Capital Furs

The idea to make a French-Language Discussion forum has been floating around and I thought I'd break in this new section by getting your input on it.

The forum has seen an increase in French-speaking members, particularly from Gatineau and Montréal. Some aren't 100% comfortable in English and even those who are sometimes may just want to write in their first language. French is my second language, but I personally would relish the ability to practise it in a separate forum.

Now the first problem that I can think of is that some might feel that the forum is being segregated; particularly English-speaking members who don't speak French at all.

A benefit might be that it could be a section to attract people in the region who might be intimidated by an all-English board. They could request translations of event info or the like.

I'm not talking a full-blown forum, just one all-purpose French-language discussion section.

So what do you think? Ideas? Opinions? Let us know.

-------------------------

L’idée de créer une section de discussion en français a été discuté pour un petit bout de temps et j’ai pensé que je pourrais commencer cette section par demander vos opinions sûr ce sujet.

Le forum a vu de plus en plus de membres Français, particulièrement de Gatineau et Montréal. Quelques-unes sont pas 100% confortable en Anglais et même ceux et celles  qui sont confortables veulent écrire en leur première langue de temps en temps. Le Français est ma deuxième langue mais personnellement, j’aimerais bien avoir l’opportunité de le pratiquer dans une section séparée.

Cependant, le premier problème que je peux prédire c’est que certains membres du forum pourraient sentir que le forum va devenir ségrégé; particulièrement les membres anglos qui ne peuvent pas parler Français du tout.

Un bénéfice peut-être que le forum Français peut attirer des gens de la région qui pourraient être intimidés par un forum entièrement en Anglais. Ils pourraient demander des traductions d’information pour des événements et des choses comme ça.

Je ne suggère pas un forum entier, juste une section de discussion polyvalente en Français.

Alors, que pensez-vous? Avez-vous des idées? Des suggestions? Des opinions? Laissez-nous savoir!

I say go for it.

The worst case I see is we will have an all out Franco vs Anglo furry war. The blood and fur shall run in the streets and Drama will reach all new levels of horrror.

Nah.. to be honest, mostly I just seem at worst some sort of mostly friendly rivalry poping up. I see the same thing in Airsoft where we have things like an anual Ontario vs Quebec match.

I say, why not? Clearly anglophones can say that they would rather to express themselves in English because they prefer it. Well same goes for francophones too. To answer those saying that some posts in French would prevent some to read because they don't know the language... Well there are some that can't, or at least have a very hard time understanding English and yet they manage to pull it off so clearly it can be done the other way around.

Also, nothing in the rules states that we are required to post in English, so if I feel I could freely answer in French to any English post. Respect and effort is a two way street and with all the translating tools out there it's not very hard to be able to at least understand what is going on in a post despite the language that was used to write it.

I can't understand people that only want to stick to a single language their entire life. I find it awfully close minded and lazy. Languages are beautiful and to know more than one is proven to help mental abilities. I stand by that everyone should know how to speak fluently at least two languages. It's not hard and it opens up so many opportunities on several different level.

Seriously guys, read each word. I'm not saying that you are lazy and close minded solely on the ground of not knowing another language. I'm saying that the people that STRICTLY REJECT any other languages than their own are lazy, closed minded people. Such like (just as the most blunt example I know) those few Anglophones that tell anyone they hear not speak English "SPEAK WHITE"

Bazaar wrote:I can't understand people that only want to stick to a single language their entire life. I find it awfully close minded and lazy. Languages are beautiful and to know more than one is proven to help mental abilities. I stand by that everyone should know how to speak fluently at least two languages. It's not hard and it opens up so many opportunities on several different level.

Keep in mind Baz that it isn't always a free choice to stick to one language. Personally, I'd love to be able to speak French as well, but frankly after 9 years of taking french classes I just don't have the retention abilities needed to learn it. Some people can pick up languages, others can't, it's not a personal choice and calling it lazy and closeminded is both a dangerous generalization and a little offensive. :P

Just because you didn't find it difficult, doesn't mean it's easy.

