wrong understanding and problem while explaining

[Liberty4life]

oke, i have this problem for a long time already, and finally it came to this that i opened topic about it, so lets start

lots of times when i read someone is talking in chat or on forum, and then i want to replay, i know that i have something good to say, i know what you want to say, but i dont know how to say it, or i say it but everyone understood it in wrong way

it is really frustrating to me when this occurs, the problem is that english isnt my mother language, so i dont know all phrases, lots of words, how to say things i want to say in right way, in short i am not so profficient in speaking english

if everyone could understand my native language (huh, just an example) that would be great, then i would be able to say many many more things about lots of topics, but since i cant do that, i feel like i am stupid

does someone else have this problem, say it here, i want to hear your opinions and experiences

[Metal Bunny]

Nope, strangely enough, my English is better than my Dutch, but that might be due to the influence spheres I am in...

[Burns]

One wouldn't realize you are no native talker when reading your posts^^
My mother tongue is German, i started learning English 8 years ago, and i have some problems with the phrases of the language, too, because those i know are different from those that are used in english...-.-

the short messages in chat help me a lot, reading those short and simple sentences is far easier than reading novels or stories, but sometimes i get frustrated when trying to solve the riddles round here, i just don't get what they are saying xD

i think i can say whatever i need to say, but sometimes it takes me a bit longer too find the right words and most of the time it sounds somehow stupid, but i don't mind at all, even the best make mistakes sometimes, pobodys nerfect or something like that

[Chewett]

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Edited December 18, 2012 by Chewett
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[Frosty]

My first language is English, but most people who speak it as a second langauge can spell better than me!

Ohh well at least I can actually spell in French!

[Liberty4life]

[quote name='Burns' post='17873' date='Oct 4 2008, 11:17 PM']One wouldn't realize you are no native talker when reading your posts^^
My mother tongue is German, i started learning English 8 years ago, and i have some problems with the phrases of the language, too, because those i know are different from those that are used in english...-.-

the short messages in chat help me a lot, reading those short and simple sentences is far easier than reading novels or stories, but sometimes i get frustrated when trying to solve the riddles round here, i just don't get what they are saying xD

i think i can say whatever i need to say, but sometimes it takes me a bit longer too find the right words and most of the time it sounds somehow stupid, but i don't mind at all, even the best make mistakes sometimes, pobodys nerfect or something like that [/quote]

yea you understand me, this problem came out to me when i started to play this game, this game requests better understanding of english, lots of topics and lots of theories are very mind-wise, i was never at any english forum that is that much mind-wise and requires so much explaining theories, since if i want to talk with smart ppl i have some very good forums that are in my mother language

this problem isnt so much seen in theories i write in forum and in other places, since it isnt real time communication, i have time as much as i want to tell something, to reedit things, this is so much of a problem in chat, when i need to say something very fast, and i dont know how to say it, which words to choose, would i be understood, etc

[Frosty]

I understand what you mean. I can spend up to 10 mins just trying to think of the right way to phrase a sentence in another language! Especially if it is structured in a different way to english

[Granos]

For once I feel lucky to have been taught both french and english since I was little, I'm honestly amazed how well spoken you all are.. Ive incorporated speaking french into my character.. Perhaps you all should speak in your native tongues in game time to time, it would really enhance the game, also I'm personally always willing to help other players understand when I realize that they have a hard time with english, I agree that it does get annoying when the chat moves too quickly, most of the time I find myself erasing what I was going to say because its usually a horrible mix of english and french (Franglais).

[Liberty4life]

yesterday i had a "devil's talk" (you know when player is taunting you and then persuading you to come on the dark side (we have cookies lol) and when you refuse then they act offended and are playing/acting like they are victim) with one player, and it was a big problem for me to replay to him correctly (and still i was pissed off because of rl, yea i have rl problems lately, i almost quite playing this game, but i didnt) so this just frustrated me more, i came to talk about something else (i wrote in my logs that i dont want ppl to write in it, and he wrote in there that he wants to talk with me lol, is that normal, well normal player would sent a pm not spam in other players log, i sent him pm twice but he didnt replayed, so this time i asked him in chat) then he ignored that, attacked me and started his own topic (mentioned in start of this post), i didnt know how to say lots of things i had to say, so my only answer was attack

btw i dont like that logs are public, its okey to me that logs can be viewed by all, i just dont like reading my own logs, so i want them clear

[Vaul]

Hi Liberty... I agree to some extent with you, as I also have some problems understanding people's expression from time to time... I'm Croatian, like you, but all my life I have studied English and have spent some time in Britain studying, so English has never been a problem for me. What I do have a problem with are the abbreviations. Those damned 2-3 letter constructions that everybody use to convey their who knows what in the worst form of communication imaginable. When I see the XY abbreviation, not only do I don't want to reply, but I want to run far away. Well, this is my own (rather radical) opinion, but really, I know everybody has internet these days, and everybody hangs around hundreds of forums where this form of communication evolved in the first place... BUT IT'S NOT EVERYBODY!

