Something for everyone to think about and give some input on...

[MadmaN]

Even though I still am uncertain about my future being here after next wed.....at the same time I still want to help expand BB and make changes that everyone approves of to see where we can go since we have the potential to get larger then the GTA Community.

I have been turning over some ideas in my head for some time now and figured I would see what everyone else here thinks and pretty much go from there.

My ideas are simple. Due to the increasing popularity of the modding section and the fact that we get people from all over the world posting here. I was thinking about seeing if we could start making new sections on the forum that basicly mirror the modding section totally...same forums and categories....but be for providing support to people in their home languages.

For example....we get quite a few modders from brazil/south america where Portuguese  seems to be a primary language. Plus we get some modders from japan....some probably from russia....some from germany.....etc. We also have some modders who primarily speak spanish and I figure that due to the language barriers we tend to get here when it comes to new modders asking for help.....maybe it is time to consider having help sections geared towards specific languages too which might help a great deal and maybe expand things for us here.

I know some of us ...modders and non-modders alike are able to speak read and write more then one language and I believe it is doable to attempt this and maybe even some non-modders can provide some help with this by simply translating some posts written by say a modder with everything needed....pm the translated post to the modder who then can post it....etc. Maybe go from there.

What do you all think about this? Since I feel it is time to start considering this seriously.

I myself can speak read and write german, some japanese (kanji primarily but learning hiregana and katakana) and attempting to learn finnish (bit difficult).

Online translation services are sketchy at best and usually don't do the best job so it makes the person even harder to understand.....so please post below and let me know what you think about this idea.....IF everyone is pretty much all for attempting this, I can create and sort out the forums side of everything and put this into action so implementing it is no problem....but actually making this work depends on everyone else and primarily those that think we should give this a try.

[Bigfoot]

Wouldn't this be accomplished by simply adding in a "foreign languages" sub-board in the modding section?

[Hayley]

With how small this place is (compared to other boards I've seen), and since I've always assumed that non-English speaking members don't pop up too often, I didn't think this was an "issue" since combining the two previously stated remarks gives me a very small number.

Regardless, I wouldn't mind a section for these people (though it would not be an area I would go in).

I think, if this were to happen, it would be best to simply start off with a "general foreign language section" and only add specifics when that particular language has a lot of speakers/topics. It wouldn't make much sense to make numerous sub-categories right away and subsequently have the Turkish section have 0 topics, the Spanish section have 14 topics, the Italian section have 5, Dutch have 1... and etc.

sectionsectionsectionsectionsectionsection...

The downside to this idea is the "general foreign language section" might get a little confusing with all the different languages stuffed in it. Perhaps we could have some new "message icons" so topics can tell us which language the thread is... or have the OPs just state in the topic title which language the thread will be ("[Español] Cómo...").

[Evolution]

This was actually done a while back with the whole "Spanish Section" thing, but it quickly got buried. Of course, the first language to do IMO is definitely Spanish/Portuguese, as those are mainly the main "foreign" languages. 

[BloodChuckZ]

I'd rather something like this be confined to the Modding Area only. 
I can just understand American and most forms of English.

Down side would be, if someone gets in an argument or bashing, how would we know ?

[Mohamed The Kowalski]

I agree with Hayley on everything she said, I myself think the foreign languages section would be very good. I disagree with Hayley although that the section would get confused with a lot of languages, as I don't think that section would have a lot of topics in the first place as the number for foreign people on here is not that much big. Also, if the topic title is written in the foreign language, I don't think it would be confusing.

As for Chuck, I don't really find it a problem about arguments and such. We can hire trusted people to watch topics in languages they are fluent in. For example, SWEGTA and Mick3mouse can watch topics in Swedish language.(I don't know if there is a language like this, correct me if I'm wrong), the Brazilian people on here can watch Portugese topics, C00l can watch Hebrew topics, Red and I  can watch Arabic topics, and so on.

Actually, it won't be a problem for us to watch these topics as I think there won't be that much posting in them, and they won't really take that much time to see and translate, and maybe we can even help people by posting there. It'll be like moderating these topics, everyone moderates topics in his own language, and I actually think the arguments there will be once in a blue moon considering the amount of people that post there in the first place.

Also, I don't think that we should do so many sub sections, Madman, as this will diverse the board, and actually, as Hayley said, we're not sure that there'll be people posting in them, so I think one sub section which is "The foreign language section" would be a better idea to do, and I actually encourage you to do it as it may be helpful, and if it isn't we'll just delete the sub section, so let's try it, we don't have anything to lose!

[Hayley]

Wouldn't this be accomplished by simply adding in a "foreign languages" sub-board in the modding section?

I'd rather something like this be confined to the Modding Area only. 

I'm gonna have to agree with these guys and meant to echo Bigfoot in my last post.

