Suggestion: International Language Section.

[curiousnathan]

Perhaps like this:

Chit Chat Café
-Celebrations
-General Other Language Discussion (Where all the uncommon languages sit)
--Spanish Discussions
--French Discussions
--Japanese Discussions

Where the French/Spanish/Japanese would be your three major languages, perhaps a poll held in the main Other Language area, and decide upon the top three/whatever you think is reasonable and make them at a later point in time.

I dislike this idea. What classifies a language as "main"? Does it have to be used by the majority of the planet? What criteria does a language need to meet to be considered a "main" language

I think a thread for each language might be a better idea; it'd be more organized as well.

Chit Chat Café
-Celebrations
-Language and Dialect

(Within Language and Dialect would be Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Spanish discussions etc.)


Another concern is moderation. We would either need someone who is fluent in A LOT of languages or several moderators.

 

[Omicron]

Maybe "supervisors" can be assigned. Volunteers that are both fluent in English and one or more languages that, although not being mods, check that the rules aren't broken, especially profanity and explicit discussions, and then report to a mod.

 

[Honest]

If we could find a way to resolve the moderating issue, personally I'd be okay with a single section for this. Of course, hstaff will have to decide, but I'd be okay with this being a subforum for Cafe.

I can become quadlingual, sweet

 

[bobandbill]

My main concern is about activity - would there really be enough interest maintained to sustain a whole new subsection (or as some people suggested, multiple)? While there would be an initial spike in interest, it may well fade away if there aren't enough users to keep it coming.

That, and Í feel there's already a section that exists for people interested in a specific subject/topic (in this case, a particular language), that being Fan Clubs and Groups. There have been language clubs there in the past (e.g. the French Club, a big focus of it being the language). Kinda runs into my previous point though - that's the most recent language-specific club I found from a search, about a half year ago.

 

[Squirrel]

The moderation issue is easily sorted by placing the responsibility on the club owner, though the members of PC in general aren't stupid to read vulgar stuff in a thread and leave it unreported anyway haha, I don't think that would be a problem.

However, I don't think it's a good idea. Whilst it's a nice concept, I really can't see the activity being there considering that these topics aren't even overly active in the Groups section yet - what makes you think they'd do well as a stand alone section? I can't imagine you'd need more than one thread for each language with the interest levels that PC seems to have right now since they could be a DCC, learning thread and questions thread all in one rather easily, and a club/group environment is quite literally perfect for this use. Clubs are great in the sense that people get to know each other within the thread and are constantly talking to each other, getting them comfortable with each other and ultimately making it a lot easier to discuss things with each other - you'd be much more comfortable asking people you're comfortable with for help than you would a total stranger, no? And not to mention the awkwardness of pointing out grammatical flaws in a post from someone you've never met haha. Clubs also promote having conversation topics changed every once in a while onto another aspect of the club's focus, so it'd be a great way to expand your vocabulary with different topics and you'd even be able to direct the topic to assisting the 'less able' members at the language.

It's a nice idea but right now it just doesn't seem right for this forum. If the language activity of the forum picks up I'll happily support it, but for now I'd say no.

 

[Ivysaur]

Básicamente, no creo que haya una demanda lo suficientemente alta como para crear un foro así ahora mismo. Si bien es cierto que hay grupos que hablamos otros idiomas por aquí, la grandísima mayoría de los usuarios son angloparlantes puros o gente que viene, de hecho, a practicar inglés. En los años que llevo aquí, habré visto como una docena de personas que hablen español y, la verdad, o venían a practicar inglés o a hacer tres intercambios y se iban.

Como han dicho por aquí, hay clubs para gente que hablen ciertos idiomas y me parece bien. Pero me cuesta imaginar de dónde iban a salir temas (y usuarios) para mantener viva una sección así durante mucho tiempo. Si la mitad de Clubs estuviera llena de hilos sobre idiomas, quizá, pero la verdad no acabo de pillarle el punto.

Spoiler:

Basically, I don't think there is enough demand to create a forum like that right now. If well it's true there are groups of other-language speakers around here, the majority of users either only speak English or are here precisely to practice English. In all my years around the forums, I have met around a dozen Spanish speakers, and most of them were here to talk to other people in English or to trade a few times and then leave.

As it's been said, there already are clubs for people who want to talk to others in their own languages, and I think it's okay- but it's hard for me to imagine how to get enough users and topics to make such a section active for long. Maybe if Clubs was like, flooded with language groups, we could have a try, but I'm not really too much for the idea right now.

 

[Nihilego]

I'm alright with maybe a club or two for language-specific things being made, but I don't like the sound of having an entire section dedicated to it. I feel like it'd have activity issues right from the start - maybe minus a couple of languages such as Japanese that PC is particularly interested in - and honestly, I don't see what there is to be discussing other than talking in the language itself which, for the sake of other users being able to understand and for the sake of mods not having to use Google Translate on everything, would be preferable to just do in an English thread. I'm fine with clubs and whatnot on the matter but I'd really rather not have a whole section for it.

 

[moon]

Hm, while a Languagethingy subforum to CCC could be fun, Squirrel made a very valid point:

I really can't see the activity being there considering that these topics aren't even overly active in the Groups section yet - what makes you think they'd do well as a stand alone section?

Ultimately, from what I've seen, until there's both an idea, a noticeable interest and also a need for such a section, chances it'll get made might be slim. For example, a Pokémon Manga forum makes sense, it's a great idea! There's not a noticeable interest for it anymore though, and there's not really a need for it to be made since there is another place that can host pokémon manga talk (PGen). Thusly.

With languages, there's loads of ideas, but except for some people in this thread there doesn't seem to be an overwhelming interest for it across the forum and since we have the CCC for casual questions and FG&C for language based clubs, there's not a crucial need for a new section either.

2 (I don't know how to make a cent sign)

 

[Retom]

DUTCH! oh please dutch thats not difficult