I was talking to my friend about this great site couple months ago, and they were excited about this. However, when they visited the site, they just couldn't post anything and barely read due to the language barrier (They are from TW.....and there are a lot of TW people not good at English....).... So.....I thought about it....but couldn't do anything about it...... I wonder if Kwun is planning on making a mirror BC/BF in Chinese/Mandarin language? considering there are lots of Chinese people in the world. I know I am asking too much..........but I just don't know how to help those people who can not understand English well. It will be really good if we could have regional sections where people can post their ideas in their own Languages But I think it will be hard for Kwun to manage all this......it will be very very messy and hard-work for moderators as well.
Not to rain on your parade but I would think it would be tough for the current set of moderators who probably already has more than enough work cut out for them (can be solved by appointing more moderators) but the main thing is that you would exclude a lot of the other BF'ers who wouldn't be able to understand. (I guessed you could say that this forum excludes a lot of the non-English speaking badminton community but it started as an English one). Anyhow, I am thankful for this one as it has drew in a lot of people (of different cultures, ethic backgrounds, etc.) together based on our love of the sport.
I second WWC's opinion. If we start a section for Mandarin forum, then we're obliged to open up to other languages (Korean, German, Bahasa Malaysia, Danish, Thai, Japanese, etc...) as well. It would exclude many other non-Mandarin readers from sharing and communicating in that forum. How about using a translation software like Babelfish? Would that help them contribute to the forum?
I know it's hard and nearly un-doable and lots of work........but I am almost certain if we have multi-language system/sections, the numbers of member will be doubled in no time. I know there are some forums in mainland china (in simplified chinese), however, China is a really closed place for badminton, so the information from there is really limited (except the professionals' news). And it's hard for people outside the china to understand what they are talking about .....etc. So,....It would be nice to have a world forum in Chinese language. I believe, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, MA, Vietnam, TW, and some other countries all have lots of people who can read in Chinese, but not good at English. Yeah, I know it's hard for now, but let's just keep this idea and not put into practical just for now........perhaps we will use it in next of couple years......
You have to very specific about your aims. There is no 'obligation' as such because BC/BF is owned by one person. It's not something people pay for normally. Granted there may be much demand in other languages - it is a challenge that other people may want to take up. e.g. badders.com is one that caters more to the local UK scene. However, if anybody wants to use BC/BF name, it's better to discuss with Kwun. Interesting idea.
Yes, I know, I didn't want to trouble Kwun in any way with all respect, I was just expressing what I saw & heard from people......
Bluejeff, I can understand ur concern, and personally I know a lot of ppl who like badminton, but can't speak english very well. However, I don't think add another section with particular language under this site is a good suggestion, as it will left out tons of our current and upcoming members. Just imagine what u will feel, if u see certain sections got tons of threads, but u can't understand a word? This site is created to use English, and let it be. There's no way a product or a service can satisfy every single person in the world. My suggestion is, use the alternative solution(s), instead of putting additional work on kwun and other moderators: 1. You already know, forums like www.chinabadminton.com and the ones within BBE sports and various clubs also have good information. I agree, some of their layout is kinda lack of management and hard to search, but, still, better than none. 2. If you or some of your friend(s) want to start a site using chinese, I don't mind to participate in the discussion. It might be almost impossible to gather such a great number of wonderful members and knowledge as in BC/BF in 1 shot, but I believe everything has to have a start point...
It will be really great if there is a "real-time" translator just sits right besides the message, and then, people can just view the tranlated Chinese/English right away. It's going to be a huge project......Tons of work. I wonder if any of you seen this kind of software before? Anyway, the idea of having a section in Chinese is certainly do-able, but it just the technology has not yet catched up, and the cost of doing this section will be high, both labor and money. Let 's forget about it then (for now)
For obvious reasons, machine translators are very ineffective, and I hope that that continues to be the case. Their use was discussed in this thread www.badmintonforum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=11846 .
