Do Japanese have a problem with us?

[Zatias]

I use the auto-translate function politely. If a Japanese player asks me something (or any player for that matter), I am sure to respond in a nice manner. But the other way around? Maybe about 10% of them reply ; ; But as soon as I see another talk to them in Japanese, there's an instant reply... Is there a button that allows Japanese players to blacklist all English-speaking people?

I love that this is a game where people of different corners of the world can enjoy together, but why do a lot of the Japanese seem to have such a problem with us English-speakers?

Maybe this isn't appropriate, but it really bugs me sometimes. A lot of us are extending our hands out to be nice, and we mostly get ignored ; ; Sorry if this is inappropriate again; I know not all Japanese are like this, but the vast majority I run into are.

[Malamasala]

They just feel they are really bad at English, and it would be embarrassing to attempt to talk in that language. I've studied Japanese but I rarely attempt to speak to them since I feel like I'm not good enough to say what I mean. It doesn't help that they write their borrowed words as they sound, not how they are spelled. Like SuTa for Star, meaning they don't really get much help reading Star when they are used to read SuTa.

The auto-translator is also pretty stiff for asking typical endgame questions. Like "How many more NMs is your group planning to pop?" "Would it be ok if we took turns popping NMs?" and so on.

[Zatias]

That is true I guess. The auto-trans is pretty meh for stuff like that, which is why I use "@?" when asking how many NMs they have left to pop, and "Team Up?" if they have a lot remaining. Still scarce on the replies, however It's not THAT hard to type a number or reply with "No thanks."

But yes I agree, they do need to expand the auto-translate as of late, hell we don't even have "Abyssea" in auto-trans yet! XD

[Glamdring]

this isn't an excuse to bring back the PS2 complaint is it? Because even SE said the Auto-Translate could not be expanded due to PS2 limitations.

As to the other issues, possible JP players don't have an Arabic keyboard, too. (Yes, our Alphabet letters are called Arabic). I certainly don't have a Kanji one and I'm hoping to study Japanese when I have a little extra money for classes.

And the point about them being ashamed of their English proficiency, dead on. Shame is an extremely important matter to the japanese and their sense of honor. If we correct them or crack a joke at a mistake it's just playing to us, but to some of them it is a very serious issue. Maybe we both need some sensitivity training, us to curb insensitivity, them to not be so sensitive, I don't know. You're dealing with a cultural gap, American humor doesn't translate well to Japanese, and vice-versa. Our humor is seen as coarse and disrespectful, theirs as stilted and abstract. There are many other issues as well.

They do love american markets and american dollars though.

[Juilan]

i never have issues with JPs ... and i'm an english speaker person, although i do talk to them in japanese, just wish it was as easy to talk in japanese on this as it is in 14, but they also seem to like french.

@Glamdring not arabic, Phoenician at best, our words are greko-roman not arabic, our numbers are indian/arabic though (since they were exported by the rhagput)

also with the correction thing, none of my friends have seen an issue with it, they actually ask me to help them tune it... which is ironic since they know i understand their language too

[Myokoji]

Hmm, I sort of see what the OP is saying, and I agree that they may feel they're not able to respond in a useful way due to limitations.

Also some people misuse the auto-translate, for example using "All Right!" as a phrase for "Understood." Especially British people since we don't use that phrase much, except for saying "OK". In English 'all right' has a few meanings, in Japanese it just means great or woohoo or whatever. So I've seen some JPs get confused by it. And also [head] [north] is another...

Even those of us that can use Japanese, we cannot communicate because the client restricts us from typing Kanji >.<; Which I know will never get changed.

[SNK]

This might be a good read if you're curious as to how some JPs feel about things.

http://www.jpbutton.com/?page_id=742

[Olor]

not on topic but we use a Latin script and Arabic numerals

[Greatguardian]

There are also just as many JP players who would say "LolNA, speak JP or gtfo" as there are NA players who would say "LolJP, speak American or gtfo". Real talk.

[Romanova]

OP is doing the right thing and some of that is as others said that they are simply embarrassed by their lack of English.

As GG also said there are jerks on both sides of the fence so take that for what you will.

They do greatly appreciate when you try and use some phrases in japanese because it shows you're making the effort. I actually transferred to ragnarok a while back, and I was shocked by the amount of JP that get excited when I use "yoroshiku" or "omedeto", and rarely see any other english-speakers use it. I guess hades got something right as that was pretty much standard there lol

just keep doing what you're doing and you'll see the nice JP outweigh the jerks.


[edit] also elmer made a list of some usefull phrases if people wanted to take a look:

http://www.jpbutton.com/?page_id=733