[kiat]

Hi,

I'm new to the forums and been back playing on BBO for a few months now (100+ logins). Today I had a pretty unpleasant experience when I subbed into a tourney and was told to speak Spanish (which I don't speak) to even get the basics, e.g. agreement with partner on bidding system, carding etc. I searched for the posts here about this, but couldn't find any, hence this post. I wonder if this language etiquette issue has bitten other people too.


An opp pm'd me and from what I could tell was asking me to shut up unless I spoke Spanish and if I didn't agree with it, then go, immediately. It was pretty unpleasant when I was merely helping out by subbing in. Below is the transcript of the chat, ids changed to positions, I was S. After this quick exchange, which I was not expecting and a little rattled as I was trying to work out how to deal with this and in the end I said nothing more for the remainder of the tourney and just muddled through, even though I felt like leaving right away. Perhaps the invite popup explained only Spanish or else, but I missed it. Previously I've been subbed into Turkish and Spanish language tourneys without issue.

So some questions I have are:
- did I do anything wrong that was avoidable based on the info presented to me at the time?
- how frequently is language restriction enforced in tourneys that can get random subs?
- what is the accepted etiquette involved for players in language XYZ tourneys - both for non-XYZ subs and XYZ players?
- can subs be forewarned about language restrictions and choose to enter or not?
- has BBO looked into adding languages (not country) to user's profiles, showing which languages they are happy to speak in for games?

Advice from BBOers appreciated!

E →Table: hola ops grc p |86
→Table: hi
W →Table: hola a todos
→Table: p, sayc
W →Table: grs p
N →Table: ok
→Table: carding, std or udca?
E (Private): español pls
E (Private): no ingles aqui es de habla hispana
→ E: i don't speak spanish, i'm a sub
E (Private): ok?
E (Private): español solo o se subtituye
E →Table: suerte p
W →Table: mbp
W →Table: grs p
→ E: if you explain the spanish phrases then i will speak them
E (Private): silence o español
E (Private): ok
→ E: not ok
E (Private): sustituto
E (Private): inmediato
E (Private): no le permito el ingles en un torneo español

[wank]

east is obviously an arsehole. you get them everywhere, it's not a spanish monopoly.

[GreenMan]

Are you sure the tournament wasn't identified as a Spanish-language event?

[diana_eva]

I think you should have called TD and explain what was going on. East was rude and unreasonable there, I don't think it's the case to pull a conclusion about all tourneys in foreign languages or even about this particular event. TD makes the rules, not RHO or LHO.

[diana_eva]

GreenMan, on 2013-June-26, 10:48, said:

Are you sure the tournament wasn't identified as a Spanish-language event?

Even if it were... as long as he was invited to sub, why would they impose such conditions on him? Just makes no sense. It's the tourney TD issuing the invitation, not the sub bugging in uninvited.

[onoway]

Agree that you should have told the TD as subs will become very hard to come by if they are treated badly when they sit.

I wonder if the player actually spoke any English and that's why he was so insistent about repeating the "rules". Sometimes people (not subs) just ignore tourney language rules. When that happens it's annoying to have people chattering away in a language you don't understand and it sounds as though you got someone who has run into that before. If he didn't speak English he may not even have understood you were a sub. That would make for difficulties and the TD might have been able to help.

Sorry it was an unpleasant experience for you, most people on BBO are fairly easy to get along with .

[kiat]

Thanks for the replies folks. When I accepted the popup to play as sub I didn't read everything, it looked normal and any language requirements weren't there or weren't obvious. I knew it was a Spanish game from the tourney messages once I'd joined, but I'd been subbed into Spanish, French and Turkish before without being hassled when speaking minimal English - I was aware they were speaking Spanish at the table and so kept my table conversation absolutely minimal - just trying to agree system with partner. I agree about calling the TD next time if it happens again - I didn't get round to it because it ended pretty soon after that or I got booted off because the player made it happen, I can't recall which. Was just trying to be reasonable with the guy and even resorted to Google Translate to try and make myself understood!

Anyway its not put me off too much being a sub. Everyone (apart from a very small minority) are not unfriendly and the majority are friendly. Am really enjoying my time on BBO. Its a brilliant site, incredibly useful and enjoyable. Thanks again.