Any chance of get LATAM Server?

[Alcyon_Densetsu]

As for the language, it is commonly accepted that for public messages in an international environment, English should be used. It will appear as impolite to, for instance, shout conversations in Spanish. You are better to shout in English to find Spanish speaking players, then group/linkshell/free company to then privately speak the language of your choice.

I agree with the rest of your post, but I don't agree with this bit.

If the servers are international, then all languages should be tolerated and actually welcomed. Granted, english is the most used because it's common practice in general (travel, business, etc.), but it should certainly not appear as "impolite" to speak in your own language on an international server. You will probably get less answers if you speak in french or german or whatever else, but that's it. No harm done.

There are two obvious reasons that justify my opinion:
- English isn't the official world language. It's just one of the most common.
- Not everyone speaks english. No one should feel ashamed by that, and everyone has the right to try to communicate in a social game.

This is one of these examples when the majority should not impose itself over the rest, and should be tolerant.
No country, no language has the right to claim ownership of, or precedence over international environments.

[LloydShade]

If the servers are international, then all languages should be tolerated and actually welcomed.

There is a difference between welcoming a language and imposing your language over the other players who possibly don't speak it.

As in my example, spamming the shout channel with a conversation is already, in my opinion, impolite to the other players that legitimately require to use said channel. Spamming shout channel in a language that a lot of players don't speak will be considered even more impolite. This will quite possibly lead to being ignored or receive negative comments. This is because by using the shout channel, you are in fact writing to everyone in the zone, therefore "talking" to everyone. Since not everyone will understand you, you will as a matter of fact either impose your language on someone that doesn't want it. This is were it gets impolite.

Since in North America, it's rather rare to find someone who can't speak English at all in a video game, it's general practice to use English as a common language in those servers. On the other hand, I'm not saying any other language should be banned. You should just be careful when you know EVERYONE will receive your message. This is called being polite.

For those who don't speak neither English, neither any of the officially supported languages (French, German or Japanese), well maybe they should wait until their language is supported as they wouldn't understand a thing in a text-based RPG. For those still learning English, well this is an opportunity to learn and practice. There is no better practice than when you really need to use the language and tools such as Google translate exists to ease learning.

On the other hand, when playing/talking among friends you are free to use any language you want. It would only be impolite in this situation to speak a language you know none of your friends speak.

[Alcyon_Densetsu]

This is an issue I'm rather passionated about, so please bear with me as I respond point by point.
Argh, this got very long, sorry. TL;DR at the end.

There is a difference between welcoming a language and imposing your language over the other players who possibly don't speak it.

I agree, but I think this includes english speakers since Shakespeare's isn't the official language any more than others in an international setting (it's just common practice, and more likely to yield results, I agree). As you say,

As in my example, spamming the shout channel with a conversation is already, in my opinion, impolite to the other players that legitimately require to use said channel. Spamming shout channel in a language that a lot of players don't speak will be considered even more impolite.

It's a bit of a digression, since spamming and using several languages are two different things. So yes, spamming is bad, but it is so regardless of the language. I think we can agree on that—spamming being a form of 'imposing' oneself a bit too much to others.

Since in North America, it's rather rare to find someone who can't speak English at all in a video game, it's general practice to use English as a common language in those servers. On the other hand, I'm not saying any other language should be banned. You should just be careful when you know EVERYONE will receive your message. This is called being polite.

[Speaking another language than english] will quite possibly lead to being ignored or receive negative comments. This is because by using the shout channel, you are in fact writing to everyone in the zone, therefore "talking" to everyone. Since not everyone will understand you, you will as a matter of fact either impose your language on someone that doesn't want it. This is were it gets impolite.

Agreed already on some of these points, however using another language than english should not receive negative comments. Speaking english doesn't, it should work both ways.

Please consider this: unless I'm mistaken, there is only one datacenter for the whole of the western world, including Latin America who mostly speaks spanish, a wide latino community in the US, and a non-negligible french-speaking one in Montreal (Quebec), the very city which hosts the server. Therefore, it's my contention that at least these three languages are perfectly acceptable on these servers.

Also, consider EU flagged servers: in Europe there are more than 30 languages. I don't agree that these people should refrain from using the shout channel, provided they, as anyone else (english speakers included), don't spam or 'discuss' too much on these channels. And you may want to include Africa and even the Arab world who might prefer the Canadian datacenter as well (a few people in my FC are europeans who work in Qatar for instance, Germany has a strong community in Turkey as well, etc).

