Languages & Fandom - A Poll

[rodo]

First of all: This is all lian's fault. And the fault of the anonymous person who so generously gifted me with two months of paid time (&hearts). This is also a follow-up post to my last post about fandom and language, in a way. It's also my first poll, so please tell me what I could have done better.

Note: For the purpose of this poll, I won't define "fandom" or "(language) fandom". I'll leave that up to you.

Poll #247 fandom & language

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 259

View Respondents

What language(s) do you use to participate in fandom?

View Answers

English
259 (100.0%)

German
33 (12.7%)

French
18 (6.9%)

Italian
4 (1.5%)

Dutch
2 (0.8%)

Japanese
13 (5.0%)

Chinese
3 (1.2%)

Spanish
20 (7.7%)

Finnish
0 (0.0%)

Swedish
5 (1.9%)

Russian
8 (3.1%)

Czech
1 (0.4%)

Portuguese
2 (0.8%)

Norwegian
3 (1.2%)

Polish
1 (0.4%)

Hungarian
1 (0.4%)

Turkish
0 (0.0%)

Korean
1 (0.4%)

Greek
0 (0.0%)

Filipino
1 (0.4%)

Indonesian
1 (0.4%)

Hebrew
1 (0.4%)

Danish
4 (1.5%)

Arabic
0 (0.0%)

Other (please specify in the comments)
4 (1.5%)

What language(s) do you use to write and translate fic?

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English
208 (95.4%)

German
22 (10.1%)

French
9 (4.1%)

Italian
2 (0.9%)

Dutch
2 (0.9%)

Japanese
7 (3.2%)

Chinese
3 (1.4%)

Spanish
15 (6.9%)

Finnish
1 (0.5%)

Swedish
0 (0.0%)

Russian
8 (3.7%)

Czech
1 (0.5%)

Portuguese
2 (0.9%)

Norwegian
0 (0.0%)

Polish
0 (0.0%)

Hungarian
0 (0.0%)

Turkish
0 (0.0%)

Korean
0 (0.0%)

Greek
1 (0.5%)

Filipino
0 (0.0%)

Indonesian
0 (0.0%)

Hebrew
1 (0.5%)

Danish
2 (0.9%)

Arabic
0 (0.0%)

Other (please specify in the comments)
5 (2.3%)

What language(s) did and do you use to read fic and/or follow canon?

View Answers

English
259 (100.0%)

German
37 (14.3%)

French
31 (12.0%)

Italian
7 (2.7%)

Dutch
1 (0.4%)

Japanese
28 (10.8%)

Chinese
5 (1.9%)

Spanish
22 (8.5%)

Finnish
3 (1.2%)

Swedish
5 (1.9%)

Russian
11 (4.2%)

Czech
2 (0.8%)

Portuguese
3 (1.2%)

Norwegian
4 (1.5%)

Polish
2 (0.8%)

Hungarian
2 (0.8%)

Turkish
0 (0.0%)

Korean
0 (0.0%)

Greek
0 (0.0%)

Filipino
2 (0.8%)

Indonesian
0 (0.0%)

Hebrew
1 (0.4%)

Danish
7 (2.7%)

Arabic
0 (0.0%)

Other (please specify in the comments)
1 (0.4%)

What languages do you use to read/write meta?

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English
249 (97.6%)

German
20 (7.8%)

French
6 (2.4%)

Italian
1 (0.4%)

Dutch
1 (0.4%)

Japanese
3 (1.2%)

Chinese
1 (0.4%)

Spanish
14 (5.5%)

Finnish
2 (0.8%)

Swedish
2 (0.8%)

Russian
7 (2.7%)

Czech
1 (0.4%)

Portuguese
0 (0.0%)

Norwegian
1 (0.4%)

Polish
1 (0.4%)

Hungarian
1 (0.4%)

Turkish
0 (0.0%)

Korean
0 (0.0%)

Greek
1 (0.4%)

Filipino
0 (0.0%)

Indonesian
0 (0.0%)

Hebrew
1 (0.4%)

Danish
1 (0.4%)

Arabic
0 (0.0%)

Other (please specify in the comments)
2 (0.8%)

What is your first language (two or three if you were raised bi- or trilingual)?

