Newbie Problems and Speaking English

Life can be a bit tricky if you are a new person in Second Life (or newbie as we call them). Not only are you trying to adjust to life as an avatar, learning how to move and find your way around, but avoiding gaffs around people who have been in the virtual world for a while is something that only comes with experience. As Hibiscus told you in a previous article ‘Moving’, we have both moved into high-rise apartments in Chelsea. Hib called me the other day to say someone was hovering outside her window looking into her apartment. It can be quite annoying when you own SL property or rent it, only to have strangers landing in your garden or looking around your house and refusing to leave. Usually though, they are just new avatars who are wandering around and don’t even realise that you own the property and that it is your private residence. That’s why I always greet the trespassing avatars and find out why they are visiting before I decide what action to take. Most of them just want to have a chat and ask a few questions and happily go on their way. Then again, sometimes I have had to eject people who have decided they want to be a nuisance, refusing to leave of their own accord. If you actually own the land you can limit the access to people you want to visit you, keeping the rest out, so it's a good idea if you really don’t want strangers dropping in. It’s a little bit different with a rented apartment though, as in most cases you can’t actually eject anyone, although you can lock the doors. I decided to fly up to Hib’s visitor to find out what he wanted and I hovered next to him and said ‘hi’ It turned out he was a newbie and just looking around, he flew back down to the ground with me and Hibiscus joined us for a chat. His name was Minnillu and he was very friendly, he told us that he was Italian and had come into Second Life to learn English. We explained that the apartments were private residences, and he said he had not realised. He used a translator device to talk to us, and it enabled us to have a nice chat with him. We told him all the best places to visit and he went happily on his way, saying he would try out the Underground Club later on. The translator device worked very well with Minnillu, but I had tried to have a conversation with a Japanese avatar the other day, and we just couldn’t make any sense of what either of us was trying to say to the other even with the automatic translator working, so obviously some languages translate better than others. As I walked around SL Knightsbridge today I noticed that the Tea Clipper Public House had some new posters and leaflets inside. On closer inspection I saw that it was a company called ‘LinguaServe’ who had taken up residence in the pub, and the information they give out states that they are a real life language school and translation service. They state that their main focus is to teach English as a foreign language but they also teach other languages as well. They also specialise in German-English and English-German translations, plus they cater for other major languages. They went on to state in their information pack that, as far as they can tell, they are the first real-life organisation of their kind to have a parallel existence (trading under the same name) in SL and real life, offering the same range of services. What a great idea and what a good place to have the company branch, right in the centre of the London sim! Second Life’s first language is English, and for the many non-English speaking people who join the virtual world, companies such as LinguaServe will offer a valuable service to give new avatars, as well as older ones, the assistance they need to speak English (Contact MauriceClaypole Writer 'in world' regarding LinguaServe)