WARNING: Morons Lurk...

Was recently hired to do a texturing job of a certain space station like club by a friend. I normally don't take custom texturing jobs beyond making a specific texture then give it to the builder. Well I had delt primarily with my friend, she and I agreed on a certain price in linden dollars I would make the textures for.

Well I made the textures spent my time creating them, got there to apply them to the parts that needed them. Well, the bloke can't even articulate what he wants. Speaks in 3 or 4 word sentenences and then blames me and another friend of mine for not listening to his inarticulate rambling. When I say in articulate the man couldn't even articulate to the point she or I could understand he meant "The next texture" or "The Previous Texture".

This would of been fine I'm used to some communications issues. But when he started blaming my friend and I for his inability to express himself is when I got fed up. Took my textures and left and didn't get payed for my hard work either (not to mention the suffering of having to put up with him for an hour).

I guess the point is, watch out who you do business with..

.. make sure the person has a clear idea of what they actually do want.

An amazing number of people think that an emotional impression they got from something they've seen elsewhere will be reproducable in SL, and that they'll get the same emotional zing from the SL version of it every time they see it.

These people are usually RL challenged as well, so SL just amplifies that.

Many of the folks on SL are NOT native speakers of English. A translator might be in order.
And some are just to fricken young to communicate with adults.

MANY OF DA FOLKS ON SL R NOT NATIEV SPAAEKRS OF ENGLISH!!!11!!! WTF LOL A TRANSLA2R MIGHT B IN ORDER
AND!1!1!1 WTF LOL SOM3 R JUST 2 FRIK3N U 2 COMUNICAET WIT ADULTS!1111 OMG WTF

I just spit out my coffee onto the keyboard......LOL

what a nimrod

Get on TS or Vent and voice chat, also email is better for communication than a real time chat client. If the person is not a native english speaker find someone to translate. Most non-english speakers in SL are either in a group for their language or there is a group for their language. There usually is somone on willing to help.

I think the point is that the non-native English speakers should not get mad when they can't be understood. It's not the listener's fault that they can't speak English. Instead of getting angry, they should be apologizing.

That's just about the most conceited thing I've ever read on these forums. And I've read a lot of shit here.

I had to read this post twice, even though I am English and articulate

Apologise for not speaking English

I have read some racist drivel on these forums and heard LL call out and force individuals to change names that have racist connotations.

This is plainly arrogance and racism rolled into one.

I've never met an american yet that speaks English.

Why the US removes 'u' from words, and replaces 's' with 'z' (which is zed, not zee) I have no idea.

You might speak american english, but it's not British English. We invented the language, after all.

Lewis

Now, this is a big piece of shit. Maybe you should apologize for not speaking Spanish after all.

Actually Lewis, according to some language research done by CMU, the native residents of Pittsburgh supposedly speak the closest version of "king's English".

Other than that I have no clue what you're talking about? Or maybe I just dont speak that way?

You mean Carnegie Mellon that is actually IN Pittsburgh? Well duh. Sure they don't have an agenda?

By the way we have a queen now. Just saying.

We have a queen too!! Ermm....or whatever Bush is....

But to the guist of the post;
English (at least American English) is one of the hardest languages to learn. Basically because it's such a bastardised bunch of crap. Sew, so, sough? Thier, there, they're? No wonder even those of us who grew up here can't speak it properly lol

Wether the communication lsot was due to language or intelligence, is something the OP will have to figure out.

If it's a language problem, then I'd suggest looking into the MultiGadget for anyone who spends times with various languages. Timeless has installed an (experimental) translator into them. While not perfect, it does convey most meanings with a bit of effort on both sides. Since it is an auto-translator, there will always be problems. Not sure but I think the basis is Babblefish.

Might be more out there, and the human translator is always the best route, even if slightly slower.

~Jessy

Oh, but languages evolve, nimrod. This means that people who speak l33t/gangsta are much more advanced than you and I.

/signed.

I honestly don't get this, Kris. If I were trying to get someone to work for me or help me in an area where english was not the norm, I'd be friendly and apologetic over my not knowing the language. That was my behavior when I've been in a situation where english was not the spoken language. It would have been conceited to express annoyance over their lack of fluency in english. Had I taken my frustration over the communication difficulties out on them, I would expect that I would not have gotten what I wanted or to have received the wrong directions - quite intentionally, I'm sure.

Also, in the late 70's early 80's Oxford University released a study saying that in general, Americans use the English language better than the British do. We use less slang. hehe I have a feeling that little point may no longer be true.

I wasn't referring to the quote in the context of the original post, because the original poster at no time suggested that the issue was one of a language difference - they described the person as inarticulate. Devlin first suggested any reference to a possible language barrier. And then Vares wades in with his unwarranted comments, starting 'I think the point is'... which the point very much isn't.

As to your own example, if you're in a foreign land, and you haven't learned their language to any degree where you hope to make yourself understood, then you damned well should be apologetic.

But that has absolutely no bearing on an international setting like Second Life or the internet in general, even if a majority speak one language. There is no justification for comments referring to our non-native English speakers that 'it's not the listeners fault they can't speak english' and that 'they should be apologising'.

Otherwise why, conversely, shouldn't the listener be apologising for being too ignorant to properly serve an international community?

But like I say, I didn't get from the original post that that has anything to do with this. Because if it does, then the OP called someone a moron for not being able to speak English... which I'm pretty sure (I hope!) isn't the case.

I've encountered non-native English speakers from working on Help Island as a mentor, it can get quite frustrating for both parties, the speaker and the listener. (Once dealt with a new resident that knew how to say thank you, bye-bye, and hello in English and repeated it for every question.) When most get frustrated, they will evoke it in an "angry" manner. Personally, I think both sides should at some point realize that they are getting nowhere, apologize for not being able to understand (listener) and not being able to to form the English words (or whatever language) in a way for the other to understand (speaker). Then maybe find someone that can translate or as another poster suggested visit a voice chat.

Many times, I will repeat what I *think* I heard them say to see if I'm on the same page. If not, they will quickly let me know and we can start over. Working, playing, living on an international stage poses tumultuous times for many people. Foreign languages, no matter if English is a foreign language to you or not, creates obstacles for everyone and the way the world is evolving we must learn to deal with it or stay in our homes and talk to ourselves.

guist?

I have a freely-available Universal Translator (L$0) that translates local chat between languages. You can pick one up at my Script Shop in Grignano (89,89), on SLBoutique, or on SLExchange.

Because it makes more sense that way? Because it's closer to the way it's pronounced?

Those letters are leftovers from the French words that were adopted into English as a result of the Norman conquest of England. "Centre" for example is a word in French, as is pronounced that way, but English it's pronounced "CentER". Why the English adopted a word and changed the pronounciation of it, but not its spelling I have no idea.

And, no, it's "zee".

Wow, you three certainly projected your own prejudices into what I said. There was nothing arrogant or racist about it at all. It's simple logic.

If I was to go to another country and try to talk to people in their native language it would be stupid of me to get angry at them for not understanding me when it's my fault I can't speak their language very well.

I would be apologizing to them for not having the language skills to make myself understood in their language, not yelling at them for not understanding me.

So if someone is try to talk to me in English and they can't speak it very well, it would be stupid of them to get angry at me for it. It's not my fault they can't speak my language very well, so why are they angry at me?