Language Barrier - Etiquette and Assumptions

[kander 80]

I have seen a few posts on the forums about the language barrier, and in particular as part of the argument:

- Poster: "My murder was justified becuase I asked him several times if he was friendly and got no response"

- Reply: "It was not justified because what if the victim didn't speak English and couldn't understand you".

I thought I'd give my opinions, hopefully spark a debate and try to establish a rule of thumb (see below)

The way I see it:

I'm British, so I like to play on UK servers, but I speak French and also sometimes play on French because I can make myself understood,I also play on German and Dutch servers because they are very likely to speak English,

When I'm on English speaking servers, I feel I have to assume everyone else on these servers can speak English too. I know there are plenty of folk who come from smaller countries who are unlikely to have their language represented in DayZ servers, and may end up on UK servers, but that is an unfortunate reality reflected in world politics and economics anyway.

HOWEVER this doesn't just work for me, but also 'against': When I'm on a foreign language server, I always assume nobody can understand me. Even Dutch servers, though most Dutch speak perfect English. I'm on their server, I think it's a fair assumption is that I communicate in their language. If I challenge someone in English on a Spanish server for example I would give them much more leeway for not replying as I would on a UK server - even if this means they often get the first shot away. If I'm on a French server I use French first and English second.

I think by communicating in 'server language' and assuming that everyone else is doing so also is the best way to end the argument that you shouldn't kill even if no response is received just because that person might not speak your language.. but I'd be interested to hear all y'all thoughts.

Edited August 17, 2012 by kander

[belesis 14]

Never really thought about it that way before. I only frequent US or Australian servers but I see your point.

[kreatura (DayZ) 27]

this is interesting but lets be honest here the majority of people who do not speak english as their predominate language are going to understand basic english anyway especially europeans. when i went to germany even though i speak basic german people could always tell i wasnt really german and just spoke english to me anyway haha.

[Bobcomss 189]

I only play UK or Dutch servers and have had this problem a few times, personally I give around 5-10 seconds for a response from shouting friendlily if no response I either leave or shoot if they seen me :)

Good point though but that's the state of online play meeting random people :)

AJ

[grezvany13 56]

I see the problem, although I always assume some speaks either English or the language of the server (eg. Dutch on a Dutch server, German on a German server, etc)

Since I'm Dutch I usually play on NL servers (for ping and stabilty) and I found out that the rest of Europe also go to these servers for the same reasons. However those don't always speak Dutch (which is ok) or English, but only talk/type in their native language like it's "normal".

Beside Dutch (native language) and English (sufficient) I also speak some German (terrible btw), but that doesn't mean I always speak Dutch just because I don't like other languages...

So solutions:

- always speak English on public servers (or anywhere on the internet), unless otherwise stated

- only play on servers in your own country or countries with the same language

- give servers admins the possibility to set server rules like languages and give the the power to kick players who don't follow these rules

"English is the language of the internet, so either learn it or stay of the internet"

[BL1P 252]

My favorite is the message some admins place in the servers join messages.

For example.

"Please only use English on this server"

If they cant speak or read English how can they understand the message :)

[sofaplayer@hotmail.com 22]

I say AMIGO! and everybody seems to understand. I think they associate it with tequila or something.

[joeoblong@yahoo.com 614]

"English is the language of the internet, so either learn it or stay of the internet"

01001110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01110100 01110010 01110101 01100101

Edited August 17, 2012 by Pendragon

[sonicrainbrony 136]

"English is the language of the internet, so either learn it or stay of the internet"

01001110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01110100 01110010 01110101 01100101

Stay out of the internet*

Also, have some beans.

[Stworca 87]

Does that all really matter? In the end, regardless of whether the other player speaks English, Dutch or Swahili, they will be shooting at you.

The most ridiculous thing of all i've seen so far was a "Speak English or be banned" server. Mmmkay.. But nobody actually TALKS in this game. They just hurl bullets at you, with their bullet hurling devices.

Not a single bloody server i was on had a single bloody friendly. The only guy who actually USED a mic, ever, just randomly shouted "Hey mate" before he wasted a random newbie in the market at Elektro.

Edited August 17, 2012 by Stworca

[enforcer1975 1111]

Does that all really matter? In the end, regardless of whether the other player speaks English, Dutch or Swahili, they will be shooting at you.

The most ridiculous thing of all i've seen so far was a "Speak English or be banned" server. Mmmkay.. But nobody actually TALKS in this game. They just hurl bullets at you, with their bullet hurling devices.

Not a single bloody server i was on had a single bloody friendly. The only guy who actually USED a mic, ever, just randomly shouted "Hey mate" before he wasted a random newbie in the market at Elektro.

That's also true in most cases, at least from my viewpoint. But sharing a language can defuse some situations like we had when we met a survivor who spoke our language. Part of the group wanted him to tag along but keep a couple of eyes on him to be sure. The others didn't want him in because he asked to many questions so in the end we went seperate ways and he and our group found a helicrash. We went there to to see how he got eaten by Zs because he was there first and agroed every single one. We rescued him only to be shot at by our rescued person after he woke up...bang he died. In the end the language didn't really matter because the player was an asshole pk.

[OrLoK 16185]

Hello there

Do not forget that some folk, for whatever reason are not able to use a mic, hence the waggle/qeqe employed by many.

Lowering of rifles is also helpful.

Rgds

LoK

[enforcer1975 1111]

Hello there

Do not forget that some folk, for whatever reason are not able to use a mic, hence the waggle/qeqe employed by many.

Lowering of rifles is also helpful.

Rgds

LoK

We are iving in the age of VOIP. If you havy the money to get a decent rig then you should have the extra 5 bucks to get a mic. Especially for a game where interaction via voice is desired/forced.

[bonasera 17]

I looked up how to say "friendly" in a handful of languages for the servers that I frequently see: Spanish, French, German, etc. Then there's no excuse, it's just murder.

[tommes 331]

My language of choice is Russian...AK-74 bullets. Pretty much universal.