Forum Area for other Languages?

[Raistlin]

How many people out there would be interested in a forum section for discussion in languages other than English?  It seems that, since this forum serves as the hub for our interest more or less world wide, it would be good to open up some section for people from our non-English-speaking demographics (namely Swedish, Russian, German, Japanese, but really any language).  I understand the rules against posting threads predominantly in other languages on the main boards, but a place for it would be nice and I think popular.  If we don't have it here, eventually those boards will pop up elsewhere and draw people away.  Also, once a board like that existed, it would draw in multicultural members who never find us now, by hitting search terms in their own languages.  Just an idea.  And I understand the difficulties of moderating a multi-lingual board, but if there are enough members to populate one I'm sure people will volunteer to keep things to standards.  I would certainly volunteer to moderate German threads.

[March Hare]

I wonder (and there's nothing rhetorical about this question): for how large a part of the world is English not the established official language of the Internet?

Personally, by the way, I could never discuss the fetish in my own language the way I can in English. The language barrier is slight but all-important for me.

Interesting idea, though.

[Raistlin]

I agree that English is the established language of the internet, at least for Europeans, the Americas, and Australia. But I have met forum members who, though they can read and write English quite well, still struggle to describe extremely personal / emotional / sexual experiences with English vocabulary.  Sometimes a particular concept that's central to an experience just doesn't translate well even if the writer has a very good vocabulary. 

[Shamaël]

I have mixed feelings about that idea. I think the possibility should be given, as you say, for people who struggle to express themselves in English, and that's an interesting suggestion.

For my part, I know that even if I make a lot of mistakes and sometimes have to search for specific vocabulary, English is the only "real" language for the fetish. Discussing it in French (which I sometimes do with another French member here in private messages) is more difficult, and we often come back to English when the discussion becomes too personal / sexual. For me, English is 1) A very convenient mask that reassures me (something that "hides" me, if you see what I mean) and 2) A language where talking about sneezing and illness is natural, with a lot of specific words and expressions that describe what I wish to convey (whereas translated in French, it becomes awful and meaningless).

I know that's a discussion I've had with many people here, but I'd be curious to know what other members think about the link between the fetish and their language / English.

Edited August 25, 2019 by Aliena H.

[Chanel_no5]

30 minutes ago, Aliena H. said:

I know that's a discussion I've had with many people here, but I'd be curious to know what other members think about the link between the fetish and their language / English.

I feel that way too. When it's my first language, it becomes a bit "too intimate" and a bit ridiculous-sounding in a way. It's cringey. English is my fetish language, it feels much more comfortable. It's kinda like wearing a sexy outfit, it would be really weird and uncomfortable in the wrong circumstances, while in the right ones, it's hot. 

Sure, it's easier to convey certain aspects of it in your first language, but on the whole, I'm perfectly happy keeping English as my fetish language.   I wouldn't personally post in fetishy discussions in my own language even if the opportunity was there.

 

[Wilde]

Siding with some of the previous comments, I don’t know if I could discuss fetish related topics in my native language, it’d probably feel way too awkward and intimate. I also wouldn’t know if there are enough Dutch speakers here to quantify making a board for, and that probably goes for a lot of languages. 

[Former Empath]

I can’t speak for the mods/owners here, but I do know that on other sites, one of the barriers to having non-English sections is the lack of ability to properly moderate them. Would there be moderators here who could read/write the language(s) in question well enough to do things like protect minors, handle arguments, etc.? They couldn’t just leave those sections of the forums to their own devices and hope for the best.

[gryffin]

For me too, as for others, the language of the fetish is English. On the one hand it provides that bit of distancing that reduces the cringe factor, especially at first; on the other, online fetish material has always been almost entirely in English, so my fetish vocabulary is primarily English (I’ve discussed with a fellow Italian once what the Italian would be for ‘build-up’ and ‘stifle’ - without much of a result) and English really has coloured my experience of communicating about the fetish. Not because of any intrinsic quality of English, but because it was (is) the only option.

This being said, I’ve often thought how beautiful and liberating it would be to at least have the option of talking about it in my own native language. It wouldn’t be easy, because there just aren’t that many of us around - though, as the OP was saying, a degree of multilingualism could potentially draw in new members who either don’t know English or for whatever reason aren’t comfortable enough with English to sustain interaction in that medium. And expressing oneself in a second language is never the same thing as being able to use your own. If it were possible to have a multilingual section somewhere it would certainly be a great thing.

