Religion

Currently, I do not participate in any non-English sites. When I was in the mineral specimen business, however, I sometimes had to correspond in email with international customers whose English was not sufficient for the task. That was always interesting. Eventually, I learned how to use Google Translate well enough to communicate seamlessly in several languages. A lot of it had to do with how carefully I wrote in English and using back-translation to find and correct inadvertent errors. Some emails required several passes before I felt they were OK to send.

Before long, I developed a specifically limited vocabulary and clean business writing style in English which translated accurately using Google Translate. These days, those online translations have improved considerably, but proper preparation and use of English with translation in mind remains crucial. Also, learning the conventions of polite correspondence in each language was very important. The Internet is very helpful with such things.

Of course, I always disclosed that I was using Google translate, and that I was not fluent in whatever language I was using.