Is English not the required language for the title & main body of USMB posts?

[OldLady]

Notice the language used for multiple topics shown on the active topics list.


View attachment 184724

The rules aren't very helpful, since the spammer speaks Chinese.

 

[Ringel05]

Notice the language used for multiple topics shown on the active topics list.


View attachment 184724

Yo no entiendo.........

 

[del]

Notice the language used for multiple topics shown on the active topics list.


View attachment 184724

Yo no entiendo.........

su es mucho malo

 

[Ringel05]

Notice the language used for multiple topics shown on the active topics list.


View attachment 184724

Yo no entiendo.........

su es mucho malo

Que mas hay de nuevo?

 

[Pogo]

Notice the language used for multiple topics shown on the active topics list.


View attachment 184724

Yo no entiendo.........

su es mucho malo

Que mas hay de nuevo?

Quìen es mas macho?

 

[usmbguest5318]

Notice the language used for multiple topics shown on the active topics list.
View attachment 184724

The rules aren't very helpful, since the spammer speaks Chinese.

The spammer would need to be very old or very young, very uncommon, and/or very uneducated to not understand some written English. It's certainly possible that the spammer doesn't speak any measure of English, but it's unlikely.

Given the "mandated one size essentially fits all except those for whom the government says it doesn't" way the PRC manages and delivers education curricula, it's rare for someone to exist in either of the latter two statuses. They're not all fluent, but they'd likely be "functional" enough in English to read the language requirement/instruction on the rules page, as well as being able to read the main page thread title that says "USMB Guidelines for Posting."

It's probably worth noting too that the spammer doesn't need to be Chinese to spam in Mandarin/hanzi, though s/he most likely is Chinese. One never knows, however, with spammers/hackers; subterfuge and chaos is, after all, part and parcel to what they do.

 

[Ringel05]

Notice the language used for multiple topics shown on the active topics list.


View attachment 184724

Yo no entiendo.........

su es mucho malo

Que mas hay de nuevo?

Quìen es mas macho?

Je suis désolé, je ne parle pas espagnol.

 

[Pogo]

Notice the language used for multiple topics shown on the active topics list.


View attachment 184724

Yo no entiendo.........

su es mucho malo

Que mas hay de nuevo?

Quìen es mas macho?

Je suis désolé, je ne parle pas espagnol.

D'accord. Moi non plus.

That's an old SNL skit of the same name. The sketch was done entirely in Spanish but easy enough to follow.

 

[usmbguest5318]

Yes, the Chinese use Roman characters too.

They have PinYin which is the Romanization of their words. It makes it easier for foreigners to learn Chinese and also for kids to learn Chinese phonetically.

It makes it easier for foreigners to learn Chinese

I can attest to that. I have learned but a handful of hanzi, but I can speak "get by" Mandarin and communicate in writing using pinyin, but for business meetings I need a translator.

Chinese people use pinyin for texting and other typing applications. On, say, a phone, they type in pinyin and the phone presents the hanzi options that apply, much like when you or I type text messages and the phone displays a selection of words matching what we've thus far typed, with the most commonly used one being the first on the list. So long as the first "listed word" is the one the user wants, that's what the phone inserts, if it's not, the user can select other options.

I didn't know that's how it worked until I bought a Chinese copy of an iPhone and used it to text associates and acquaintances in China. They responded to me in hanzi, which the phone doesn't convert back to pinyin. They were surprised that I'd so quickly picked up Mandarin, which, of course, I had not. I had to ask them to either text back in pinyin or English. LOL

Aside:

In case one is curious, the Chinese copies of western tech products/devices work quite well and are built well given the price one pays, which is dramatically less expensive than are the "real things." At the time in the PRC, an authentic iPhone cost the "world" price plus China's tariff on it, whereas an effective enough imitation that, though not as fully featured, ably handled the basics (phone, text, email, web surfing, picture taking, and video recording and playback) cost between $25 and $100, depending on one's haggling skills.

My being a white guy who's obviously not a Chinese citizen had a materially limiting impact on my haggling results because they knew damn well that people like me are, compared to Chinese, "made of money" had the means to pay. I was able to get the price down to ~$60, but my associates there all told me I paid too much. I learned my lesson. From that point on, I only went shopping with someone who is Chinese and let them do the haggling and execute the transaction.​

You don't need a Chinese phone, you can just add languages to your phone, at least I've done that. I don't write much in Chinese on my phone, mostly just practicing on paper. But sometimes it's easier that way, you type it in and something hopefully pops up that you recognize.

Off-Topic:

Perhaps you merely sought to be informative/helpful, but I won't lie, upon first reading your remark about what I don't need struck me as presumptuous, maybe because I wasn't asking for solution ideas, or maybe because of your pronoun choice. I was merely describing what I ages ago learned about a way in which Chinese people use pinyin even though they are fluent with hanzi and don't otherwise have to use pinyin. I discovered that back in the early 2000s when Blackberry's were "the phone" for business users in the U.S.

