MithraPride

The other day I stopped to heal a badly wounded Japanese player, that was fighting a Gob, no doubt saving his life. Using the auto translate function he thanked me. I tried to say, "You're welcome," only to find that the auto translator does not have that phrase. I simply smiled.

This got me thinking. Even in real life whenever someone thanks me I simply respond, "No problem," or "That's OK." I have since considered using, "You're welcome," but I get the feeling that would be acting haughty. "You're welcome, you insignificant human, that could not live without my help."

Am I the only one that feels this way? Is there anything we can do to return the phrase to its rightful place? "You're welcome," should convey the feeling that we not only were glad to help out, not because we are better than you, simply because we could, and we would be willing to help again.

Yeah, that's something I've noticed to.

If the Japanese player is nearby after saying {Thank you.}, I will use an emote like /bow in response.

If they are using /tell and aren't nearby, I try responding with {Take care.} since it seems relevant to their previously perilous situation.

Someone told me, when I raised this exact question, in Japanese culture it's not necessary to say "You're Welcome." after doing something for someone. Since most people are so polite they don't mind going out of their way to help someone, it's like it wasn't out of their was at all and you don't have to mention it, they just hope you'd help someone else like they helped them.

That's why when you say (Thank You.) to a Japanese player, they simply respond with ^^.

"Dou itashimashite"

Another usage that is disapearing is "I'm sorry" as in an expression of sympathy rather than as an apoligy.

"This terible thing happened to me today."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Its not your fault"

Yeah, I've noticed that too. Now it's easier to reply with an emoticon or something, because I'm sorry is being devoted to apologies. -.-

(That's too bad.)

You can always use the ever eloquent, "That sucks," when responding to distressed individuals instead of, "I'm sorry."

My static saved a group of people from a nasty beetle train the other night in CN. After the dust settled, one of my party members announced, "Holy crap, we just saved a bunch of NewCompany people!"

They said {Thank you.} in autotranslate. I just did a nice /bow because I couldn't figure out how to respond. One of them checked me and I bet it took them 5 seconds to figure out we were a North American group (later on my party was goofing around, so our English custom emotes probably confirmed that as well).