Would you be interested in MAL having multiple languages?

Jun 28, 2009 4:49 PM

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Jul 2008

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Would you be interested in MAL having multiple languages?
Like spanish, portuguese, german, polish, french, italian, czech, russian, tagalog, japanese, chinese, korean...

I have done some prelimenary poll-research in two differnet forums (MAL's main suggestions forum and the Brazil Club's forum) to see if there is any real interest in the idea and there is.

Now I will be conducting this voting booth.

Please remember to read all of the main page before voting or posting comments. This will decrease confusion and mislead ideas.

EtherealMercJun 29, 2009 1:20 PM

Jun 28, 2009 10:28 PM

removed-user

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I think that this is a great idea. I mean.. it would make sense to at least have a Japanese version of the site since it is all Japanese animation afterall.

Jun 29, 2009 1:23 AM

Eruine

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Jul 2008

301

I'm not against it.But if I understood it wel,it is a project for japanese people who aren't registered on MAL and to make anime even more popular by creating MAL in many international languages.It sounds interesting but I've always thought that MAL is a friendly community and I think most people are OK with the site being in English.

Jun 29, 2009 3:49 AM

Gradonil_Ral

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Nov 2007

1420

I seem to be the only person who voted "no"... In that case let me ask you something:
Did you even think this through? Or did you just agreed 'cuz it sounded nice?
I mean it's not the first time that such an idea arises and by "not the first time" I mean that it was denied before.
Now.. let me tell you why:
- MAL is supposed to be place gathering manga/anime fans from around the world. And by gathering I don't mean having here people from multiple nations, who can't even communicate with one another.
What you are trying to achieve is no more than that.
- Of course MAL isn't only communication network - it was created to provide users with informations about manga/anime and give them their lists, which I can agree would be nice to have in several languages. But let's thing about some consequences - multiple languages will put MAL servers under huge stress, having to choose the content to load from a few databases... and what's more (the main problem here):
- How do you even imagine translating all the info form MAL into a few languages? That's just impossible - it would take years. Not to mention, that someone would have to supervise it, which meant that the administration would have to grow like hell - at least 5 people from each foreign language, that MAL would be translated into, would have to join them to be able to check if the info that users are sending in these languages is correct (well, I said 5, but to be honest it would have to be more like 15-30 people for each language)

I can think of more, if you want. But mainly, what's the reason of having a site full of people who are unable to talk one with another?
If it's the pure "info" - where are wikipedias in multiple languages.

ONeoRa is always looking for interesting people to join our ranks.
Visit our forum to apply: http://www.oneora.net

Jun 29, 2009 6:01 AM

Arui

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Jul 2008

119

Gradonil_Ral said:
I seem to be the only person who voted "no"... In that case let me ask you something:
Did you even think this through? Or did you just agreed 'cuz it sounded nice?
I mean it's not the first time that such an idea arises and by "not the first time" I mean that it was denied before.
Now.. let me tell you why:
- MAL is supposed to be place gathering manga/anime fans from around the world. And by gathering I don't mean having here people from multiple nations, who can't even communicate with one another.
What you are trying to achieve is no more than that.
- Of course MAL isn't only communication network - it was created to provide users with informations about manga/anime and give them their lists, which I can agree would be nice to have in several languages. But let's thing about some consequences - multiple languages will put MAL servers under huge stress, having to choose the content to load from a few databases... and what's more (the main problem here):
- How do you even imagine translating all the info form MAL into a few languages? That's just impossible - it would take years. Not to mention, that someone would have to supervise it, which meant that the administration would have to grow like hell - at least 5 people from each foreign language, that MAL would be translated into, would have to join them to be able to check if the info that users are sending in these languages is correct (well, I said 5, but to be honest it would have to be more like 15-30 people for each language)

I can think of more, if you want. But mainly, what's the reason of having a site full of people who are unable to talk one with another?
If it's the pure "info" - where are wikipedias in multiple languages.

i support you, my answer is no too.

Jun 29, 2009 9:50 AM

EtherealMerc

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Jul 2008

361

All in all you have two major fallaices in your thinking...and a lack of knowledge.
Here, let me educate you.

A:
Fallacy:
multiple languages will put MAL servers under huge stress, having to choose the content to load from a few databases
Knowledge:
More servers can be obtained and setup...funds will come from advertizers if more users join. This is how all web companies grow...they obtain more users, they obtain more funding from advertisers and thius they get more servers and ten they get more users...and on and on.

B:
Fallacy:
How do you even imagine translating all the info form MAL into a few languages? That's just impossible - it would take years. Not to mention, that someone would have to supervise it, which meant that the administration would have to grow
Knowledge:
Have you ever wondered how sites like Google, Yahoo, and Wikipedia and in mutilple languages???
There is this thing called translation software that internret compaines to translate the entire sites into other languages. The databaes on such sites like Google, Yahoo, and Wikipedia don't get translated by a large room full of people but rather a smalle room with two or three servers constantly updating the site.

C:
Fallacy:
why it was denied
Knowledge:
The reason they denied the idea is simple economics. Supply and demand.
When demand rises, supply rises. When demand falls, supply falls.
There hasn't been enough demand for the Creator and Crave Media(the owner) to feel justified in making this change. We the uswers on this site have to raise the demand for the change before it will happen.

This is why I created this club abd began polling the idea:
To raises awareness of the idea therefore raising the level of demand for the idea.
To get a consenses of the users on MAL.

Jun 29, 2009 10:58 AM

removed-user

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564084

From what I understand, a lot of the content that's written on this site is just stolen straight from Wikipedia and Anime News Network and so on. So, if that's acceptable for English, then why not for other languages? And, this wouldn't put as much stress on the servers as you think. Textual information is very small. That's how servers can afford to have forums on them, because it's just the same generated code with different text entered into fields in the database.