View Answers

English
137 (53.1%)

German
38 (14.7%)

French
12 (4.7%)

Italian
3 (1.2%)

Dutch
6 (2.3%)

Japanese
1 (0.4%)

Chinese
10 (3.9%)

Spanish
21 (8.1%)

Finnish
5 (1.9%)

Swedish
10 (3.9%)

Russian
8 (3.1%)

Czech
2 (0.8%)

Portuguese
3 (1.2%)

Norwegian
4 (1.6%)

Polish
2 (0.8%)

Hungarian
2 (0.8%)

Turkish
0 (0.0%)

Korean
0 (0.0%)

Greek
1 (0.4%)

Filipino
4 (1.6%)

Indonesian
0 (0.0%)

Hebrew
3 (1.2%)

Danish
9 (3.5%)

Arabic
1 (0.4%)

Other (please specify in the comments)
14 (5.4%)

What languages do you speak/are you able to read/have you learned?

View Answers

English
228 (89.4%)

German
104 (40.8%)

French
114 (44.7%)

Italian
30 (11.8%)

Dutch
11 (4.3%)

Japanese
38 (14.9%)

Chinese
13 (5.1%)

Spanish
76 (29.8%)

Finnish
6 (2.4%)

Swedish
26 (10.2%)

Russian
20 (7.8%)

Czech
3 (1.2%)

Portuguese
8 (3.1%)

Norwegian
14 (5.5%)

Polish
5 (2.0%)

Hungarian
1 (0.4%)

Turkish
0 (0.0%)

Korean
1 (0.4%)

Greek
3 (1.2%)

Ancient Greek
14 (5.5%)

Latin
46 (18.0%)

Esperanto
1 (0.4%)

Filipino
4 (1.6%)

Indonesian
1 (0.4%)

Hebrew
7 (2.7%)

Danish
17 (6.7%)

Arabic
3 (1.2%)

Other constructed languages (e.g. Klingon - please specify)
1 (0.4%)

Other (please specify)
32 (12.5%)

What was your first fandom (language)?

View Answers

English
204 (78.8%)

German
26 (10.0%)

French
3 (1.2%)

Italian
0 (0.0%)

Dutch
3 (1.2%)

Japanese
1 (0.4%)

Chinese
0 (0.0%)

Spanish
9 (3.5%)

Finnish
1 (0.4%)

Swedish
2 (0.8%)

Russian
4 (1.5%)

Czech
0 (0.0%)

Portuguese
0 (0.0%)

Norwegian
1 (0.4%)

Polish
2 (0.8%)

Hungarian
1 (0.4%)

Turkish
0 (0.0%)

Korean
0 (0.0%)

Greek
0 (0.0%)

Filipino
0 (0.0%)

Indonesian
0 (0.0%)

Hebrew
0 (0.0%)

Danish
1 (0.4%)

Arabic
0 (0.0%)

Other (please specify in the comments)
1 (0.4%)

What was your first fandom (media)?

View Answers

TV Series
94 (36.4%)

Movie
15 (5.8%)

Book
87 (33.7%)

RPF
7 (2.7%)

Game
9 (3.5%)

Anime
33 (12.8%)

Cartoon
2 (0.8%)

Musical/Play
2 (0.8%)

Comic
1 (0.4%)

Manga
8 (3.1%)

What was your first fandon (e.g. Harry Potter)

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Did you participate in this poll?

View Answers

Yes
258 (100.0%)

PS: I would appreciate it if you would pimp this poll.

Comments

[daegaer]

While I don't use my languages other than English for reading fic, I use my knowledge of them for writing in various styles (so, for writing stories spinning off Biblical material, I might use Hebrew to inform vocabulary choices, on so on). Even for languages I don't know too well,I find they can help a lot in following canon, and I can hope to spot if the subtitles go totally off the track.

The "other" language is Irish.

[allangtegek]

Just for clarification: I checked both English and Dutch for fic/meta writing (like those 2.5 times I ever wrote meta), but I do everything in English except for those few times I get caught up in Dutch stuff, which no one else would/could be interested in anyway. :)


And I cheated and ticked every language where I can sort of make my way through none-too-complex texts. *g*

[lea_hazel]

I'm bilignual for certain values of bilingual. It took me a long time to learn how to read English fluently, for example, so my earliest experiences with what I think of as "fannish" texts, IE fantasy and SF books, were all in translation.

