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If you're thinking about joining Second Life to practice speaking English, you are making
a good decision. In Second Life, there are people from all
over the world, but the common language is English. No matter where you go, somebody
will be using English to communicate. Not everyone speaks English, of course, but
most of the people you meet will know how to speak English, at least a little.
In order to speak you need a headset with a microphone. You can see that my avatar is
wearing a headset. Do not use your computer speakers. Speakers cause too much noise and
other people will get angry at you. Use a headset only. Please check your audio settings
on your computer before you start the Second Life viewer. Go to your computer control panel
and make sure your headset is in good working condition. Check that you can hear sound and
check that your microphone works well. At the bottom of the screen is a row of buttons:
chat, speak, destinations, people, profile, camera controls, walk-run-fly, and how to.
You can look at these in your free time, but for now, use the 'speak' button. This will
turn on your microphone so that other people can hear you. If you are in a noisy location,
it is best to turn this button off except when you are speaking. If you are in a very
quiet place, it is usually OK to leave the speak button on all the time. Just remember,
when it is on, everybody whose avatars are near your avatar can hear any sound from your
location!
Not everyone in Second Life uses audio, however. And there are some places in Second Life where
voice chatting is not permitted. In those places, you will have to use the local chat
window. When you click the chat button, it opens a small window where you can write chat
messages. What you write here is only visible to people whose avatars are close to you.
You can close the chat window by clicking the chat button again. Chat messages disappear
after a short time.
On your computer keyboard find the control key and push it. Hold the key down and push
the letter P on your keyboard. We call this “hit Control-P”. This opens your preferences
window. Here you can change many things like chat, audio, view, and so forth. In your free
time, look at some of the options and see what you like. Sound & Media in the preferences
window is a very important section. To use voice, you must make sure that you tick “Enabled”
where it says “Voice Chat”. Some places in Second Life have music or other audio that
plays automatically. You can turn this down or off, if you like. Sometimes music is too
loud and you can't hear other people talking, so use the Sound & Media section to lower
the volume of streaming music and media.
If your headset isn't working properly, you can use the Sound & Media section to check
input/output devices to set up your microphone and your headset.
When you join Second Life, and after you download the Second Life viewer, your avatar will automatically
go to Welcome Island where you can learn and practice basic movements: walk, run, zoom,
fly, and sit. It is important that you learn these basics so you can easily move your avatar
if necessary.
So how do you get to the English chat area? That's a good question. Changing locations
in Second Life is easy, but only after you practice a little.
Let's say that your avatar is at the Welcome Island and you have finished practicing basic
movements. Now you want to go to the chat area, so on the left side of your viewer screen
is a row of buttons with no words, only pictures, little icons. The first icon is of two people
and is for you to change your avatar, if you want. The next one is an icon of a t-shirt
and it lets you change your appearance. The third icon is a suitcase and it is your inventory,
everything you have. The next icon is a magnifying glass and is for searching. The next icon
is a globe where you will find any landmarks you have. This is useful after you travel
more, so at the beginning, you don't have many of these. The next icon is a headset
and is for your audio settings. The last icon is a radar and opens your mini-map. The Mini-map
shows your local area and any avatars in your area. You can put your mouse pointer on any
green dot to see the name of the avatar.
To find the chat area, use your left mouse button and click the search icon. A search
window will open and near the top you can write: Cypris Village IV. This is the name
of the place where the chat area is. So type that name in the search field but change the
“Everything” to “Places”, then push the Search button. You will see a link to
the place. Click “Teleport” to go there. After you arrive, you should move your avatar
a little so other people can come, too. Don't teleport and then just stand there, because
other people cannot come if you don't move.
So that you do not have to use that method in the future, go to the top of your viewer
screen where you will see these categories: Me, Communicate, World, Build, and Help. Chose
'World'. The first item in the menu is “Landmark this place”. Choose that, and now you have
a landmark in your inventory. In the future, just open the Places icon on the left side of your screen and you will
see the landmark for Cypris Village IV. Just double click the landmark to go to Cypris
Village IV any time.
To sit in the English conversation group, you will use the right button on your mouse
to open a small menu for the chairs. So right click on the chair, and here is your menu.
One of the menu options will be “sit here.” Click, and your avatar will sit in the chair.
Sometimes there are avatars you cannot see right away. A chair might seem empty, but
maybe it is not empty. If you teleport to the chat area, please wait at least one minute
before you choose a chair to sit in. You don't want to sit on another avatar by mistake!
The orange chairs are for speaking participation. The blue seats are for observing or if you
are having problems with your audio.
You can make friends in Second Life just like any other social networking site. There are
a few ways you can make friends. If the other person is nearby, you can just right click
on his or her avatar and choose “Add Friend”. The other person can accept or reject your
offer. If the other person's avatar is not near you, you can search for them using the
search function. Type the avatar's name and search. Open the person's profile and you
will see the button for 'Add Friend'. At the top of the screen you can see the category
“Communicate”. Open this and choose “Friends”. A window will open showing you nearby avatars,
your friends list, the groups where you are a member, and any recent activity. If the
avatar is nearby, just right click with your right mouse button and choose “Add Friend.”
Remember, the other person must accept your offer before you are friends.
You can friend me. I will always accept a friend offer from somebody in Cypris Chat
or Dongguk University. Maybe I don't know you, though, so it's probably a good idea
to send me an IM, an instant message, first, to tell me you want to be friends! If I don't
know you are with Cypris, or I don't know you are with Dongguk University, I might reject
your offer because you didn't tell me in advance. To send an instant message, an IM, do the
same thing as 'Add Friend'. Click on the avatar and choose “IM”. An Instant Message window
will open and you can type your message. You can also open the 'Communicate', 'Friends',
'Nearby' and then right click and chose “IM” and it will open an Instant Message window.
After we become friends, you can see when I'm online. If you want to chat, ask me! Sometimes
I am busy, but if I'm not busy, I will be glad to chat with you!