I see, at least in the case of Japanese, a Japanese version of this site would prove to be a great learning aid. Not only because users can switch to it and learn the vocabulary, but also because it would attract native Japanese people that they can interact with. And, I'm sure this same thing would happen with multiple languages. I mean.. I already see plenty of people's profiles where comments are exchanged in Russian, Spanish, etc. So, why not accomodate them?

I mean, all that really has to happen is a translation of the main templates so that they are in the different languages, and, then just create options for people to write content for the sight in whichever language they are native to. Yes, there will need to be more staff, but you don't think the folks at google complained about "having more staff members" when they decided to go international, do you? Or how about the guys at microsoft? Apple? With Apple, I can watch the same iPod touch tour in any language I want to.

Plus, why not allow for the forums to have different languages to choose from instead of mixing them. That way people know where to go to understand and reply rather than it being like a bag of sands from around the world.

Really, it is a possibility. MAL started from nothing, and so can multiple languages of it. It's just going to take time like that original MAL did.

Jun 29, 2009 11:27 AM

Gradonil_Ral

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Nov 2007

1420

@EtherealMerc:

Are you really comparing MAL to Google, Yahoo and Wikipedia?

MAL is a fan-made community and encyclopedia related to manga and anime, while Google is the most popular websearch in the web - many people think internet=google... I can't even imagine how much money they get from people just using their websearch (from ads implanted there), the same goes to Yahoo, which is simply on a lower level, but still an unimaginable big one. I'm not too sure how it works for wikipedia, though.

As MAL don't have its own ads system it will always get just small part of the money people actually pay for ads, and which I'm pretty sure will never be enough to buy enough servers.
It seems you've been here for a year, though I can't tell how much time do you actually spend here, but no matter what you just had to witness a few server migrations and all the other problems from having too many users.
You're saying that I lack knowledge, but in my opinion you're just being too naive.

ONeoRa is always looking for interesting people to join our ranks.
Visit our forum to apply: http://www.oneora.net

Jun 29, 2009 11:40 AM

EtherealMerc

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Jul 2008

361

@Gradonil_Ral

Yes.
Everything can be compared to everything. Its all about associatation, knowledge, and vision.

MAL is a fan-made community and encyclopedia related to manga and anime, while Google is the most popular websearch in the web - many people think internet=google...
So what???

That's not the point.
The amount of money an advertiser gives to any website in the world is dependent on click traffic. (IE user base).
So assocaite this with your lack of vision:
If MAL had the amount of click traffic that Google has then MAL would be a mult-imillion dollar company like Google.

MAL doesn't have its own ads system because MAL has no need for one right now and this is because MAL doesn't have enough click traffic (user base).

If MAL was in more languages then one and was discovered by mass amounts of people in countries that don't speak english and have a large populace that loves anime, then it would only be feasible that MAL would grow in user base/click traffic.

I don't wish to be in an argument, but yes, you lack knowledge and you also lack the vision that comes from knowledge.

Jun 29, 2009 12:25 PM

#10

vault2049

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Dec 2008

627

Hummm... I just think this would be a great oportunity for all around the world-users to join the community. Of course it's going to cost money and a lot effort (even with this "translating software.")

I'm good myself with english, so I can't complain, but let's think about the people who don't have a wide english knowlegde here. Where are they going to discuss in 95%+ forum english writen system?

This is ironic: I just joined the MAL Rewrite Club that haves as primary objective to get rid of all the Wikipedia and overall copy-paste content. So I'm like hindering this "International MAL" project???

Anyway I'll vote "yes" because I just want to see this great community grow. Probably I'm not aware of the difficulties it may take, I lack understanding or I'm too naive as well...

Jun 29, 2009 1:18 PM

#11

EtherealMerc

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Jul 2008

361

@vault2049

Never forget vault2049, success requires effort and change.

To answer your question: no.
Being a part of the MAL rewrite is not going to hinder having all of it translated.

EtherealMercJun 29, 2009 1:22 PM

Jul 27, 2009 5:54 AM

#12

Kotori

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Jul 2007

3743

This is a stupid idea. If anything.. maybe Japanese, for obvious reasons. There's no need for 895347589934 useless languages, English should be, and IS, enough for everyone. Wasting time and resources that can be put in other needed areas is absolutely retarded. I hate Anime dubs, I hate movie dubs, I hate videogames being delayed in Europe because of stupid translations (which suck anyway). I completely disagree with this idea.

MAL Updater, Anime/Manga tracker to manage your lists

Dec 23, 2009 8:59 AM

#13

orphaned

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Oct 2009

Kotori is right. I am against translation too.

Also, think of Wikipedia, people! That is a project that runs for quite some years now and it still doesnt have all the english pages translated even if the whole site is accessed by milions of people every day and THOUSANDS of different language speakers.

I can't stand the darn fact that there would be a romanian version of MAL with partially written character bio's and anime/manga info. >_<

Japanease translation would be ok. (we ARE speaking about anime and manga after all...)

Jun 5, 2010 12:05 AM

#14

Jewel-chan

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Dec 2009

238

no no no no no no no no no ... I don't like this Idea .. I'm 100% against it .. I'm actually from the Middle East and it will be easier for me to write in Arabic BUT we all know that English is an international Language that almost everyone in the world can speak and understand ..

so if MAL turned into a multiple languages website .. it will be harder for ppl from different countries to communicate and become friends or join clubs that they don't understand or whatever .. so I say NO .. NO .. NO .. NOOOO