[Shamaël]

1 hour ago, gryffin said:

I’ve discussed with a fellow Italian once what the Italian would be for ‘build-up’ and ‘stifle’ - without much of a result

That's the kind of questions that would be interesting to discuss in the forum, in different languages! I can't even think of a French word for "build-up" tht wouldn't seem dumb and inadequate (and believe me, I've been searching), but maybe some other members would have ideas? That's something I'd love to talk about on the forum despite the embarrassment I'd certainly be feeling, and a reason why an area on the forum for other languages would be a good idea. (Compared languages, translation and vocabulary is a fascinating subject...)

[Raistlin]

When I first started coming around the community, a lot of the terms we use weren't so common and accepted.  I don't think English actually has a better "sneezey" vocabulary than other languages, it just developed as a sort of jargon in the community.  As a native English speaker, I can definitely say that the average North American does not discuss the types, stages, and categories of sneeze with nearly as much nuance as we do here.  It could develop in other languages as well.

[Guest]

Well, I once found a spanish fetish forum out there that's been inactive for more than a year or two, and there weren't a lot of members to begin with. I remember one of the members visited this forum and posted about it, saying that they could barely understand what was happening here and had to use translator to read some sneezefics, so that made me wonder the same thing as you did 

I have mixed feelings about your idea, of course you can adapt the sneezy language to, for example, spanish. I've done that a lot because I write sneezefics in spanish when I'm bored since writing in english takes a lot of effort for me, but I used to cringe a lot while writing them and feel embarrassed, so it's not easy to get used to it when you usually write them in english. Also, I'm worried that a multilingual section of the forum might fall inactive or would be too difficult to moderate. I still like the idea, though 

[sneezomania]

For me, a section to communicate in my native language (which is German) would have a big disadvantage: If I would post something there, only a fraction of the board members would be able to read it. So there would be fewer views, fewer replies (if any), fewer interaction. So for me, posting in English is much more "efficient" in terms of communication.

Moreover, like some of you, it's easier for me to talk about fetish things in a foreign language, especially to people I don't know well. It feels a bit more "distanced".

I'm not strictly against it. But of course such sections would have to be moderatable (i.e. for every language there would have to be at least one mod who speaks the language), and for me it needn't be set up. When I started communicating about sneezing in English, I developed my English skills a bit to be able to do so. I thought that to be the better way than waiting for a chance to do it in German.

[March Hare]

On 8/25/2019 at 3:02 PM, Wilde said:

Siding with some of the previous comments, I don’t know if I could discuss fetish related topics in my native language, it’d probably feel way too awkward and intimate. I also wouldn’t know if there are enough Dutch speakers here to quantify making a board for, and that probably goes for a lot of languages. 

I know there's at least four of us, no, five I think, but that's way too few IMHO. (Although, in fairness, it maaay be fun to share the ONE fic in Dutch I ever wrote... *cackle* )

Also, we would all miss SO much. ...well, OR learn multiple languages at least in parts. Hmmm. There is that.

[Wilde]

53 minutes ago, March Hare said:

I know there's at least four of us, no, five I think, but that's way too few IMHO. (Although, in fairness, it maaay be fun to share the ONE fic in Dutch I ever wrote... *cackle* )

Also, we would all miss SO much. ...well, OR learn multiple languages at least in parts. Hmmm. There is that.

Really? I knew of you (the root vegetables kinda have it away) but not of anyone else here. Although, there was one guy, but I don’t think he’s on here anymore. In any case, if you want some audience for your fix I’d be happy to read it. I do agree though, five people on a separate board is very few. 

I imagine the different language boards would exist next to the current boards, right? In that case, it might be fun to drop into the board of a language that you’re wanting to learn or maintain, if that was allowed. Otherwise, maybe there wouldn’t be much point, the boards would probably be quite inactive. 

[March Hare]

5 minutes ago, Wilde said:

Really? I knew of you (the root vegetables kinda have it away) but not of anyone else here. Although, there was one guy, but I don’t think he’s on here anymore. In any case, if you want some audience for your fix I’d be happy to read it.

I suppose they do... did you get the reference?

Who knows, maybe I'll post the thing in my blog someday! if the Staff allows it. I have also been thinking of posting a translation, but it is ENTIRELY FRKN self-indulgent (think the stuff you'd write before you ever knew about the online community, hah) so yeah, um.

[gryffin]

11 minutes ago, March Hare said:

Who knows, maybe I'll post the thing in my blog someday! if the Staff allows it. 

