses many American-born English speakers who can only speak English.

Jim

[Manixguy@1994]

Well said LB ! I ignore grammar and spelling of others , their heart is in the right place . Anybody trying their best to participate on the Forum is good for all of us . Sharing is what it is all about . Jeff’s mistyping is a plot to take over the world ! Dan

[Doc Dan]

When I was in high school a second language was required, but it seems we were a bit unusual as that practice was dying out. Now, a great many Americans can't speak anything but something that sounds like English.

For non-native English speakers, they first have to construct what they want to say in their own language and then translate it in their minds before speaking or writing. Many languages are constructed very differently than the English constructions, and in some languages it doesn't even matter the order of the words. In English it very much matters.

[Mushroom]

What I find really impressive is their ability to decipher through the improper punctuation and grammar from many native english speakers here on the forum.

I think many of the international forum members are some of the most dedicated Spyderco fans and collectors out there! They face more than just a language barrier to get past too. They often have less access to Spyderco knives than we have in America and Spyderco knives typically cost more internationally. Their dedication is impressive!

[RustyIron]

i was just reading some comments with misspellings and improper grammar, and i couldn't help but be amazed by the foreign presence here on the forum.

Honestly, I have an easier time communicating with some folks from other countries than I do when trying to understand people from other parts of the U.S. Usually I can communicate pretty well with my dogs, but sometimes they're not interested in what I have to say.

So what country are YOU from? I imagine it's a place where it's hard to find a new keyboard when the shift key on your old one breaks. Either that, you're channeling the spirit of e. e. cummings.

Party on, Garth.
Wayne

P.S.
Why don't more forum members add their locations to their profiles?

[Ric]

If you have special interests hobbies or need to solve a computer issue you will learn quickly that you find much more information in English than in e. g. German language.

English is quite easy to learn, and in business very important and nowadays necessary.

I am glad we lil native ;-) speakers are so welcomed here, and can be part of the community, and can learn knife and language skills daily.

[ladybug93]

So what country are YOU from? I imagine it's a place where it's hard to find a new keyboard when the shift key on your old one breaks. Either that, you're channeling the spirit of e. e. cummings.

when i write, i use all caps because of my years in drafting classes. when i type formally, i type correctly. when i type informally, i tend to use no caps unless i'm talking about God. it's just what i do.

English is quite easy to learn...

it really depends on what language you're coming from and your aptitude for languages. german to english might seem easy, but it would be harder to learn english as a speaker of a south eastern asian language, like korean or japanese.

[Brock O Lee]

Foreign language speaker here...

I'm South-African, living in Australia for the last 6 years. At home we speak Afrikaans, the youngest language in the world according to some research.

https://ling-app.com/tips/youngest-language/

On long days I often "run out of English", and the grammar and spelling take a turn for the worst!

[Murphy Slaw]

And we all get along and never invade each other...

[Naperville]

P.S.
Why don't more forum members add their locations to their profiles?

My city location is my username.

[Ramonade]

Such a great thread idea !
When I first join I though I was in a small minority of members that do not live in an english-speaking country.

After a few months I realized that we have a LOT of countries represented on the forum ! I'd be interested to see a map showing the percentage of active members in each country, and one showing every members. A bit like this one :



As far as grammar goes, it depends of the time of day I'm visiting the forum

[mikey177]

English is part of our grade school curriculum, so most folks from where I'm from have a passable command of the language.

The bigger challenge for me is the time zone barrier. Most of North America is awake when I'm asleep, which makes it hard for me to reply in a timely manner to new comments. Makes it very frustrating during hot product drops as well

[James Y]

I've always had a special admiration for people who are multilingual, especially those who are fluent in 3 or more languages.

I've wanted to learn Spanish for years, but have never made a serious effort. I know I could pick it up fairly quickly, even at my age. Where I live, and in many parts of the US, there are many practical reasons to be able to speak Spanish.

The first non-English language that I studied was French, in my early teens. I was becoming pretty decent at it, but I lost interest, because TBH, I had no practical reason to be able to speak French.

I had a practical reason to learn Mandarin, because I moved to Taiwan for many years. While there, I sometimes went months without speaking a word of English, which in retrospect seems weird to me now. I can still carry on a conversation in Mandarin, as well as read some of it, but my Mandarin is obviously worse than it was, because I've had no one to consistently speak it with for the past 30 years. I've considered brushing up on it, and maybe even improving over the level I was at.

I'm an American of Japanese descent, but I won't be learning Japanese, because I have no practical reason to. I'm not going to Japan, and I don't know anybody here from Japan to speak it with. And I'm not involved in doing business with anyone in Japan.

Jim

[aicolainen]

Thanks for shining a light on the outsiders, LB!

To be honest I don't think much about what language I speak or write in, as long as it's English or Norwegian it's almost a seamless transition because I use both so frequently. That's from my end of the keyboard though, and isn't to say what I write makes sense to the rest of you. I'm not great at putting thoughts into written words, and struggle similarly in Norwegian as well, so I tend to compensate by being long-winded. So I guess it's only fair to return LB's recognition of us foreigners and thank the native speakers who find the patience to read through my ramblings.

It's my impression that there thankfully, and maybe even surprisingly, isn't much of a language barrier on this forum as most non-english users make a real effort to make themselves understood. And most users, irrespective of their native tongue, make an effort to decipher the intention behind the words on the screen.
What is more noticeable is the cultural "barrier", which isn't as much of a barrier as it's just the spice of diversity, but either way I sometimes get the sense that while the reader may understand my words perfectly, it's still misunderstood because we think very differently about certain things and make conclusions and assumptions based on our own cultural references. While it can be frustrating at times, it's definitely one of the aspects that makes international forums more interesting. And why I agree that more users should have some level of location specified in their profile. Differences of perspective is always more interesting when you can map them. Literally speaking

[legOFwhat?]

It's a talent I would love to have. I have enough difficulty getting out what I want to say online, worrying that it may come off wrong.

I took a couple of missions trips to Cambodia and was impressed at how many folks there I was able to communicate with. I worked for a Japanese company and could pick up things from colleagues that struggled with English. They spoke some English and I only could muster a phrase in Khmer and some token words in Japanese that was probably picked up in movies, I'm ashamed to say. I'm a great admirer of those who are bilingual and love hearing from folks all over the world here on the forum!