I observed that abbreviations is mostly used by Americans, and the rest of the English-speaking world, but the world is HUGE people, and owning internet does not mean you are assimilated into the anglo-american adolescent internet culture by default!

That's all I have to say

[Cirith]

Hmm i know that problem, i don`t discuss complicated subjects on english cause it can take some time to formulate complex thoughts in english (and I lost interest in most philosophical topics anyway.). Reading is easy, writing abstact thoughts can be annoying.

And at Vaul if you mean things like lol,gtg,gn8,omg and standard things like that. The internet won`t change for you so ignore them or accept them, they won`t disappear from informal internet conservations.

[Vaul]

[quote name='Cirith' post='17910' date='Oct 5 2008, 12:34 PM']The internet won`t change for you so ignore them or accept them, they won`t disappear from informal internet conservations.[/quote]

Nor do I expect the internet to change for me, as I have said no such thing.

And it's not a question of the internet, but the people, and I can tell you there are thousands who do not use them, and thousands more who certainly [b][u]do not[/u][/b] consider them to be a mandatory form internet communication, as you do

[Liberty4life]

[quote name='Cirith' post='17910' date='Oct 5 2008, 02:34 PM']Hmm i know that problem, i don`t discuss complicated subjects on english cause it can take some time to formulate complex thoughts in english (and I lost interest in most philosophical topics anyway.). Reading is easy, writing abstact thoughts can be annoying.[/quote]

you got the point, i was trying to say this all the time, but i didnt know how to say it in this "easy to write and understand" way

hmm abbreviations arent problem to me, i know tons of them

[Cirith]

You didn`t ask it to change for you, I just answered that way to point out that you can`t do anything about it

Yeah it`s not the internet but the people... I think context based it`s quite clear that I mean the people who use the internet. (And when I say "you can`t change the world" i don`t mean the planet earth but the society of the people who life on it.)
Sure there are but especially in gaming communities it`s common. They aren`t mandatory but you call it the "worst form of communication imaginable", just because you don`t like it. It`s used because people find them convenient. The use of communication is to convey thoughts everythiong which manages to convey thoughts is an legitimate way to communicate. Since they are widely understood in the circles which use them, there is no reason not to use them.
If i drive to bavaria there will be some words i can`t understand cause they speak a dialect. But everyone in bavaria understands it so it`s my problem. And since the number of commonly used abrivations isn`t that big , it`s not really hard to ignore them


PS: You may consider using bigger numbers thousands are an insignificant number of people.

[Vaul]

[quote name='Cirith' post='17913' date='Oct 5 2008, 01:50 PM']PS: You may consider using bigger numbers thousands are an insignificant number of people.[/quote]


I'm just being honest about my own experience Perhaps another rarity amongst the dominant internet community...

[maggot]

English was a mandatory subject in my school plus I have played a lot of games with English as the official language, so even though I'm from Spain I have little trouble using and understanding it. But I know sometimes my English is awkward in sentence structure, and I do take some more time to write in it than in Spanish. Probably noticed that I omit pronouns often.. but that's just me being lazy.

Sometimes it is hard to understand people like Liberty, though. Like the game creator. But it is not so much the lack of vocabulary but their lack of punctuation. Capitalization, periods and commas really do help and exist for a reason... in the mother languages, too, right? Or maybe they never learned punctuation in English. Bother.

[Udgard]

English is not my main tongue, but since I've studied it since I was.. under 5?, I got it pretty well. But the problem even with those who have good english is sometimes other people do not understand their english anyways when it gets too complex, such as on hard discusssions. So, good or bad english doesn't actually make much of a difference =b

[Liberty4life]

thats my point anyway, this deep and hard discussions, i have problem with speaking in english when i want to say something with deeper meaning and something what is mind-wise

i dont have this problem in regular talk

[Sol]

I don't like interent slang too.... It's kinda confusing as new ones pop up each day....

English is kinda one of the languages I am okay at, but my grammar is really, really bad... : / and there are lots of complicated words I don't understand and sometimes I can't explain myslef clearly when writing down things...

[GgSeverin]

When I have no english words at hand I talk llike a poet:

"Writing in forum is like using a not sharp long blade to defend from a dog; A thick stick would do the same.
4 Liberty 4 life the english is a peak to conquer but only in his mind, if 80% of englander do not spell correctly but are expecting to be understood, you are better; because you make efforts to be understood."

[Chewett]

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Edited December 18, 2012 by Chewett
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