As a couple of you have pointed out already, this thread has many potential problems. So, to try to rid ourselves of that, some ground rules would probably be wise at this point. If you have any objections to the rules below, please PM me. I do not want to derail the thread for that reason alone.
1. As Khaleel pointed out, it would be extremely helpful if people listed the languages they speak/read with at least some fluency.
2. If you do not feel comfortable enough with a language, no one is going to hold a gun to your head to force you to speak it here.
3. Please do not start randomly speaking in a language that NOBODY understands just because you want to do so. The idea is to promote conversation between at least ONE other person, not create a monologue here.
4. If only a couple, few, or several people know the language, translating your conversation into English for the rest of us would be nice, but it is not required.
5. Teaching people words, phrases, etc. of your language(s) is much appreciated, but please do not teach inappropriate words and/or phrases and/or mis-teach people on purpose for your own sadistic laughs. (i.e., do not teach people that the particle わ is the masculine way to assert yourself in Japanese, or "puto" is the polite way of saying "put" in Spanish.)
6. Talking about the culture surrounding the language is encouraged, but this is a
language thread. So, please keep cultural comments to things that are linguistically linked and have significance.
7. Although this should be obvious, please do not bash other peoples' countries, languages, and/or cultures.
8. If English is a foreign language to you, you can use it, but it somewhat defeats the point of this thread, seeing that this is an English-language forum.
9. Rules may be added and/or edited at any time in the future to ensure that this thread runs smoothly.
10. STAY ON TOPIC!!!
