Do Japanese have a problem with us?

[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.

[Alderin]

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.

Speak "American?"...

[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

[BurnNotice]

I have a lot of Japanese friends that I've known for years. Out of a linkshell of 30 ppl, only 4 knew English. I got back a lot of feedback on why most JP players wont "Party", notice the quotation, with most players from different backgrounds. First, it is hard for them to figure out what we are talking about as it is for us. I mean how many of us understand the scribble scrabble in party chats? Secondly, the communication using auto-translate is too frustrating and complex, so to invest time in trying to figure out what others want from you or from them is a pain. Lastly, all that is stated is limited to only party chats. You wont get these kind of responses (at least, not often) from other events.

The Development Team could have implemented a program allowing auto-translation to appear in the language of the player's region or software. I know this almost an impossible due to them having to rewrite somethings, plus cost, and downtime to get this going, and ultimately, the game has come too far to have this kind of development to be implemented.

[Gennadi]

I say we challenge the japanese players to a taco eating contest. First person that eats 20 pounds of tacos are declared the winner. Then they will be required to use the auto translate function from now on.

[Alhanelem]

It's not so much that they don't like you, but given it's only spoken in their country, the Japanese are quite protective of their language. If you can show them you can understand them (which is difficult without using 3rd party tools) they become a lot more open to you.

There are some who do not like foreigners, especially people who were playing the game before it was released in other regions (because Square Enix did not ever announce its intention to do so ahead of time.) But for the most part, it's because Japanese are a private people and they keep to themselves a bit more than we do.

[Avina]

It's not so much that they don't like you, but given it's only spoken in their country, the Japanese are quite protective of their language. If you can show them you can understand them (which is difficult without using 3rd party tools) they become a lot more open to you.

This is really what it gets down to.

It's sort of inherently awkward to talk to someone who doesn't speak the same language as you. Having lived there and speaking the language you find that they are kinda similar in real life as in the game... they sorta will brush past you and not reach out *unless* you reach out to them and speak Japanese. Then its like everything changes, then they want to sit down with you, and get to know you, because, as Alhanelem said, their language is very important to them and they are honored that you've taken the time to actually learn about them.

And yeah, they use standardized QWERTY keyboards, I believe most type things out in Romanji using the Microsoft IME.

[Alhanelem]

No, there are dedicated japanese keyboards- but they can still be made to type Roman characters.

[Starcade]

Yes, they do have a problem with us.

And they well should.