Things that make it hard for ESL speakers to participate in Group Chats
As you can see from the title, this is a list of things that make it hard for people who speak English as a second language to participate in Group Chats.
1: When the chat moves at a extremely fast speed. Because our second language is English, it is harder to read and process each message. When the chat moves at the speed of light, we are almost always locked out of the conversation.
2: When there are 3 or more things being talked about. This happensa lot. It is nearly impossible to keep track of all the topics,come up withreplies, and read and processthree or more stories/problemswhen English is not our first language.
3: Both 1 and 2 happening at the same time.
4: Using shorthand and text talk. People: Proper spelling will not kill you, and it goes a long way in helpingESL speakersunderstand you.
5: People being rude to us when we ask them to explain things. I would really appreciate it if you would not "lmao" at me when I ask you to explain what "jells" means or not call me a "stupid wetback" for not knowing what "erroneous" means.
6: People assuming that just because we are speaking proper English, that we can automatically understand them. For example, I am really bad at understanding and reading English, but I can write English good and many people overestimate my abilities.
7: People not caring whether or not ESL speakers can participate and ignoring our requests to please slow down or talk about one thing.
We are already forced to speak a foreign language to receive support. It's not that hard to make things a little easier for us.
ESL speakers, what are some things that make it hard for you to participate in Group Chats that I forgot to mention?
Yuck! Sounds like outright racism to me, friend. Sorry you have experienced that here.
I totally agree with you, since English is not my main language either. I've messaged Heather to see if we can make a Spanish group supportchatroom. So I will let you know as soon as possible! I think that what you're saying it's completely true, and I'm sorry you've been through that kind of situations!
Even if there's a Spanish chatroom, it won't change the fact that some people are rude and inconsiderate. It also won't help people whose first language isn't English nor Spanish. I would like that the Group Support be a more supportive place for ESL speakers.
you can talk about this with Laura or Heather. But, if someone is being rude to you, you should block/mute/report them!
I have trouble talking in group chat and i speak English, but that's just personal problems
i suffer from the same issues, that is why i always watch the support chat, but don't participate a lot, also i got some bad replies and then after that sorry, but what sorry can make if you have already read the bad reply! and i have noticed in the last couple months number of ppl raised in the chat rooms, we used to be 8 - 13 and sometimes less, now every time it's over 20 participants and that is why it's so complicated, i donnow if it is a good idea to have more chat rooms, for specificproblems better than having chat rooms for specitic languange, anyway it's always better to talk 1 - 1 for me :D and i appreciate all the site efforts and a lot of times chat room are without moderators so they can't prevent all ppl from their rude comments, sometimes it is what is it!
I agree it is very difficult for ESL speakers to participate and it is even harder for those who do not speak English at all! I thinks its interesting that non-English speakers can find support through 1-on-1 in their native language, but there is are only group chats in English. I think it would be beneficial for 7 Cups to possibly start group chats in some of other widely used languages.
good to try to recognize everybody
@labachatera
Sorry you've had these experiences, some of which I have known about - I totally agree with what you are saying here.
I agree that there maybe should be a Spanish chatroom, but if we don't have the mods to cover it, then there will still be the problem of people being rude and disrespectful, with nothing that a lot of us can do - a lot of the main mods for teens don't speak Spanish and so at times, it could cause more problems than you're trying to solve... If we can't mod it, then it'll give people excuse for people to be rude and break the rules, whereas at least in English, when there are mods there, it can easily be dealt with... please remember to use the mute/report button - I don't feel enough people use it when necessary and it should be something that is used when required...
The idea of this post wasn't to campaign for a Spanish chat room. There are speakers of other languages that have problems in the chat. The point of this post was to let people know that we exist, and are struggling to participate, and don't appreciate being pushed aside because of our language abilities.