People who's native tongue is not English?

[Breljorn]

I was wondering... How many people are there in this website that do not have English as their native language? How many of you actually use what they've learned in school or the internet to roleplay? I'm one of those people who learned English the hard way haha. :3

[marcopolonian]

Well, I'm a native English player (sorry...), but I have been interested in finding a French RP forum, to stay mostly-fluent in French after graduation. Unfortunately, I just don't know how to find them: "RP forums" and "Forums RP" (both "Forum" and "RP" are loan words, and French puts adjectives after nouns) are the exact same thing when you search on Google. Maybe I could use the quotation marks, too? Yeah, I'll try that.

What is it like to use a second language in RPs? Are there any specific difficulties (other than the inherent difficulty of using a second language at all, or the difficulties of using English specifically)? Do you write in your native language and then translate it into English, or do you simply write in English? I'm quite curious about this subject.

[Breljorn]

Well, since I've been practicing speaking and writing in English for a while, I don't bother with writing in Lithuanian and translating it. I just simply write in English, and then correct the mistakes/edit lines when I'm done. One of the most difficult things about writing in another language is synonyms. I mean, they decorate the text, but it's difficult to find synonyms, and that leads to just writing the same word several times in one post. :/

[marcopolonian]

Breljorn said One of the most difficult things about writing in another language is synonyms. I mean, they decorate the text, but it's difficult to find synonyms, and that leads to just writing the same word several times in one post. :/

Hmm, you're sure that's not just English? I have some trouble with that as well, even though it's my native language. Of course, it would be worse in a second language than a native one, since with a native one, you're at least vaguely aware of the connotations of most words, even though it may take a thesaurus to remind you of their existence.

Now that I think of it, this problem does appear when I'm writing French. But since I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to this sort of thing, the problem manifests differently: In French I sometimes spend hours on just a few paragraphs, though I've already written the whole thing in my mind.

[Breljorn]

I often have to use google translate to help me get synonyms. I just translate them from Lithuanian to English, haha. xD

[marcopolonian]

Hm, I try my best not to use Google Translate whenever possible, even as a dictionary. I mean, it is a pretty good dictionary in terms of size (after all, the word "Google" makes it inherently massive), but I'm just so anxious about using the wrong word at the wrong time that its lack of elaboration and example sentences doesn't appeal to me.

Then again, both English and French have the advantage of being, or having been until a century ago, the biggest international language in the world (French had been for centuries, then English beat it in WWI). So I guess I can afford to be picky.

Wiktionary is a pretty decent site in my experience, though it's similar to Wikipedia in that it's best used in conjunction with something else if possible. Also, its accuracy is even more dubious than Wikipedia (which I learned from Wikipedia...) Lithuanian Wiktionary has the 5th highest amount of entries, but then again, Malagasy (the language of Madagascar) has the second highest, so I'm a bit suspicious of every entry's veracity.

EDIT: Uh, I didn't mean to post this much...

[Vordak]

I just write all of my posts in MS Office Word - pretty neat if you ask me, as does all the spellchecking for you and has a built-in theasarus.

[Breljorn]

marcopolonian said
Hm, I try my best not to use Google Translate whenever possible, even as a dictionary. I mean, it is a pretty good dictionary in terms of size (after all, the word "Google" makes it inherently massive), but I'm just so anxious about using the wrong word at the wrong time that its lack of elaboration and example sentences doesn't appeal to me.Then again, both English and French have the advantage of being, or having been until a century ago, the biggest international language in the world (French had been for centuries, then English beat it in WWI). So I guess I can afford to be picky.Wiktionary is a pretty decent site in my experience, though it's similar to Wikipedia in that it's best used in conjunction with something else if possible. Also, its accuracy is even more dubious than Wikipedia (which I learned from Wikipedia...) Lithuanian Wiktionary has the 5th highest amount of entries, but then again, Malagasy (the language of Madagascar) has the second highest, so I'm a bit suspicious of every entry's veracity.EDIT: Uh, I didn't mean to post this much...

Yeah, that's understandable. Although I find it hard to naviage Wikipedia-type sites, so google translate is the best option for me as of now. I mean, I know a lot of the words I translate, I've heard them, and I've used them, it's just that sometimes I just forget them since it's not native. >w<

[Arthas32]

Oh there's a lot of people who are not native English speakers. I remember a group on the old forum just for us. My native language is Romanian but I've been learning English since I was a kid so I'm rather good at it, even though grammar is not a friend, the many rules mostly, and I just write and speak as I know. I usually write my posts in English, without translation, but I do use synonym dictionaries from time to time and the red underlining on this site is very helpful.

[Frettzo]

My native language is Spanish, actually! I also know enough French to say "Bonjour" perfectly :p

[Sere]

I have found in the past that people that are learning English as a second tongue, are more or less in college or just right out. It is a great way to understand English when they role play with someone that can from that tongue. But, after college, they more or less drop out.

[Kestrel]

To be honest, it's gotten to the point I write more in English than in Dutch.

[Ellri]

Sounds familiar, kestrel. Though of course we don't know dutch, so...

We write more in English than we do in Norwegian, but we are also fluent in both of those languages.

What we've observed is that people reading a lot of books pick up languages real well, so non-native speakers can become in some ways better than natives, who just presume they're nigh-perfect at their own language because it is their own.

[Kiriyama]

I'm Finnish,, but I can speak and write English very well. I agree that being non-native English makes it harder to find synonyms for some words. I'm not sure, but I think that not many foreign people are RPing in advanced.

[Goldmarble]

Ellri said
What we've observed is that people reading a lot of books pick up languages real well, so non-native speakers can become in some ways better than natives, who just presume they're nigh-perfect at their own language because it is their own.

Pffft, you could never match my skills in English words, for I have grown up with...

Fuck that, you probably have a better vocabulary in English than I do, and I'm born and raised West Coast Canadian (French is meaningless here, and while it is technically "taught" compulsory in school, I still know next to nothing).

[Ellri]

Heh.

Unless one tends to browse odd-word dictionaries, there will be others with greater vocabulary.

[Ergo]

Being a native does not make you a grand wizard in that language. You become adept in the language to which you devote yourself. It's usually, naturally your native language, but there are no proclamations that entail this to always be true. I've studied English my whole life, I'm 28 now, to the point of ruining my native language proficiency. When I write in my native language, I constantly make severe grammar mistakes and my vocabulary is null.

English is one of the most, perhaps the most synonym heavy language in the world, so don't beat yourself up if you forget that there are between three and perhaps a dozen synonyms for any given word. Thesauruses are good, reading the proper material is better.

Learning basic, English grammar is easy. The intermediate levels are not that difficult either. I've been thinking about creating a grammar guide for the forum, which has all the basic stuff in a clear and concise format.

[Kael Taiyou]

Learned English with studying and playing video games!