[ SECRET POST #3674 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3673 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 32 secrets from Secret Submission Post #525.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

01. http://i.imgur.com/dNmsa2h.jpg

[(Anonymous)]

To be fair, online translators like google translate are notoriously bad and so there's no guarantee a tweet using one of those would be any more comprehendible.

[(Anonymous)]

Honestly, it should be that way with every language. Unless you know the person you're talking to is fluent in multiple languages, you should always try to interact with them in their native language.

A lot of people will see a message in a foreign language and typically won't be bothered to respond back, since they'd have to translate it and there's also a chance the translating program will ruin its meaning (ex. instead of saying "I like your hair," the translation turns into "You hairy").

By going the extra mile and translating what you would like to say yourself, it shows respect and you can catch any errors. Hell, you can even say "This is not my native language/I am an English speaker, but I would like to tell you ___" so the reader understands that you at least tried.

[badass_tiger]

idrk if Japanese celebrities would consider it disrespectful (I think plenty are happy to at least know that they have foreign fans), but I don't think those fans are giving their favourite celebrities a hard time. In all probability, if a celeb sees a tweet in a language they don't understand, they just skip over it. I highly doubt they're losing sleep over the fact that they can't understand some random tweets from a few fans of many.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh now, stop it.

For one, Japanese people overall don't have great spoken English ability. But they still study English - it's mandatory - in school since middle school. A reasonably educated adult can read basic English.

And for another, how is the fan supposed to know for sure what they are saying in Japanese is correct? It'd be worse to accidentally offend or type total gibberish.

While it's awesome if fans learn Japanese, or find a Japanese person to translate their message, I seriously doubt Japanese creators are particularly put off by foreign praise.

[(Anonymous)]

It's common knowledge that Japanese aren't good at English.

Holy Sweeping Statements, Batman! I think that's actually enough of an exaggeration to be a little racist, mate. I mean, if the writer has 'I don't speak any English' in their profile, it does seem rather lazy and pointless to message them in English... but quite a lot of Japanese people speak at least a little English.

[(Anonymous)]

This is not limited to English speaking fans. In my fandom, fans do it in all languages: Russian, Spanish, Italian, whatever.

[(Anonymous)]

Another point in addition to what others have said is that a lot of these people might be young fans. Teenagers can be oblivious. As a teen, I asked a Spanish fanfic writer if she could translate her fic into English. Not my proudest moment at all, it makes me cringe now, but I was fifteen and just not thinking.

(Before I get dogpiled, yes, I know it was dumb.)

[(Anonymous)]

Don't use an online translator, because they'll be able to tell you did and they'll probably be offended that you thought your mangled half-assed attempt at Japanese would be easier for them to understand than a simple bit of English.

[(Anonymous)]

Japanese celebrities are waaay more likely to think it's awesome if they have English-speaking (or other foreign) fans. kakkoi ja'n!

[(Anonymous)]

Why only the English-speaking fans?

[nonnymouscawitz]

There is soooo much to unpack with this, but as someone who actually does have a (VERY) limited knowledge of Japanese from several years of study, I'm just going to pick at 'Use google translate!' and 'Anyone can write simple sentences!'

Japanese is HARD, OP. And even if they DO use both a translator and actually look up grammar rules, there are so many homophones, and they're unlikely to get the Kanji right. I totally get telling people not to ask English questions to people who explicitly state they don't speak English, but when the difference between 'iku = To go' and 'iku = to orgasm' is Kanji the fan won't be able to read and POSSIBLY a slight pronuniciation difference (I have never had an opportunity to talk about orgasms with anyone speaking Japanese), 'just google it, it's easy!' is frankly terrible advice.

[(Anonymous)]

A while back I sent a tweet to my favorite manga author. I had seen that he had tweeted back to a few other English-speaking fans, so I figured he had at least some English skills. I kept my message very simple, and added some fan art. He tweeted back and responded to my fan art with some of his own. About the raddest thing that's happened to me ever.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't know what is worse, the "Japanese aren't good at English" generalization, or the "it's not that difficult" bs.

Oh, sure, learning to say "hello," "thank you," or "this is a book" is not hard, but attempting to form a basic sentence in a language with help of an online translator you don't know will only result in gibberish.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, fuck off.

[(Anonymous)]

/shrug I don't think there's anything inappropriate about choosing to communicate in a language you're fluent in rather than a language where you'd have to rely upon translation services. Especially if you are concerned about possible misunderstandings.

[iambecomebees]

To be fair, online translators work much better these days. But they miss nuances especially in japanese and come out sounding rude.

[(Anonymous)]

No one is required to tweet back, especially if they have a good excuse like not understanding the language. Besides, it goes both ways. Creators can't read all the languages their fans write in and not all fans can write in the language(s) a creator can read. Everyone knows this, so therefore I would expect both sides to cut each other some slack and I wouldn't assume fans always expect their tweets to be understood and replied to (but rather just want to express their enjoyment of a thing in whatever way they can) or that creators are bound to find it disrespectful if they can't read a tweet. I'm sure creators with international followings are used to getting some messages they can't fully decipher.

[(Anonymous)]

"It's not that hard, anyone can write basic sentences."

AHAHAHAHAHA.

I mean, I actually agree with the secret at large, but.

/ESL and laughing hysterically

/ESL and still crying myself to sleep some nights over how hard I failed all my second-language classes except English

[(Anonymous)]

IDK, I have people comment on my fanart in all different languages, sometimes it takes me back but I can usually google translate as long as they are using very basic phrases.

I think as long as someone keeps it simple, they should write it in their own language because then it won't be assumed that you know the language you are trying to speak in (yeah there can be hints that someone isn't fluent in a language, but online it's not always easy to tell.)

Constructing sentences can be a bit difficult, but basic words can be shared pretty easily.

[(Anonymous)]

Uh, what?

How is that disrespectful in the least? Would it be more respectful to SUGOIIIIIII =^__________________________________^=;;;;;;;; or KAWAII DESU every goddamn two words because the person believes that will impress the author?

[soldatsasha]

I couldn't disagree more, OP.

a) 'simple sentences' can be way harder than you might think, especially since Japanese has multiple different alphabets, plus Kanji, plus grammar that's totally different from English. I've spoken and written English every day for years and I still get confused about grammar and the alphabet.

b) Most Japanese people aren't good at English? Maybe not, but they study it for years in school and most understand enough to read simple sentences. Especially if they send it through google translate as well for comparison.

c) Most creators probably like receiving messages in other languages, even if they can't really understand much. Again, google translate is an option for the creator, too.

d) Stating they "don't understand English" in their profiles is almost certainly primarily so fans don't have an expectation of getting a message back. I used to include that in my profiles for exactly that reason.

[ketita]

lol no
I "lol no"d so hard I nearly typed it in instead of my username when logging on. This is bullshit.
Either you write in English and they care enough to put it through a translator, and it will mangle it but maybe not too badly and maybe they speak some English.... or you write a bunch of gibberish in Japanese. As people have said above, it's not that easy.

Either way, I don't think there's any call to be offended. If you have fans, be happy, regardless of what language they're communicating in. You'd have to be kind of an ass to get all angry that these people ~dare~ like your precious thing in ~another language~. And this goes for reading other languages, and reading something painfully obviously Google Translated.

[(Anonymous)]

As soon as I read 'It's common knowledge that Japanese aren't good at English' I stopped reading. Quit generalizing and fuck off, OP.

Nice trolling.

[(Anonymous)]

Really. What with the racist statement, the bizarre assertion about online translators, opining about the disrespectfulness of trying to show someone you are a fan of theirs, and throwing in the "forcing". Masterful.