Language used in threads

[derrickgoh]

As this is an English language forum, I think its only appropriate if people post in English. Doesn't have to be Queen's English, but English so that everyone can understand.

There are some people who insist in posting in Chinese and assume everyone understands. This joker is one example:

http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/e...irl-came-sg-work-now-become-like-5222850.html

Since when did HWZ become a Chinese forum? You want to post in Chinese, fine but have English translation too. Its selfish to assume everyone understands Chinese.

Posting in English should be one of the terms & conditions in this forum and threads in Chinese/Malay/Tamil/Japanese, etc without English translation should be locked.

 

[Shion]

Singapore has 4 official languages

 

[derrickgoh]

Singapore has 4 official languages

Make sure you don't complain when people start posting in Tamil and Malay. Besides, English is the official language of instruction and is understood by all races. So unless one has ulterior motives, I fail to see why they can't post in a language understood by all.

 

[gkhchay]

Make sure you don't complain when people start posting in Tamil and Malay. Besides, English is the official language of instruction and is understood by all races. So unless one has ulterior motives, I fail to see why they can't post in a language understood by all.

I'm ok with the other sub forums except EDMW - the so called English & forum lingo there is simply atrocious to the extent that it can't be understood at times.

 

[Dr.Vijay]

Isn't it a copy of a report posted from elsewhere?
He isn't actually typing all that in Chinese?

In this example, he should have at least linked the source of the original content - then this matter wouldn't even need to be raised.

People will understand the source is such and someone would naturally ask/post a translated edition from Google and so on. This is the normal course of response and action that I've seen taking place on the forums.

As this is an English language forum, I think its only appropriate if people post in English. Doesn't have to be Queen's English, but English so that everyone can understand.

There are some people who insist in posting in Chinese and assume everyone understands. This joker is one example:

http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/e...irl-came-sg-work-now-become-like-5222850.html

Since when did HWZ become a Chinese forum? You want to post in Chinese, fine but have English translation too. Its selfish to assume everyone understands Chinese.

Posting in English should be one of the terms & conditions in this forum and threads in Chinese/Malay/Tamil/Japanese, etc without English translation should be locked.

 

[derrickgoh]

Isn't it a copy of a report posted from elsewhere?
He isn't actually typing all that in Chinese?

In this example, he should have at least linked the source of the original content - then this matter wouldn't even need to be raised.

People will understand the source is such and someone would naturally ask/post a translated edition from Google and so on. This is the normal course of response and action that I've seen take place on the forums.

Be that the case as it may be, what if one day people start to copy and paste in Tagalog, Malay, Tamil, Thai, German, etc?

My point is, this being an English language forum, all posts (typed or copied) should be in English. If it is in another language, then an English translation should be provided, rather than assuming everyone understands Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc.

 

[SMB388S]

aiyah only can post in bahasa melayu lor since it is our national language

 

[ten_david197]

Problem is when someone who obviously don't understand Mandarin (non-Chinese Singaporeans) or have a poor grasp of written Mandarin and he goes "Untiong, please." - almost automatically he will be criticized for not understanding Mandarin, or being a kantang.

Luckily, there's a few, a very small minority, who are willing to help translate properly, for the benefit of other forummers and share the news aricles posted.

 

[Dragon]

edmw is usually not so friendly and sometimes hostile forum and their unkind comments are usually tolerated and so you have all kinds of problems and issues there all in the name of having fun and freedom of expressions

#sagupoint

This is exactly something we need to address so that EDMW will be more inclusive for all users, and not merely be a playground for a selected cliche of users.

Having fun, freedom of expression, why so serious, etc., at the expense of other users is not something we advocate.

 

[derrickgoh]

Problem is when someone who obviously don't understand Mandarin (non-Chinese Singaporeans) or have a poor grasp of written Mandarin and he goes "Untiong, please." - almost automatically he will be criticized for not understanding Mandarin, or being a kantang.

Luckily, there's a few, a very small minority, who are willing to help translate properly, for the benefit of other forummers and share the news aricles posted.

This is exactly the point. You have people who assume the whole world understands Chinese or MUST understand Chinese. And they post (again it doesn't matter if its typed or copied) stuff in Chinese without bothering to have English translation.

And when people who don't understand Chinese ask for translation they are blasted. Since when was it a pre-requisite for one to understand Chinese before one can post in HWZ? For that matter, when was it a pre-requisite for one to understand Chinese in order to live in Singapore?

Try posting in Tagalog and you will see a swarm of replies saying you are racist for assuming others understand Tagalog. So why is it okay to assume others understand Chinese?

 

[ten_david197]

This is exactly something we need to address so that EDMW will be more inclusive for all users, and not merely be a playground for a selected cliche of users.

Having fun, freedom of expression, why so serious, etc., at the expense of other users is not something we advocate.

I guess perhaps mods and admins can assist by regularly giving friendly reminders, that for the benefit of others, either don't post articles in Mandarin, or help provide translations, in those threads, apart from reminding forummers to be civil and understanding when it comes to these language issues.