So sick and tired of the language barrier...

[Tziva]

In the US we're surrounded by Canada (who speaks English), and Mexico (who speaks Spanish). That's it.

It doesn't really matter why Americans are have a lower rate of bi/multilingualism, really. Having familiarity and exposure to other languages does not automatically grant one the ability to communicate with everyone. Europeans might have proficiency in more languages on average than North Americans, but that doesn't mean that if a bunch of Hindi-speaking players were dropped into EU groups that affected players would get by on the grace of their superior language exposure, nor does it mean that the appropriate solution is "learn Hindi."

I very much support the idea of everyone know multiple languages, regardless of where one lives. I know two languages and have studied two others on a university level, and I very much wish I had the time and skill to expand that. But issues like this ("I can't talk to some of the people I play a video game with") need to be addressed with practical solutions not philosophical debates.

[yjmark]

I voted "no" because I think that it would really screw over other regions that have significantly less players.

Also, I find it a very very rare occassion when the language barrier becomes an issue. So small that I would not advocate the large negative impact to those regions if they were not combined with servers in regions that speak different languages.

[Deleted]

English EU gets queued up with Spanish, Italian, German, Russian, Portugese

This is a lie. You don't get queued with Spanish, Germans and especially not with Russians. The Italian and Portugese people are playing on English realms. Spain, Germany and especially Russia (who have their own completely seperated battlegroups and stuff) only get queued with you if they are playing on an English server or are in a group with English people who help queue them.

Is that really true? I didn't know that. I play on a German server and so far I have never seen anyone speak any other language, except for some English maybe.

No, it is not true.

Because German Servers aren't Europe Servers(really).

On Europe you can find people from: Poland(like me), Hungarian, England, Netherlands, Spain, Italian and many more.

What is this I don't even. German servers are just as European as French, Spanish and English servers. What you are talking about are the English servers where all the people bunch up who don't have servers on their own. The Spanish btw have their own servers and so do the French.

That was a joke But there are more servers in Europa for different langauges... English speaking, German, Spanish, maybe some more. I am on English server and 95% of the time I get queue with ppl from other English server. But if the system cant find good queue for Germans then it pairs with us.

---------- Post added 2013-02-22 at 08:36 PM ----------



Sorry my bad With Portuguese it's different

Fairly sure it wasn't a joke but blatant racism, also it's plain wrong. Btw the only time you meet people from other "mayor language" servers is as enemies in battlegrounds. You wont queue up with German or French people from their own servers for LFD or LFR unless they are in a group with someone from your servers and said person is queueing both of them.

[docterfreeze]

Hm, an idea just came to me...

Instead of letting players choose their region (Brazil, United States, etc.) they choose their language and are put on a server (or multiple servers) so everyone on that server speak the same language.

[FuxieDK]

Oh FFS I'm so damn sick of hearing this, let me explain WHY this is:

In Europe, pretty much every country speaks its own language. I'm not sure where København is, but I'm going to assume Scandinavia. Just there you border Sweden, Finland, and Norway, which all speak 3 different languages. If you go into the center of Europe, your country could be bordered by 3 other countries that speak different languages.

In the US we're surrounded by Canada (who speaks English), and Mexico (who speaks Spanish). That's it.

See, here is where you fail on your very own geography..
Alaska borders up to Russia, which speaks Russian, which means USA borders Russia. There is actually only TWO POINT FOUR MILES between them,by the Diomedes Islands.
Canada not only speaks English.. A very big part of it speaks (only) French.
Florida is only 80KM (50 Miles for those that don't grasp metric) from Cuba, which is one more reason to learn spanish.

A border isn't just a line in the sand...

[Xeraxis]

Oh FFS I'm so damn sick of hearing this, let me explain WHY this is:

In Europe, pretty much every country speaks its own language. I'm not sure where København is, but I'm going to assume Scandinavia. Just there you border Sweden, Finland, and Norway, which all speak 3 different languages. If you go into the center of Europe, your country could be bordered by 3 other countries that speak different languages.

In the US we're surrounded by Canada (who speaks English), and Mexico (who speaks Spanish). That's it.

Canada actually has two national languages, French and English. And after having several Newfy friends and a few in guilds over the years they may as well have a third language.

[FairLadyz]

I hate the language barrier. It's awful. And because of it there's so many unnecessary wipes and fighting in LFR and heroics. It's really unpleasurable to play anymore.

[Baine]

Meh.. My native tongue is french but I have to deal everyday with english in North American servers. And I don't mind. Why would you be upset with the occasional non english?

[MerinPally]

Depends what mood you're in. When I was really playing I got annoyed at the slightest thing, I stopped and chilled and now I just don't care anymore I end up laughing at it. Get into that mind frame and then try and work with the language, you don't have to be able to speak it to get an idea. Whilst I don't fluently know any language other than english, I know a fair bit of spanish, then some italian and french - enough to work out what's going on with those 3 languages if you don't use abbreviations. That can probably extend to other ones just due to seeing them so much and similarities you find between languages.

I know Americans have more of a problem with this as you don't have so many languages in a similar size area but you can't say that over time at least you can't start to see similarities in what these people are saying in a language you don't understand, and then what they do afterwards? You can get hints at least. If you still struggle then sometimes that's life but at least try - not saying learn the language but have a go.

[Lord Blackmore]

Schools in Europe also teach several languages in all ages, which is a huge difference than in America. It's not the OP's fault your language skills are so vastly superior.

Foreign language education is abysmal in the U.S. For the most part it's taught in High School, only up to 4 years and it's not designed to teach people to actually speak and understand a language. I had 4 years of HS Spanish and while I did ok in the classes, I can't speak Spanish.

At the very least, HS classes should teach people to be proficient at the conversational level.

The other thing is that in most European countries, English isn't the native language. So there's a greater emphasis on ensuring people are also proficient in English, since it's used internationally.

[FairLadyz]

Meh.. My native tongue is french but I have to deal everyday with english in North American servers. And I don't mind. Why would you be upset with the occasional non english?

It's not occasional. 9 times out of 10 I'm the only English speaker in my runs.

[Otimus]

The solution isn't to separate people. The solution is to give far better communication options. Didn't FFXI have some sort of cross-language communication option, for example?

Really, the communication options for WoW are as basic, and simple as possible. They really should get a look at.