Visiting Websites and Internet Communities in Foreign Languages

Something I've been contemplating for a while now.

In my experience of posting in some online communities such as TV Tropes, I've seen in English-speaking sites and Internet communities people from places where English is not a main language. Members from countries like France, Finland, Germany, Russia, and so on, visiting and becoming regulars in these sites as if they were native English speakers. This fascinated me, the idea that they can participate in English-using communities with greater ease than I would expect.

That got me wondering. Are there common occurrences of the reverse, with users from Anglophone places going to non-English websites and message boards? People that are primarily English-speakers carrying with them whatever secondary languages they picked up a bit out of interest or learned in their foreign language classes. Is this unheard of?

We may have had our foreign language classes in our secondary or tertiary education, but some of us may not always have proceeded directly into environments where we get to use them. Like me, I had French in high school. But I currently don't live in a place where French is widely used. It's not like I've immigrated to a Francophone country, became an exchange student there, or participated in business or organization in such a country. And, inspired by these non-English-speakers entering English message boards, I thought that perhaps my best opportunity to use a language such as French is online.

Furthermore, it gets me thinking: did such people formally obtain education for the English language, or did they just pick up some English in their local environments? And what led them to learn English? Did they learn specifically so that they can read English literature/articles and partake in the English-speaking groups (online and otherwise), or did English just happen to be the foreign language classes they selected and they're now making use of that? I'm curious about their motivation.

These are questions that, conversely, I could ask about us living in Anglosphere regarding our foreign languages.

A number of us do visit Pixiv.

I don't really go on websites not in English but some videos I watch on You Tube are in foreign languages so most of the comments are in the up loaders native language but they sometimes have subtitles so you see people typing in other languages including English.

I'm doing it right now.

That doesn't really count if you only read the English comments and text. And conversely I wouldn't say Youtube is an English-language site. It may be based on the United States, but users aren't required to communicate primarily in English. It depends significantly on the video, too.

Anyway, with imageboards and video sites like Niconico, you may still be able to get a gist of the pictures and videos if, say, you know what you're looking for. But I'm talking about sites that heavily depend on reading and writing the language. 1) Online articles, such as news or wikis. 2) Message boards where you read what other people have typed and respond in kind.

Think of, say, a Finnish person like Best Of posting in a place like the TV Tropes forums. In English, of course. Now invert it.

No interest in this...?

I guess perhaps English speakers visiting online communities with second languages just isn't a widespread thing? Does this sort of exploration apply only to English sites?

It's a niche thing.

Is it? What would drive, for instance, Finnish persons to visit a site like TV Tropes when it's in English? This is an English-based site. There are limited projects on articles in other languages, but the main communication is done all in English.

In other words, what drives people from outside the Anglosphere to visit specifically English-speaking sites, and what interests them in subject matters that necessitate communication in English? Like communities that you wouldn't know about unless you know some English yourself and you're willing to use it?

You could say that there's some presence of English in non-English countries in the form of foreign language classes, but what about those of us that live in places like the US and UK? When people from Anglophone places learn foreign languages like French or Spanish, where do they use them?

I love to talk to folks on JP internet. They're much nicer than the white people on English speaking internet.

How does 2chan compare to 4chan? It seems to me a tad more polite than 4chan (big achievement, I know) but with a narrower otaku focus that results in bad ideas (like about Koreans) being less challenged.

I sometimes look about French and Italian websites. There are no forums I visit regularly, but on national topics they can tell me more (and I will always read originals if I'm fluent over translations.

But the deeper problem is the Network Effect, on a global scale. The more we are connected globally, the more important it is to have a common medium on communication; and English has been wining since the nineteenth century. You could translate a reference work, like this wiki, into several languages, which we are doing. But you could never do that with an open forum. Internet forums are already divided by topic, so for someone speaking a smaller language -even a national one like Finnish- the only way to connect online is to learn the dominant language. And education in many countries acknowledges that.

I am in a language community of 80 000 speakers with no monoglots. I know the issues about minority languages, and I really wish British schools were better at teaching languages (eeven geting a sensibel speling for Inglish wuid be a start). But online, the whole world comes together, and only one medium can connect them.

> They're much nicer than the white people on English speaking internet.

I see,

Well, what? There's still a lot of racist white people out there, and some of them are on the internet (and not just places like Stormfront, unfortunately).

edited 4th Dec '16 9:21:33 AM by YasminPerry

there are plenty of racist people out there who aren't white

edited 4th Dec '16 10:14:07 AM by Ultimatum

As someone who frequents Japanese language websites, I'll tell you my perspectives on this.

One of the websites that I frequent is Freem!, which is a repository of freeware games. At first, I just randomly browse the games, but as time passes I know the categories.

Then, one day I stumbled upon Silvania Saga. I praised the game while tagging the creator. Guess what? He thanked me in English! I wondered what is the significance of this....

The thing is, this sort of thing happens by chance. I know the website from a shmup forum, which leads to a Japanese website focusing on shmups, which then lead to Freem. Also, I only know about Muzie after I bothered to read the readme file and discovered that the BGM used in a few games originate from there. Maybe you will need some luck and persistence if you want to discover websites not in your language.

edited 13th Dec '16 6:01:35 AM by murazrai

Yes, many Japanese people can speak a little English (they think it is cool, after all). It's good to ask them beforehand.

I recently started using Showroom, which is a Japanese app for people to perform live streams.

Today, I was watching a live stream of my favourite band. Aside of pronouncing my handle wrongly despite I have provided a katakana reading the first time, it was a pleasant experience as they do read my and replied my comments, even if it's just a simple thank you and mentioning that they can't speak English.

That said, they were pleasantly surprised when I revealed that I am a Malaysian. One commenter was caught off guard, wondering if I am a hardcore fan or something and I had to explain that I became their fan a few months ago.

Has anyone here having similar experiences?