Are you a native Chinese speaker

[imron]

No, voting is still open, however newly registered members don't have voting permissions. Anyway, you should now be able to vote.

[Hero Doug]

My impression is that non-native speakers / learners of the Chinese language dominate this website and they care little about native speakers here.

I'm not sure what you're thinking but I guess that you feel something is missing and you can't put your finger on it. It could just be the way words come across on the internet (ie, without emotions).

As an example I was going to write "I honestly don't know what you're thinking" but decided not to write it because I thought maybe it would come across as rude. People on the internet don't come across as nice as they are in real life (the lack of emotion).

Maybe it's (the reason you feel we don't care) the way many westerns show gratitude. I've once come across a situation where my wife felt my friend didn't show her proper gratitude while he thought he showed more then enough.

Whatever it is I hope we can bring it to light and fix it.

Perhaps it would be possible to have a 'Chinese only' forum section' date=' where people write in Characters?

Woodpecker, there's a 中國角 that is exactly that.

This is more for practising though. I know what it's like to be in an environment where you have to severly tone down your English (or whatever language you're using) to be able to communicate. It can definatley hamper a good conversation.

[Han-tiger]

Originally Posted by Skylee

My impression is that non-native speakers / learners of the Chinese language dominate this website and they care little about native speakers here.

It is clear that Skylee is not one of those native speakers. This thread has a much broader application than someone thought.

[semantic nuance]

Any post from a native Chinese speaker presupposes her/his proficiency in English language' date=' which virtually makes lots of native speakers excluded from this forum.

Another reason is that there are quite a few expats in this forum, who have probably lived in China for three, four, five, or even more yeas. They have a good understanding of Chinese language, Culture, locals, and almost everything about China. Their post is quite easily understood, and more reliable to many new comers from western countries.

[/quote']

Is it possible that native speakers of Chinese who cannot have a good command of English can post their opinions in Chinese here? Then those expats as Han-tiger said can help translate opinions into English for western learners to better understand the ideas?

I've been thinking about this. Many friends of mine are very very good at Chinese, but they cannot come here to help because of the language barrier. I myself sometimes find it difficult to explain clearly in English and eventually drop the idea to answer questions. If it is feasible, probably there will be more people to come here to help without worrying if their English is not good enough.

Edited July 18, 2009 at 07:13 AM by semantic nuance

[renzhe]

I, for one, think that this forum wouldn't be half as good without the input of native speakers.

There are many really advanced learners here with loads of knowledge, but nothing can replace the insight of a group of motivated native speakers.

I don't know why anyone would "care little" for that.

[atitarev]

What's the point of discussing the Chinese language and culture if you can't have native speakers' opinion? Of course, I appreciate their presence and we need more, perhaps some forum sections with teaching English to Chinese speakers would help attract more natives and help them to help us?

I agree at present, this forum is dominated by non-natives because it is an English speaking site. Its purpose would be perhaps different if it was dominated by native Chinese speakers (e.g. learning English).

I actually found in some instances (e.g. in Slavic language forums) too many native speakers don't agree on something and you get confused with the answer to your question. It's like asking 2 Chinese speakers again, which system is better - simplified or traditional - the answer would depend on where the person is from or what is correct - 番茄 or 西红柿 (cf. tomato - "toma:to" (British) or "tomeyto" (American))

I am not suggesting it would happen here but then IMHO, a credit or rating system is a possible answer.

[renzhe]

What's the point of discussing the Chinese language and culture if you can't have native speakers' opinion? Of course, I appreciate their presence and we need more, perhaps some forum sections with teaching English to Chinese speakers would help attract more natives and help them to help us?

Great idea.

It would make me feel more useful around here, that's for sure

[imron]

Is it possible that native speakers of Chinese who cannot have a good command of English can post their opions in Chinese here?

There is always the 中文角, which doesn't really seem to get much use - although recently there have been a couple of decent threads there. If you have native speaker friends who are worried about their English level, that could be a good place to start.

[semantic nuance]

There is always the 中文角, which doesn't really seem to get much use - although recently there have been a couple of decent threads there. If you have native speaker friends who are worried about their English level, that could be a good place to start.

中文角 is not open to any forum member. You'll have to answer quite a few to be able to read or post there. If those who are really good at Chinese but not at English want to help, they have to become members first, don't they? If they can someday start their threads or post their opinions there, they'll have to answer questions in English first, won't they? kind of catch-22, don't you think?

[skylee]

中文角 is not open to any forum member.

Is that so? I think the only requirement is being a member, which is the same requirment for posting on any forum of this website. I don't know that a member has to first post some replies to qualify to post in 中文角.

[atitarev]

There are some downloadable forum versions where you can switch the language in the preferences. Not suggesting it here, after so much work has been put into chinese-forums.com.

Maybe the links and instructions could be duplicated and shown in both English and Chinese? If the titles and the main web pages included Chinese keywords, then search engines would bring more native speakers here.

