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?

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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)?

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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)?

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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

[ex_saved750]

I'm Spanish, not bilingual, started out in the Spanish Harry Potter fandom and soon thereafter ran out of fic to read, so now I'm actually fluent, to some extent, in English, all thanks to fandom. I think that happens a lot--it's not that you don't like your own language, it's that the content in it is just not enough after a while, and eventually you forget how to write prose in your mother tongue.

That may be just me, though.

Anyway, I wanted to clarify that I only read fic in Spanish now if I know the author and am detached enough from the canon to take the dialogue as it is rather than translate it in my head as I read. I'd read fic in the other languages I can read (high school French, Portuguese is very similar to Spanish, took a few months of Italian a while ago) if, you know, I stumbled across something interesting. Which I never do.

[rodo]

Nope, not just you. If you have a day or two to spare you can did throught the comments on my other post (linked above).

if, you know, I stumbled across something interesting. Which I never do.

I think that's the main reason. If you primarily read in English, you don't have the chance to stumble upon fic in other languages, because it's posted elsewhere or in some special place on the archive. (The worst case of that is aff.net, if you ask me.)

[ex_saved750]

Yeah, I took a look at it when it got linked on metafandom (which is how I got to this one as well). I'm not sure I saw anyone who was completely incapable of writing decent prose in their mother tongue (as opposed to not doing it for canon-compliance reasons or because the readership is better in English), though. I honestly just can't write decently in Spanish anymore. Meta, essays, that's fine, but prose comes out robotic.

What I do find fascinating is that there are (predominantly femslashy) fandoms for a couple of Spanish TV shows (that I don't watch) in English, but AFAIK there is no Spanish fandom for them. Not the kind that writes fic, anyway. (I'm aware this is also the case with a bunch of other gay storylines in European TV in general, mind you, I just find it... interesting.)

I've actively searched for fic in other languages before, but I really don't know where to look and don't want to wade through pages and pages of crap on an archive for five minutes of entertainment.

[rodo]

I think a few people mentioned how it was too difficult for them to write fic in their native tongue, but I'm too lazy to look for them (285 comments ... that's a lot). lian said she might write a round-up post for them.

And yes, I think the same goes for German soaps as well. There are 16 fics on ff.de for Verbotene Liebe, but the soap already has a fanlore entry for some reason.

Whenever I look for long plotty Harry/Draco fic in German, I either end up finding translated English fic or fics by this one particular author that I hate. *sigh* I wish there were proper reclists.

[ex_saved750]

I can definitely relate to your H/D woes. I remember that sweet, innocent time in my life when I was sweet and innocent and actually enjoyed what was posted in the Spanish section of ff.net. That's another thing with switching to English fandom--it makes you picky faster than any fandom in any other language, just by virtue of there being enough good fic to satisfy one's cravings. Just another vicious circle, I suppose.