I still appreciate a really god translation, but I always strive to read the original language if I can. That means most of the books I read are in English, and if I pick up something in Hebrew, it's either original (and the SFF scene in Israel is modest, to say the least) or translated from a different language.

I associate fandom with English in a way that's difficult to explain. Thinking about reading fic in Hebrew pings me as really, really weird. I do wish there was more fantasy being written in Hebrew, though.

[swizzley]

My first language is Swiss German so I ticked German and others as first language, because German is the writing-language we learn in Switzerland.

To be honest I'm not very active in English fandoms and I tend to write comments in German if I know that an (English) entry is written by someone who understands German to. But I will really try to improve that also for the benefit of my English.

[kouredios]

my "other" language: Old Irish.

[shewhohashope]

My first language was Somali. I can understand it, but can't speak it very well at all, and I can read it fairly easily as it uses latin script.

I understand French well enough to read news articles and watch films without subtitles (without being entirely lost), but my spoken French isn't great. With Arabic, I know what sounds all of the letters make and thus, I can read it, but I understand far less of it than either French or Somali.

Clearly, I'm fluent in English, and it's my primary language.

[kaz]

For the record, my "Other" answer is Scottish Gaelic - where I only know a little and forgot nearly everything anyway but I think I could read a Gaelic text given a dictionary and practice. I also know/knew a tiny smidgen of Arabic, Sindarin and Quenya but didn't count them because I don't think I could read and understand things in those languages even with aforementioned dictionary and practice! (lack of grammar knowledge among others.)

I also picked solely German as my first language, which is probably me being overly-literal again as I learned English when I was five. :/

[angel_negra]

I ticked Japanese and French for the first few questions because I'm in a few fandoms who are closely linked to those languages. Like, one character who I read tends to use a lot of French in his dialogue in canon (Northstar from Alpha Flight/X-Men). I can carrying on conversations in French, though my spelling/grammar leaves something to be desired, as I've lost a lot of my French as I get older.

With the Japanese, I get my share of 'fangirl' Japanese that gets thrown into stories, so there's words I can recoginize, though I'd be lost if I had to have a conversation in Japanese. I also see a lot of authors working Japanese customs and practices into their stories for those fandoms. (Both some RPS and the Toku fandoms.)

For spoken languages, I checked German, Spanish and Japanese as well as English and French, though for those three, I still don't know enough to carry on conversations.

And finally, for my first fandom, I wrote down 'The Labyrinth', but 'The Crow' was also around that time too. My mind is fuzzy, since it's been about 10 years, so it could actually be either one.

[hooloovoo]

I'm the only person who got into fandom through Stargate? How very odd.

This poll makes me want to go find some Spanish fic to read...

[hollyilex]

Here from metafandom: I think it would be interesting to separate 'English' into the subsets - UK English, Australian English, Canadian English, US English and so on. For me, I read any English but write UK English.

[elaran]

I ticked other for "What languages do you speak/are you able to read/have you learned?" because I can speak [barely] passable Tamil. Except it has a lot of Telegu mixed in as well. English became my first language from when I was about 5/6 years old Because my parents encouraged me to speak English at home to the extent that I actually stopped speaking my mother-tongue despite the fact that my Mum still converses in that to me as it is her first language.

[whatistigerbalm]

My 'other' to all places where I ticked 'other' is Croatian/Serbian/Bosnian. (Should I call this CSB or something? They're all the same language! If anybody wants to argue this I'm going to have to challenge them to a duel.) The only place where I didn't tick it is the writing/reading fic question because I don't write fic, and I've never come across fanfic in CSB.

[koulagirl666.livejournal.com]

I selected Greek for the questions addressing composition as sometimes get my ideas in Greek and mix up languages as I write, then I have to translate back to English for my audience.

I wish I could find Greek fic to read in my fandoms. :( I'd love to read something I'm interested in that isn't for school. Seconding whoever said it's really hard for English-as-first-language people to find non-English fics/fanworks, especially when their country only has English as an official/common language.

I could have selected Ancient Greek as well, but I don't have enough exposure to it to really feel like I'm experienced enough (read: I'm not fluent, I just come across it enough to know a few words) for it to count.

[plazmah.livejournal.com]

The "other" language that I use in writing fic is Hindi; I'm part of Bollywood fandom and it's natural to switch between English and Hindi sometimes.

[bicrim]

ASL

[sinatra]

my "other" is Chinuk Wawa.