Using the blogs instead of the main forum, if the latter needs to be kept strictly English-only, sounds like a cool idea! Comments and interactions are possible there, too. It would be less easy to know which blogs to go and check out than it is to simply scroll down the forum, but I guess if there was a (pinned?) thread somewhere with a list of foreign-language blogs, people would know where to look. But are blogs viewable by non-approved users? Because it would kind of defeat the purpose otherwise.

[Wilde]

18 minutes ago, March Hare said:

I suppose they do... did you get the reference?

Who knows, maybe I'll post the thing in my blog someday! if the Staff allows it. I have also been thinking of posting a translation, but it is ENTIRELY FRKN self-indulgent (think the stuff you'd write before you ever knew about the online community, hah) so yeah, um.

I didn’t actually, what’s it from? 

Ah, very fair, I get you. 

Using the blogs for this purpose might actually be a good idea, if it’s allowed. I suppose they’d be difficult to moderate, but easy to communicate on. 

[Raistlin]

Yeah, a pinned post on foreign language blogs would be a good resource.  It's interesting to hear so many people express a preference for discussing fetishy topics in English even if it is not their best-known language.  For me, even if speaking German, I would probably use fetish terms from English because those are the agreed upon words for saying things like "holdback talkie wav" that don't translate.  But other than specific fetish jargon like that, I imagine I would feel pretty much the same writing an obs or a fic, or reading them, in English or German.  Don't exactly know though, since I've never found an opportunity . . .

[•.*°•☆. Q .☆•°*.•]

maybe there could be a separate forum or a discord for this? i think i'd feel super paranoid if there was an entire area of the forum where i interact and post regularly that i literally couldn't understand any of. idk if anyone else feels this way but that's just my 2 cents

[Reader]

If anyone writes a fic in Korean, send it my way! 

[Nas]

The main reason we don't have a secondary language area is because it's much harder to moderate.   If someone wanted to start a separate forum or discord with their own language they'd be more than free to, however! You also ofc could make a group chat or something. It's interesting to hear some people's responses, and I wish I knew another language!!!

[atchoum]

I find that people change personalities when they change languages. It may also be the case that people say different things when they change language too. At any rate, it's a hypothesis I would love to try out somewhere on the forum.

I was lucky because I first talked about sneezing and the fetish in French - and at great length too - so English need not be more legitimate.  In fact I remember talking to some French sneezebuddies who said they preferred reading about sneezing in their native language rather than through a foreign medium.  It all depends on your experience and I wonder if the language barrier doesn't exclude some people who don't feel at ease in English.

For what it's worth, there used to be German chat on a Saturday morning - unofficially of course, but it lasted several years... until Chat went the way of obsolete technologies.  The idea of replacing it with a blog is certainly worth a try.

[Wilde]

3 minutes ago, atchoum said:

I find that people change personalities when they change languages. It may also be the case that people say different things when they change language too. At any rate, it's a hypothesis I would love to try out somewhere on the forum.

This is true actually. There’s been quite a lot of research on changing languages (code-switching) and how that affects the speaker’s personality or how they present themselves. It’s been a while since I studied this, but I should be able to find some reading if you’re interested. (Sorry if this is a bit too far off topic, I get excited over sociolinguistics)

[atchoum]

21 hours ago, Wilde said:

This is true actually. There’s been quite a lot of research on changing languages (code-switching) and how that affects the speaker’s personality or how they present themselves. It’s been a while since I studied this, but I should be able to find some reading if you’re interested. (Sorry if this is a bit too far off topic, I get excited over sociolinguistics)

It is a fascinating topic !  Have you noticed that some people change personalities far more than others when they change languages ?

And to go back to a point you raised earlier, there used to be a French sneeze fetish site, but there was so little traffic that it finally disappeared. But having a corner for other languages on this forum is an attractive idea - introduce a small dose of federalism ?

[Wilde]

5 hours ago, atchoum said:

It is a fascinating topic !  Have you noticed that some people change personalities far more than others when they change languages ?

And to go back to a point you raised earlier, there used to be a French sneeze fetish site, but there was so little traffic that it finally disappeared. But having a corner for other languages on this forum is an attractive idea - introduce a small dose of federalism ?

Yes actually. I know a few people who are (near) fluently bilingual and some show more profound differences than others. My personal theory is that the (lack of) personality switch is largely affected by someone’s upbringing and how adaptive/accommodating/agreeable they might be in personality. I find I’m more polite in English as opposed to Dutch, and more pragmatic in Dutch. 

Oh, to comment on your second point, I agree! I imagine it’d be a sort of fetish board/off topic board/snake out though. 

Edited August 28, 2019 by Wilde