That's international servers! Likewise, the Japanese may have to tolerate english speakers from Australia/NZ, but also korean speakers, Indian, and beyond. I think it's great, and we really should tolerate all these languages. If you actually consider all of this, english might be the most used language, but maybe not the primary first language of most players…

We certainly agree that:

it's general practice to use English as a common language

as I'll emphasise below, and I generally recommend so if it's possible. Also, this is not to say that

any other language should be banned. You should just be careful when you know EVERYONE will receive your message.

I totally agree—no spam, no lengthy discussion, etc. As I stated at the beginning, this applies to everyone, even if it's common practice to tolerate english a bit more since many people do speak it. If anything, it should prompt english speakers to be more tolerant of others, since they benefit from such tolerance themselves, from all other speakers.

For those who don't speak neither English, neither any of the officially supported languages (French, German or Japanese), well maybe they should wait until their language is supported as they wouldn't understand a thing in a text-based RPG.

I flat out disagree
—> Ability to speak ≠ reading comprehension (the former being harder than the latter).

It's not because a game wasn't translated in one's own language that one you should not play these games, right? There's no 'rule' here. I wager games are not often translated in Finnish or Malaysian, yet these people have the right to play, too. I don't want to sound idealistic or bloody-minded about this, so obviously these people need a minimum of understanding if only to read (english, german, french, japanese), but as I said, that is much easier than to write obviously (so they might need to ask a question in their own language, hoping that someone else will answer).

However as you say, that's a good GREAT way—and above all incentive—to learn! Speaking of which:

For those still learning English, well this is an opportunity to learn and practice. There is no better practice than when you really need to use the language and tools such as Google translate exists to ease learning.

You don't realise how pleased I am to hear people say that! I know that's how I learned english: video games (the hard way, I had a dictionary but there was no such thing as the internet back then), movies and TV series. I learned so much more in these media than any school teacher could transmit to me—school/formal training is good to learn the basics such as grammar, but it's far from being the whole story of having a practical, usable understanding of foreign languages.

I'm french, and I relentlessly try to push others around me to learn english, for it's an invaluable means to communicate in this world, and I happen to love the english language (it's sleek, words and expressions have a nice ring to them, few languages manage to be as efficient to precisely nail concepts with intuitive words and constructions… oh well I'm digressing here… sorry ^^). My point was: the french are awfully bad at english, and it is a huge limitation in this globalised world, globalised internet, so I cannot stress enough how I agree with you on learning and practicing whenever it feels useful (language lesson: many would say it's boring; practicing a language in a game or series: so great to realise you actually can get better and enjoy yourself at the same time).

Short story: I totally agree. But (and that's a huge but), it should be a voluntary process, playing games in foreign languages should be an invitation to learn these languages (I started to learn a bit of japanese back in the days for the sole purpose of games, and then for anime to a lesser degree). But the minute you start imposing it on people, they usually, sadly, want out. They close their minds, close the shell, because they've been antagonised, rejected, even mocked; and in a twisted search for comfort and a feeling of security you might hear them actually claim 'I'm bad at foreign languages hahaha I don't care'. When they really should care, and realise that it's really easier than they think because the human brain is essentially wired to instinctively learn a language when it's immersed in a foreign-speaking environment—and virtual worlds are, clearly, the next best thing after actual travelling.

Therefore: I'm all for learning other languages, I really want to stress that out; but in no way should it feel obliged, or even 'polite', in an international gaming setting, for english is far from being the only language in America, and certainly not in Europe. In an ideal world, to me, we'd all speak english in addition to our first language (or even only english, mind you); but that's not reality, and I really think native english speakers should understand that. If english speakers feel offended because some people speak spanish, why should the blame lie on the latter? They could learn spanish too! ^^ Unless there's an official language, which these servers have not (the game being translated is a moot point in my opinion, because it does not legitimately translate—pun intended—into authority of a language group over another).

On the other hand, when playing/talking among friends you are free to use any language you want. It would only be impolite in this situation to speak a language you know none of your friends speak.

Obviously.

TL;DR: Sorry that was long. Feel free to skip half or all of it. We actually agree on the essentials I believe. I just want to say, there's no such thing as a precedence of a language over another, and politeness is about respecting all others (not spamming etc.), which applies to everyone, english speakers included. Coming from someone who LOVES english and would sign today to live in a world where everyone spoke it.