JP ONRY EVERYONE ELSE GTFO

I think the biggest problem is that only Japanese players are allowed to type in Japanese. :S If everyone could speak Japanese, those of us who know how to type it, could communicate better, and help ease Japanese out of their fear of lack of communication.

Personally never had a problem with other nationalities. As long as you show up and do your respective job, nobody complains, and usually people remember a "good" or "bad" player.

Well if you speak Japanese you're free to use the JP client tho :< I got non-JP friends playing with JP client, no issue at all. They are "legitimately" allowed to use Japanese. (can always use IME support for windower otherwise).

^ I tried looking for it for purchase and couldn't find it. :S Plus I don't understand enough Japanese to fully navigate around the game.

Shouldn't have to purchase a Japanese version to type in Japanese though. Japanese can type in English.

This makes no sense at all since they also use Latin alphabet in Japan... Your Windows do not support natively Japanese "alphabet"~symbols. That's prolly why SE choose not to implement this on the EU/NA client. Yeah it's stupid, we should be able to use it too (and not only for kanas/kanjis but also symbols).

FF XI client should just have been international in the first place, allowing any player to switch at anytime from JP/English/French and German, just like EU players can switch from English to French or German instantly. And this would also be good for people living in Canada, who could be allowed to play the French version of the game if they wanted, without buying the EU version.

if u sleep all days and the only time u can play ffxi is at night and u decide to make a pt, u see 2 brds a rdm and 2 other wars, well ok this looks good. JP ONRY? wtf? ok il settle for a nin instead of a war... both the brds are jp onry hmmm, a sam and a cor good too i guess... all 47 people with flags up are jp only? guess i wont be getting any exp tonight along with any other nights.

Actually, you pretty much can natively type in Japanese in windows, though I guess you do have to turn on the feature, it's not exactly very hard. Sometimes you actually randomly see the remnants of the IME show up in the NA version of the game so they actually removed the feature. I think they once explained that it was to not confuse people or something.

That's the exact opposite of the natively definition (you need to : 1. find where the feature is (lot of beginners ignore this) / 2. have your Windows XP install CD):s It's not hard for you and me, but not everyone. Most of people around me do not have and never had Japanese support installed on their system. I have it because I'm browsing JP website and playing lot of JP game, but the average user do not install it.

That's why Microsoft made it optional.

Phantasy Star Online : Blue Burst on PC required users to have Japanese support installed on their system to be able to play. Well, everyday players were posting on forum asking "why I can't type anything when I'm starting PSO".

I guess I look at natively as, not requiring any third party programs. It seems like every version of windows they've been making it easier and easier to use foreign languages. I guess I might install Asian languages without even thinking so maybe my perspective is skewed, lol.

That makes me think of all the people who use the auto-translate for things like {Bee} {Ready} or {May} {Bee}. It doesn't translate to what they think it does.

I don't have any problems with JP players and you can't really blame them though. They have a totally different language and culture.

Personally, I have my party flag is set to English Only, but it's not meant as an offense to any JP players and I haven't turned down any invites from them. I just find it easier to work together and communicate with other people in my party if we all speak the same language. Maybe they feel the same way in that respect.

I have to admit I'm slightly amused/annoyed when I see a {Tele-Altep} {Reward} 2k.

I know JP are reading it something akin to {Tele-Altep} {Dog food} 2k

My first reaction is "Wtf, people party still?"

On the subject Clinpachi has it summed up pretty much.
I never makes parties or try to put things together, so it's rarely a problem for me. Rarely when a Japanese person asks me to party/merit or whatever and asks if I speak Japanese then /no then /seeyouagain I honestly just roll my eyes and say FFS.
I stopped caring or trying about 4 years ago. I'm not going to pretend like I speak Japanese just to get a damn party like a lot of people do. It's fine if NA/EU can speak Japanese, but I suspect 90% who "try" to speak Japanese cannot and just looks like idiots to Japanese players.
Anyway, to sum up I would not worry about it. You aren't going to change how they think.
Ninjaedit; I don't have problems with anyone. I have met nice and skilled players from everywhere. I have also met morons and *** from everywhere.

who the hell do you party with?

even if that was true your comment is unwanted and ignorant. that ***happened what almost and nearly 60-90 years ago. my grandpa was a young as man then in another country just about to get married lol.

So I doubt it is that. Japanese players have always had that feeling towards outsiders some welcome foreigners others do not it is like real life over there. what you expect them to *** change online for you? They think of you as rude online with comments like yours expected anyway.. can i please ask what they teach these days?

The reason some Japanese players only party in Japanese is because a lot of us are scared of our English skills.

I'm lucky to have school and work experience in the UK and I've had the oppurtunity to mix with English speakers, which is why I try and bring English and Japanese speaking players together in my LS. It breaks the barrier a bit.

And there are also a lot of English Only parties going around.

I tend not to do mixed language PTs though, even though I can speak both Japanese and English... simply because I'm always designated translator.

Language barrier why force your self to speak a language you can't when people you are more comfortable with is easier to party with.

Not that it isn't a horrible idea, but it is rather rude and offensive. I am American, stationed overseas, and while I have learned some Japanese (and Spanish, and French, and German, and Chinese) because I'm over here, I can elaborate on a few things.

1: The population of Japan is 99.7% Japanese... they do not have multicultural influences, outside of fashion icons and brands (Chinese religion of Buddhism and Kanji characters excluded) nor do they travel outside Japan often.

