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> What you are saying goes beyond software, should all books be in English? Should all content on the Internet be written in English? Yes. > In my opinion it

by Crinus 8y ago

> What you are saying goes beyond software, should all books be in English? Should all content on the Internet be written in English? Yes. > In my opinion it would create a really sad mono-culture... Each language carry part of its history and culture that can't be translated at all. That history and culture is only relevant to those who are interested in history and cultures, not to everyone. I am not against this, nor against other languages. People can still use English as a second language, i am talking about having a common language so we can communicate with each other, not a single language. > It would also prevent a big part of the population to access any content. Even if you apply it to software only, it means that a big part of the world wouldn't be able to use any of those. My point is that that population should learn to at least read English so that not only they will be able to use the software, but also read the texts from other people outside the silo that their own native language creates. > Now, if the software that you need to use to be able to learn English are in English, that becomes even more of an issue... No, the software to learn English can be in any language. In fact i'd rather see all the effort that goes into internationalization and localization to be placed instead into creating better software, tutorials, documentation and other materials for software that teaches people English. > Also, why English in particular? For a huge amount of the world population it requires to learn a new alphabet. It becomes a much more complex requirement. Because it is already used as i mention by a very large number of people, especially around computers. The alphabet isn't a big issue, as i wrote above, i had to learn it myself and English has one of the most compact and easy to learn alphabets.

ssnistfajen 8y ago
In the future perhaps humans will move towards a more common language but if you answer "yes" to the questions "Should all books be in English?" and "Should all content on the Internet be written in English?" then it isn't any different than variations of cultural chauvinism throughout documented human history. Nobody is obligated to go through the hassle of learning a new language just because someone else wanted that knowledge (volunteering to share, however, is perfectly fine). Otherwise it is a blatant infringement of personal freedom. Multilingualism should also be multi-directional instead of converging towards a single language, but that is obviously something unnoticed by a lot of Anglos who for one reason or another have decided their language and culture should trump over all else.
- Crinus 8y ago
  I'm not interested in whatever cultural issues some might have, especially since people put too much irrational emotion in their language. Languages are primarily a tool for communication and i am interested in the practicality of improving that communication - if two people speak different languages and without any common one, they simply cannot communicate. I do not care if it would be English, Chinese, French or whatever else, that choice is irrelevant. I only said Yes to English because of its popularity, widespread use among many different countries and its position when it comes to computers (which was my original point above).

by Crinus 8y ago

ssnistfajen 8y ago

In the future perhaps humans will move towards a more common language but if you answer "yes" to the questions "Should all books be in English?" and "Should all content on the Internet be written in English?" then it isn't any different than variations of cultural chauvinism throughout documented human history. Nobody is obligated to go through the hassle of learning a new language just because someone else wanted that knowledge (volunteering to share, however, is perfectly fine). Otherwise it is a blatant infringement of personal freedom. Multilingualism should also be multi-directional instead of converging towards a single language, but that is obviously something unnoticed by a lot of Anglos who for one reason or another have decided their language and culture should trump over all else.

Crinus 8y ago
I'm not interested in whatever cultural issues some might have, especially since people put too much irrational emotion in their language. Languages are primarily a tool for communication and i am interested in the practicality of improving that communication - if two people speak different languages and without any common one, they simply cannot communicate. I do not care if it would be English, Chinese, French or whatever else, that choice is irrelevant. I only said Yes to English because of its popularity, widespread use among many different countries and its position when it comes to computers (which was my original point above).