5 ms·

Can i translate this series in Portuguese? I think that would help a lot of coders that i know, but they can't read english.

tcbawo 6y ago
Off topic, but do the programmers you know that can't read English struggle using programming languages and libraries where the keywords, class, variable, and function names are primarily in English? I'm curious how beginning or ESL programmers manage. Are there ecospheres where they can manage using only their first languages?
- dontTango 6y ago
  Variables and nouns are easy to translate. Sentence meaning is significantly harder.
- 411111111111111 6y ago
  There is a vast difference between people that don't fluidly read/speak English and people that can't be arsed to learn what the 20 English keywords mean a programming language might use.
  - swirepe 6y ago
    20 keywords, but what about EscapeString, or SpringContextIntegrationTest? A program can use a lot of English words.
    - 411111111111111 6y ago
      How does a cord for fleeing tell you anything about what it actually is? Both of your examples bring very little meaning from their English definition. You just know a second definition in the context of programming, which is why you can deduce what it does. The same applies to the people that don't fluidly speak the language.
      - adwn 6y ago
        I'm not a native English speaker, but most of what I read on a day-to-day basis is in English. And yet, whenever I see or hear the term "string", I associate it with "sequence of characters", not with "cord". Same goes for "thread", but even more strongly [1] So I agree, you don't have to speak fluent English to be able to read and write programs. Knowledge of English grammar won't help (except for reading comments – if they exist...), and the vocabulary is small, specialized, and has little to do with colloquial language. [1] Or should it be "...even stronger"? I don't think so, because it refers to the verb "goes", so it should be an adverb, right?
    - lifthrasiir 6y ago
      I've seen several coding conventions that prohibit the use of past perfect aspect in boolean query methods (e.g. `checked`) in favor of an explicit auxiliary verb (e.g. `didCheck`). Also sophisticated concepts frequently get transliterated. 20 might be a stretch but less than 1000 is not that impossible.
    - pjmlp 6y ago
      Easy, you would code it in your own language. Here in Europe is quite common to be faced with programs where everything written in-house uses the local language, including comments, only the third party libraries use English. I already had a couple of consulting gigs where what got me the deal was my knowledge of the specific (human) languages being used.
- dopp0 6y ago
  This is pretty common in Brazil, there is a lot of people that are able to master the syntax, but cannot fully understand an article in English. That's why I always recommend then to have at least invest a little in technical English, as the resources in Portuguese usually are scarce and outdated.
d0mine 6y ago
Are there people who would be interested in how Python works at the C level but can't read English easily? I've encountered programmers who are not fluent in English (e.g., some of the audience of non-English StackOverflow) but they don't seem to be a curious type (for whatever reason)
- doteka 6y ago
  I’d say anyone curious would have learned English already. (Before I get bashed for this, I speak 3 languages well and 4 more poorly, English is my third. It really isn’t a difficult language to learn when all American media and most of computing uses it.)
  - d0mine 6y ago
    I agree. It is ok that my comment above is downvoted but It would nice to hear any counter arguments (it is hard for me to imagine a passionate programmer who can't learn English).
    - edgyquant 6y ago
      The counter argument is that the GP literally said they know people who are interested but don’t speak English.
      - d0mine 6y ago
        "would help" and "are interested" seems like different categories.
    - tjpnz 6y ago
      I'll give you two: Language learning is difficult and your success with one language has a lot to do with what you speak natively. I've heard that Italian speakers for instance can pick up English with relative ease compared with someone who grew up speaking Japanese. People also have different priorities in life. Past high school and university you've got a career and possibly a family to attend to. Finding enough time to learn another language would be a big ask for many.
r4victor 6y ago
Yes! Feel free to do that.

tcbawo 6y ago

Off topic, but do the programmers you know that can't read English struggle using programming languages and libraries where the keywords, class, variable, and function names are primarily in English? I'm curious how beginning or ESL programmers manage. Are there ecospheres where they can manage using only their first languages?

dontTango 6y ago
Variables and nouns are easy to translate. Sentence meaning is significantly harder.
411111111111111 6y ago
There is a vast difference between people that don't fluidly read/speak English and people that can't be arsed to learn what the 20 English keywords mean a programming language might use.
- swirepe 6y ago
  20 keywords, but what about EscapeString, or SpringContextIntegrationTest? A program can use a lot of English words.
  - 411111111111111 6y ago
    How does a cord for fleeing tell you anything about what it actually is? Both of your examples bring very little meaning from their English definition. You just know a second definition in the context of programming, which is why you can deduce what it does. The same applies to the people that don't fluidly speak the language.
    - adwn 6y ago
      I'm not a native English speaker, but most of what I read on a day-to-day basis is in English. And yet, whenever I see or hear the term "string", I associate it with "sequence of characters", not with "cord". Same goes for "thread", but even more strongly [1] So I agree, you don't have to speak fluent English to be able to read and write programs. Knowledge of English grammar won't help (except for reading comments – if they exist...), and the vocabulary is small, specialized, and has little to do with colloquial language. [1] Or should it be "...even stronger"? I don't think so, because it refers to the verb "goes", so it should be an adverb, right?
  - lifthrasiir 6y ago
    I've seen several coding conventions that prohibit the use of past perfect aspect in boolean query methods (e.g. `checked`) in favor of an explicit auxiliary verb (e.g. `didCheck`). Also sophisticated concepts frequently get transliterated. 20 might be a stretch but less than 1000 is not that impossible.
  - pjmlp 6y ago
    Easy, you would code it in your own language. Here in Europe is quite common to be faced with programs where everything written in-house uses the local language, including comments, only the third party libraries use English. I already had a couple of consulting gigs where what got me the deal was my knowledge of the specific (human) languages being used.
dopp0 6y ago
This is pretty common in Brazil, there is a lot of people that are able to master the syntax, but cannot fully understand an article in English. That's why I always recommend then to have at least invest a little in technical English, as the resources in Portuguese usually are scarce and outdated.

d0mine 6y ago

Are there people who would be interested in how Python works at the C level but can't read English easily? I've encountered programmers who are not fluent in English (e.g., some of the audience of non-English StackOverflow) but they don't seem to be a curious type (for whatever reason)

doteka 6y ago
I’d say anyone curious would have learned English already. (Before I get bashed for this, I speak 3 languages well and 4 more poorly, English is my third. It really isn’t a difficult language to learn when all American media and most of computing uses it.)
- d0mine 6y ago
  I agree. It is ok that my comment above is downvoted but It would nice to hear any counter arguments (it is hard for me to imagine a passionate programmer who can't learn English).
  - edgyquant 6y ago
    The counter argument is that the GP literally said they know people who are interested but don’t speak English.
    - d0mine 6y ago
      "would help" and "are interested" seems like different categories.
  - tjpnz 6y ago
    I'll give you two: Language learning is difficult and your success with one language has a lot to do with what you speak natively. I've heard that Italian speakers for instance can pick up English with relative ease compared with someone who grew up speaking Japanese. People also have different priorities in life. Past high school and university you've got a career and possibly a family to attend to. Finding enough time to learn another language would be a big ask for many.

r4victor 6y ago

Yes! Feel free to do that.