[imron]

I don't think there's anything special about 中文角, and new members should be able to post there, assuming they have completed the registration process successfully. This means not just signing up, but also clicking on the link in the registration email.

In addition, all posts by new members are moderated to prevent spam and the like, so it might take anywhere from 1 minute to 24 hours before the post appears, depending on when an admin gets a chance to look at the moderation queue. After a new member has made a few posts and it can be seen that they are not someone just trying to spam the forums, then they are made a normal member and their posts will appear directly.

Regarding post moderation, single-line posts from new members that add nothing to the thread are usually just deleted, for example, just saying "I agree", or repeating something that is exactly the same as a previous reply (e.g. the definition of a word or term). Single line language exchange requests are also deleted. All the above points apply regardless of the language used.

Another common mistake that some new members make is to use the "report post" button instead of the "post reply" button. This often happens by people who have signed up, but not clicked the registration link in the email and so the post reply button isn't yet visible. Clicking on the "report post" button will just send a message to the admin and we have no practical way to make this appear as a post in the original thread under the member's name.

So, in summary, new users should

1) Make sure they fully complete the registration process (including clicking on the link in the email).

2) Make posts/new threads with content that contributes to the discussion, rather than just adding one-liners repeating what has already been said.

3) Have patience until their post appears (which might be up to 24 hours).

If for some reason a post still hasn't appeared after that time, then it has probably not made it past the moderation stage. If this has happened the member can always send a message to the admin asking why.

[atitarev]

This is what I meant (not for all but for Chinese speakers who prefer to use Chinese or have difficulties with English), it's a Google auto-translation :

[imron]

中文角 is not open to any forum member. You'll have to answer quite a few to be able to read or post there

After further investigation, it would seem that Semantic Nuance was correct. Previously, 中文角 was only visible to full members and not newly registered members or guests. This has been now been changed so that new members are also able to view and post there (keeping in mind that the above mentioned moderation rules still apply). It is still hidden from guests, in order to reduce the amount of randoms just popping in to say 你好 and then disappearing, never to be seen again.

[semantic nuance]

Previously, 中文角 was only visible to full members and not newly registered members or guests. This has been now been changed so that new members are also able to view and post there (keeping in mind that the above mentioned moderation rules still apply).

When did this rule change? Anyway, it's good to know that more people can help answer questions now.

[imron]

When did this rule change?

About 2 minutes before I made that post Just remember to tell your friends not to go through and add an answer to every post asking for the meaning of some word. This happens from time to time with a new user going through and making dozens of posts to long-dead threads, the majority of which end up simply repeating previous answers, and never make it past moderation.

[gougou]

Anyway, it's good to know that more people can help answer questions now.

Actually, when I look at the most recent posts in the Chinese corner, there doesn't seem to be a lot of language questions discussed there. So while native speakers sure are welcome to participate in the discussions there, the majority of language-related questions will probably still remain outside of the Chinese corner and thus require fairly good knowledge of English (especially when taking into account that the majority of people asking them have only limited Chinese reading capabilities).

[semantic nuance]

So while native speakers sure are welcome to participate in the discussions there, the majority of language-related questions will probably still remain outside of the Chinese corner and thus require fairly good knowledge of English (especially when taking into account that the majority of people asking them have only limited Chinese reading capabilities)

聊勝於無啊!! 不過我覺得中文角好像是對中文能力中上的人有幫助吧! 初級的中文學習者恐怕很難切入及理解吧! 我要說的是: 有些中文為母語的人士, 他們可能在文法上的解釋或見解很棒, 但是侷限於英文能力不足, 所以心有餘而力不足.

Yes, that's why I asked if it is possible to have a translation service.(maybe needless to translate all of the articles but keypoints for Chinese learners to better understand the ideas. I know it requires a lot of work. 中文角 seems to be a place to practice Chinese. 我所說的是中文角畢竟是給學過中文一段時間的人在練習的. 如果有一個可以中英文互譯的機制, 那應該可以造福更多人. 只是我知道這樣做很繁瑣...的確很繁瑣...

[Hero Doug]

A bit off topic, sort of on topic.

There is always the 中文角, which doesn't really seem to get much use - although recently there have been a couple of decent threads there.

I've been thinking of this for a while and I suppose it's time to voice it.

I personally never go into the Chinese corner because I know all the conversations in there are beyond me, so I just don't bother.

Why not do it like a institution. Divide the corner into beginner, intermediate, and advanced. That way the conversation won't be dominated by high level speakers and low level speakers can role play/chat/etc in the forum that best meets their level.

There are definately a lot of pros and cons to this idea, but could be worth a shot.

[gougou]

Divide the corner into beginner, intermediate, and advanced.

To be honest, I wonder whether there is enough interest in that. But feel free to start a thread and mark it as beginners only to test the waters!