Since your post, Mad, is primarily about modding, and I am aware of the "sorry I'm not good at English" posts there, it would make sense to have this proposed idea together with the modding section. Honestly, how many (and I'm talking "truly don't know any other languages and don't bother trying to translate") French, etc. speaking members have tried to hang out with us in the general discussion or discuss their opinions about things in the Bully discussion? I don't think B-B is ready to have numerous categories for these people just yet as there are simply not enough members here (and not enough that care about more than just modding).

But if I'm reading this:

[...] mirror the modding section totally...same forums and categories....but be for providing support to people in their home languages.

correctly, you meant it would stick with the modding area anyway sooo... my last few comments don't matter.

I disagree with Hayley although that the section would get confused with a lot of languages, as I don't think that section would have a lot of topics in the first place as the number for foreign people on here is not that much big. Also, if the topic title is written in the foreign language, I don't think it would be confusing.

I was thinking in the long-term when we do get more and more members, but still not quite enough to start making sub-categories I guess.

As for being confusing, I meant people who don't know many languages (or any other) could take a look at the section and think, "Oh man, what is going on here?" I know if I were to take a look (and assuming it gets more attention then I think it will) I'd have to find a translator to figure out which languages all the topics are.
I feel like I'm not exactly stating my point but I'm not sure how else to put it...

I do agree with Mo though. I'm not convinced a section for non-English speakers would be insanely popular, but I'm still not against having one. It's just something I personally wouldn't bother with since I don't understand a lick of any other language.

[Mohamed The Kowalski]

I was talking about a sub section in the modding forums, I totally agree with Hayley on the fact that this sub forum should be dedicated to modding ONLY, as this really isn't the aim of this idea. I think the main reason Madman wants to do this is to help modders and people who speak foreign languages and can't speak English fluently. I know that the section won't be that much important, but it may at least help some people, which I really want to thank and clap my hands for Madman about as he proves to me everyday that his main purpose is helping anyone who needs help.

[MadmaN]

This is just for the modding section only and I will post when I get the chance a diagram of what I was thinking of since if done just right....this could really work for us and draw more people in....as well as give a much easier way to help them providing a few members who can speak more then one language are willing to help out a little bit since even I can't do this alone.....I know I have a lot of talents....but I am NOT this good....rofl.

I prefer something that is more organized rather then just a single forum created like....french speakers here....or spanish speakers here...etc. That is just too confusing and too generalized and would make it much harder for those non english speakers to find what they want. Not to mention it would not be fair to them to have a real tiny section just for modding that is not organized where we english speakers get everything all nice and pretty......

I did this on my clan forums way back and it proved to be successful then....but then I also had a lot of people willing to help out with this too...and quite a few were not even members of my clan but good friends nontheless who were willing to help here and there as they found time and so forth.

Besides...I also think this could be a bit of fun to try out...hehehe.

Best way to see if this would even be feasible is to create say...for now just a spanish area in the modding section that mirrors the modding section as far as the main categories goes....and give it say a month trial run and if it attracts activity....then consider adding other languages one at a time as we can find people willing to help run those sections....kinda as staff helpers without actually being part of the staff or having any of the staff privilages.

[Bigfoot]

This is just an idea, but I think it could well work out.

If a foreign languages section of the modding board is opened up, surely it would be possible to set up the topic image to have a flag representing the language within the topic?

Simplest way would be to "enforce" setting an image so that the user picks the language himself.  Alternatively, I'm guessing it should be possible to set up a macro so that it reads the first couple of sentences of text within the topic and refers to something like Google Translate to find out the language - then changes the topic title include the language.

[Mohamed The Kowalski]

or maybe just ask any user who would make a topic there to write the title of the topic in his language?

[MadmaN]

This is just an idea, but I think it could well work out.

If a foreign languages section of the modding board is opened up, surely it would be possible to set up the topic image to have a flag representing the language within the topic?

Simplest way would be to "enforce" setting an image so that the user picks the language himself.  Alternatively, I'm guessing it should be possible to set up a macro so that it reads the first couple of sentences of text within the topic and refers to something like Google Translate to find out the language - then changes the topic title include the language.

That is actually very doable...but AJ would be the one to ask about that since he is the one who does all coding and adding on to the forums.....I sadly cannot unless he allows me one day to do so. Still kinda hoping but not gonna hold my breath on that one....lol. It is still his decision in the end anyways and I respect any decision he makes out of my loyalty to the forum and to the staff.

I have some more things to post about this which I will try to get around to in the next day or three and basicly outline exactly what I would like to try out as this part I can simply do myself in the admin panel without any problems.

[Bellic19]

if there was an Auld Scots section I'd be happy to help as it is our old language and a lot of people still speak it and I know how to speak Auld Scots. I just don't know how many Scottish bully fans/modders there are

[Bigfoot]

Ye hiv the wan right here the noo ye ken...

(Translation for those who don't read Scots : "You have one right here just now, you know")

[Evolution]

Would be totally unnecessary considering that most, if not all, of the Scots here speak English. The point is for a section or a few topics that relate to languages such as Spanish for the non-English speakers.