2:Learning English in their school is mandatory, but outside of the classroom, it becomes not only obsolete in almost every fashion, but almost useless even after they graduate. Liaison between English speakers and Japanese are rather small in number when compared to the population of Japan's English to Japanese translation requirements. It's popular to wear English clothing or have English fashion, but no one really cares about what it says. Its much akin to people getting tattoos of Kanji without knowing what it means simply because "these characters are sweet looking!"

I wouldn't want to openly speak about the downfall of a different nationality learning a language simply because it is inconvenient to YOUR needs, but rather encourage them to want to learn in another way while keeping in mind that they're probably not going to care (this can go for any nationality toward any other). They don't use English enough to matter, and they can play while speaking Japanese just fine. There's a segregation factor, but it comes with the context that we play on mixed culture servers. In the end, I think we're also better for doing it, rather than copying most other MMOs who separate their server populations to eliminate international mingling.

My final piece of advice would be to befriend those who are decent, ignore those who ignore you, and try to be considerate (although not entirely subservient) to those who you find arrogant, haughty or completely rude because you speak a language they don't. Its courtesy, rude actions shouldn't have to explode into verbal violence or pent up anger. You're playing a game, not controlling an entire separate life (ok maybe some of you are, and Ogre would call you NERDS).

I've yet to find a single "English Only" seacom/bazaar comment :s Sure some exceptions exists, but if I had to give a ratio JP only:English only, it would be at least 20:1. I never ever received a tell asking me if I was speaking english, while I received shitload of tells asking if I could speak Japanese, followed by a refusal after answering negatively.

You'll also notice that most of JP players never use auto translate when /shouting (and use complicated kanjis that would prevents someone with basic japanese reading skill to understand the message). While non-JP player (english or not) use auto translate way more. (not talking about stupid autotranslate like {May}{Bee} which a non-English player cannot understand, cause yeah some plays FFXI in French or German, and {May}{Bee} makes no sense at all).

I also find it sad when someone shout in Japanese while it's 3AM JST during a weekday, and remains LFP + /shout@Whitegate for hours, while he could simply use autotranslate and join/make a non-JP party. (not saying English, because the world ain't : either Japan either English). Lot of non-UK Europeans or elsewhere, especially on some servers).

One thing about auto translate is it just looks a lot more disruptive in Japanese than in western languages. Since Japanese essentially doesn't use spaces between words, the brackets around AT words really make it much more annoying to read compared to English/French/German/etc...

Also, if you can't even read the shout, than chances are communication within the party itself will have problems. Most things which are being shouted for would require some amount of organization and that just goes smoother if you can actually talk with each other rather than using broken misleading auto translates.

I have never had a problem with JP players. I've had it explained to me that they normally don't want EN in their pt for the reason that our play style is different. I really couldn't say what the difference is since the parties that I've had were on BLM.

I actually have a lot of fun with the JP players outside of party. I usually just do something weird and they would play along.

I never used proper JP etiquette with them, but I have been very polite with them. In return they have talked to me for a bit with what english they do know. I had one JP actually help me with Bastok missions and we chatted for hours doing 4 missions. She had explained that they were mainly set in their ways from family teachings growing up to not appreciate Americans.

I have no problem with most JPs. My best friend lives in Japan. I used to have a bazaar comment that said "French?! GTFO!!!" I did that the year we won more gold medals then the french in the olympics and a french PT leader kicked me out of the party for it. I no longer have that comment as a GM told me that as funny as it was, It was a rule violation.

I personally try to avoid pickup party if there's anything to "understand". For 99% of exp party, there's nothing to set/understand, I have Chinese friends who do not speak Japanese, fails at English, and they can play FF XI.

Sure it's annoying for complicated things requiring an ounce of teamplay (Assault/Nyzul/some missions), but for everything else, you definitely not need to understand a thing. I've been in lot of JP party, I was the only one non JP, was new to FF XI at the time, and I was still able to play correctly. So if I can, why JP can't ? How is it different to have a non-JP in a JP party from having a JP in a non-JP party ?

Not to mention that the average JP player english skill is superior to the average Japanese skill of the non-JP player. JP use a lot of English words in everyday life, lot of JP game have english menus, use english gameplay related terms, lot of words are based on english words and are transparent. I'm not saying that they should all know English, but one sure thing, they know more english than non-JP players know Japanese.

A lot of them don't like NA because we blew them up. Its not a mystery.

I was mainly addressing your comment about shouts though, and shouts are rarely (at least in my experience) xp related. Most of the time if people are shouting for xp parties, they're pretty desperate, lol. The things I see shouts for most often nowdays are Nyzul, Salvage, and the new mini expansion missions, all things that require a decent amount of teamwork and communication.

As for English in everday life, while there's a lot of English, it's not neccesarily used in the same way or even properly a lot of times. Especially in games, English use tends to be just single words, something which won't help you have a conversation at all.

And didn't they (the Japanese) blow up pearl harbor? I really don't give a flying hoot what happened ~60 years ago, there's hardly anyone alive who remembers that still. It's hardly an excuse to hate NA players because we fought a war 60 years ago, people don't hate the Germans anymore even though they were in WWII, lead by Hitler and the Nazis. So the excuse "they bombed us with nukes" doesn't cut it.

Japan is, in every sense, a National Socialistic society (no, I don't mean Hitler's Nazism).

If you really wanna know what it is, just research on it, and you'll see why Japan usually frowns upon foreigners.

Perhaps because it's no fun to group or associate with people that start with assumptions of hostility, and like to slip in snarky anatomical comparisons in the same sentence to ensure such hostility will be reciprocated in kind?

While you have a point thats just sterotyping and beign prejudice... I mean seriously how hard is it to respond to a {Hello} or {Party} {Do you need it?}

Needs moar magic squiggles, thats why.