Be that as it may and merely to share more details....

Yes, one can simply add languages, though I have no recollection now whether the U.S.-purchased phones (Vertu and Blackberry) I was using at the time I commenced to have clients in the PRC (now, almost 20 years ago) had multi-language functionality. What I know is that it didn't have functionality I came to desire upon obtaining responsibility for projects in the PRC.

When I oversaw (exec level, not day-to-day level) projects in the PRC I chose to buy/use a Chinese phone. There were two main reasons for that:​

• • The main reason I bought a Chinese "clone phone" was to reduce the quantity of phones I was then carrying around. The PRC happened to be the place where I first came to know of dual sim card phones, and such phones were clone phones rather than "authentic" phones. Inasmuch as the PRC is where I first became aware of such things, it's where I bought them. One phone that could manage signals (SIMS) from totally unrelated carriers was boon to me because it reduced the number of phones I had to carry.
    
    At the time, I traveled between three continents every 2 to 7 days and had incoming calls from clients/colleagues in the PRC, Japan, London, the UAE, and the U.S. My lifelong friends and close acquaintances in other countries didn't mind calling my U.S. number, but then they and I then, as now, trade calls only every so many weeks and their financial position affords them the ability to be indifferent about making a "catch up with a friend" call that might end up costing $100+. (Here are some past rates for one U.S. carrier -- Verizon.)
• As a matter of courtesy to my associates in those countries as well as convenience for myself, I preferred to have local numbers in all those places so the people calling me weren't having to make international calls to reach me.
  
  I can't explain why, but people would sooner make a free local call than make a pricey international call and expense it to their employer or client. Of course, I understand why folks who don't have the ability to expense such things will demur from making a five minute phone call that could cost them $30 or more. One such call may not bother them too much, but when they're having to make several to many of them a month, that's bothersome and financially burdensome.

Then along came the first iPhone. I didn't particularly need or want an iPhone because I liked pressing buttons and felt unsure about touchscreens and my ability to tap the right letters. That said, I decided buying a "fake" iPhone would be a reasonable way to give the touchscreen a try without having to risk having purchased what may have turned into a several hundred dollar paperweight I neither needed nor wanted. That the thing had dual-SIM functionality was the main appeal.

The language thing was just something that happened as a consequence of my buying the phone in China; Mandarin was already enabled on it. I could have used the phones I already had to text/write in pinyin well enough for my purposes. I couldn't put in the tone marks, but at that point in my pinyin learning process, I didn't care about the tone marks; I was just trying to get some basic words learned. I didn't ever come to care or use the tone marks; people, knowing I was just learning and trying my best at it and heeding the context of what we were discussing, were kind enough to endeavor to suss out what I meant.

I assure you they were as adept at sussing my meaning in Mandarin as I was when they'd write to me in "awkward" English. LOL Such is among the courtesies one extends when communicating with others whom one knows doesn't have one's own language as their first language.

​

Aside:

Surprisingly, I found that in the UK, even though they spoke English, outside of "business" situations (work, shopping, speaking with taxi drivers, asking directions, etc.), I'd had nearly as many "what on Earth did s/he just say" moments as I did in the PRC. That mostly happened in bars and clubs where people communicate in their local-English dialect, and especially outside of major cities and off the beaten path of major cities, including London. It didn't happen with people speaking directly to me, but it happened plenty when I was simply being a "fly on the wall" passing time and trying to pick up what I could by observing local culture.​

 

[del]

l'enfer, c'est les autres, n'est-pas?

 

[Ringel05]

Chto takoye angliyskiy?

 

[saveliberty]

por supuesto

 

[Yarddog]

A spammer, Kat appears to have taken care of them. They’ve been hitting for a few nights now when no one is looking.

Its best not to piss off Kat.. she makes things and people dissapear

I'm not sure if you're genuinely implying something about Kat's character that has escaped me, but I know that your hyperbolic description of Kat's comportment has not been by me observed.

It was completely a Joke.. I like Kat

 

[usmbguest5318]

A spammer, Kat appears to have taken care of them. They’ve been hitting for a few nights now when no one is looking.

Its best not to piss off Kat.. she makes things and people dissapear

I'm not sure if you're genuinely implying something about Kat's character that has escaped me, but I know that your hyperbolic description of Kat's comportment has not been by me observed.

It was completely a Joke.. I like Kat

TY for the clarification.

 

[Picaro]

Notice the language used for multiple topics shown on the active topics list.


View attachment 184724

The rules aren't very helpful, since the spammer speaks Chinese.

Xelor isn't a real scholar, so this sort of obvious stuff isn't in his skill set.

 

[Pogo]

l'enfer, c'est les autres, n'est-pas?

Also sprach Sartre

 

[koshergrl]

Microsoft is going to start doxing people for their use of profanity.
I imagine USMB is going to go down lol.