As for the french-only section, I'm not against it but I am a little wary of it due to the issues mentioned above... namely the worries that it may start to feel a little segregated as the French furs stick mostly to the french section, and English to the English. I'd say give it a shot though and see how it goes, if problems arise because of it we can deal with them then... IF problems arise. Though I'm sure it wasn't the intent at all, but I'd also make sure people are allowed to post in English there if they want. Translators are nice for sure, but once someone's translated a post, they should be allowed to respond to it in their own language, much like the Francophone furs are welcome to post in French in the current forum sections.

As Baz said, respect is a two way street.

That WAS a bit harsh, Baz. I know plenty of people who never learnt French; not for a lack of trying, but because they don't have any kind of ability with languages.

So a couple of options have come up. The first is that Francophones can post in French on the normal boards. That could cause confusion and people will constantly be asking for translations, but that's an option.

The other is to go ahead with the francophone board. To avoid segregation, when a good topic or idea comes up, myself (or any other bilingual volunteer) could start an English thread and sum up what was being said in the French section. It sounds complicated, but frankly, I wouldn't mind doing it when necessary.

do french and english.

Meer wrote:

Bazaar wrote:I can't understand people that only want to stick to a single language their entire life. I find it awfully close minded and lazy. Languages are beautiful and to know more than one is proven to help mental abilities. I stand by that everyone should know how to speak fluently at least two languages. It's not hard and it opens up so many opportunities on several different level.

Keep in mind Baz that it isn't always a free choice to stick to one language. Personally, I'd love to be able to speak French as well, but frankly after 9 years of taking french classes I just don't have the retention abilities needed to learn it. Some people can pick up languages, others can't, it's not a personal choice and calling it lazy and closeminded is both a dangerous generalization and a little offensive. :P

Just because you didn't find it difficult, doesn't mean it's easy.

As for the french-only section, I'm not against it but I am a little wary of it due to the issues mentioned above... namely the worries that it may start to feel a little segregated as the French furs stick mostly to the french section, and English to the English. I'd say give it a shot though and see how it goes, if problems arise because of it we can deal with them then... IF problems arise. Though I'm sure it wasn't the intent at all, but I'd also make sure people are allowed to post in English there if they want. Translators are nice for sure, but once someone's translated a post, they should be allowed to respond to it in their own language, much like the Francophone furs are welcome to post in French in the current forum sections.

As Baz said, respect is a two way street.

I'm saying that those who purposively stick to one language. Those righteous people yelling out that their language is the one and only language that should be spoken... Like those going around telling people to "speak white" it's those I'm talking about. As long as someone shows openness and actively try to learn another language that's not falling in that category at all.

Also I'm not saying that the second language should be French, any language at all.

Ironklaw wrote:That WAS a bit harsh, Baz. I know plenty of people who never learnt French; not for a lack of trying, but because they don't have any kind of ability with languages.

So a couple of options have come up. The first is that Francophones can post in French on the normal boards. That could cause confusion and people will constantly be asking for translations, but that's an option.

The other is to go ahead with the francophone board. To avoid segregation, when a good topic or idea comes up, myself (or any other bilingual volunteer) could start an English thread and sum up what was being said in the French section. It sounds complicated, but frankly, I wouldn't mind doing it when necessary.

Harsh only because misinterpreted. See my answer to Meer.

Baz: Ahh. I gotcha. But by the same token, if it comes to a point where it's going to be inconvenient, I'm going to keep this as an english-only board (with the occasional deviation, of course, like in Dan Woof's Introduction thread). More French-speaking members on this board speak English than the other way around so it MAY just be easier.

Meer made an interesting point over MSN that is worth considering. There is no rule that says people can't choose to reply in French on the forum and as such, if a French section is created, there will be no rule stating that people can't reply in English to threads posted in French.

This is something to consider when figuring this all out. IF there is a French section and people can understand but not necessarily write well in French, should they be permitted to reply to French threads in English? One solution is that if you're going to post in French in an English section or vice-versa, then at least post a babelfish translation of your post in the appropriate language. I dunno. Seems over-complicated.

Meer wrote:
namely the worries that it may start to feel a little segregated as the French furs stick mostly to the french section, and English to the English.

I don't think it would happen cuz there won't be a full forum in french with sections like events, general, random, etc.  Just a french section, so we can express ourself with more freedom, but I'll still be there in the rest of the treads.   ^^ I mean, I won't miss events just because I don't read the english parts, and I won't create french only meets! THAT would be segregation!