Location: UR Island

As Wagner James Au has reported in New World Notes, the growth in Second-Life membership from both Brazil and Japan has exploded. These nations rank second and third behind the US for “the most active residents by nation.“

I enjoy practicing my Spanish, and on many occasions in SL public places I have gladly shifted to that language to assist a resident.  Even guest-writer Pappy Enoch puede practicar su lengua segunda de vez en cuando.  Pappy’s Spanish is as strong as his English is “colorful.” He credits a traveling Spanish teacher—a “rite purty dark-haired gal”—who came to Enoch Holler for a summer vacation. In the picture shown, Pappy helps a (of course) beautiful Mexican woman who got lost on UR Island.

Pappy (speaking his Spanish) and I both took issue with an “English only” tirade recently at Second Life profiles; the issue was for the site, however.  SL will be multilingual and have to address the fears and tastes of various cultures using it. Cynthia Barley’s recent column touched on this important aspect of SL’s internationalism: German law is cited to investigate depictions of pornography that are legal in the US.  By the same token, a fashion trend called “Goth Lolita,” hugely popular in Japan, now raises legal concerns because of the German laws. And if Linden Labs puts servers in these and other nations, which law applies?

So it’s more than language that is at stake here: whose culture determines the shape and content of the metaverse? Perhaps Americans’ hidebound (and utterly stupid) insistence that they need not learn other languages will give way to a more mature approach, at least in virtual worlds (which will be, I hold, a major part of our economy in a few years).

Then there is that billion-person tiger in the virtual room: China.  What, then?

Vamos a ver, amigos.  Vamos a ver…

Be sure to check the “In a Strange Land” Archive for old posts

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