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Germany is fine with you not being able to ingest their documentation. If there is ever a need to do anything it would be the need for you to learn German and t

Germany is fine with you not being able to ingest their documentation. If there is ever a need to do anything it would be the need for you to learn German and the need for anyone monolingual to learn a second language. The more balance in the world the better place it would be.

benhurmarcel 6y ago
I agree with your point on principle, but to balance a bit: I'm trilingual but don't (yet) speak German. Yes there's no fair reason why English should be the standard language, but there's value in a standard language and that's the closest we have. Edit: I'm not American and English isn't my native language
- kreeben 6y ago
  I empathize with you. But I reject that it should fall upon Germany to learn English for your convenience or that the task of translating their texts should fall upon them. I guess I reacted (perhaps poorly) to GP's statement that Germany "really should start documenting their tech in English" which to me sounded rather preposterous.
  - sneak 6y ago
    Germany already learned English. There is approximately no-one in Germany under 30-40 who doesn't speak a little English.
  - Chris2048 6y ago
    How does Germany ingest technologies from outside Germany? Is all tech in DE home-grown?
- d26900 6y ago
  Authors addendum: This post was a mistake on my part. Please downvote this post. Thank you! I would rather have a retract option, but there is none here on HN. Original post: Apologies to you on behalf of people who made you feel uncomfortable. Full disclosure: I had (still have?) negative biases/sentiments/stereotypes towards Americans: being ignorant, self-absorbed, reckless, careless etc. And this almost made me have a knee-jerk reaction to the expressed desire to make the content in question available in English. As if I am tired of you Americans Americanizing everything you touch[2]. This sentiment is also expressed in Ramstein's song "Amerika"[3]. But that's why it is called a "stereotype". I shouldn't stereotype a population of +300 m out of a small sample size (that includes YouTube/Twitter too). I lose a lot of potential good/bad experiences if I continue to do that. And even if, for the sake of the argument, 90% match my silly stereotype, I still should have an optimistic modus operandi. Pessimism/cynicism is a counterproductive trait. You should be an optimist[1]. But putting all that aside, what makes you think that the inquirer is an American? He could be a French person knowing Japanese and Russian besides English. Anyhow, we shouldn't follow protectionist policies. Nothing good comes out of that. We should be thankful/appreciative to people who are willing to share content with others (open source, creative commons, etc.). References: [1] Algorithms to Live By [2] https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2021/01/04/report-playstation-brand-decline-playstation-japan-research-firm-concerned/ https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2021/01/04/report-plays... [3] https://youtu.be/Rr8ljRgcJNM https://youtu.be/Rr8ljRgcJNM Edit: for the people who take issue with my post here: I would appreciate a feedback on why my post is counterproductive/bad. Thank you!
  - benhurmarcel 6y ago
    I am not sure you meant to answer to my comment, because I didn't mention feeling uncomfortable, and didn't take any guess about anyone's nationality. Also I'm not American, I edited my comment to clear that up.
  - d26900 6y ago
    You're right, benhurmarcel. My input here has come to nothing, and it wasn't a good input to begin with. I wish there was a retract option.

benhurmarcel 6y ago

I agree with your point on principle, but to balance a bit: I'm trilingual but don't (yet) speak German. Yes there's no fair reason why English should be the standard language, but there's value in a standard language and that's the closest we have. Edit: I'm not American and English isn't my native language

kreeben 6y ago
I empathize with you. But I reject that it should fall upon Germany to learn English for your convenience or that the task of translating their texts should fall upon them. I guess I reacted (perhaps poorly) to GP's statement that Germany "really should start documenting their tech in English" which to me sounded rather preposterous.
- sneak 6y ago
  Germany already learned English. There is approximately no-one in Germany under 30-40 who doesn't speak a little English.
- Chris2048 6y ago
  How does Germany ingest technologies from outside Germany? Is all tech in DE home-grown?
d26900 6y ago
Authors addendum: This post was a mistake on my part. Please downvote this post. Thank you! I would rather have a retract option, but there is none here on HN. Original post: Apologies to you on behalf of people who made you feel uncomfortable. Full disclosure: I had (still have?) negative biases/sentiments/stereotypes towards Americans: being ignorant, self-absorbed, reckless, careless etc. And this almost made me have a knee-jerk reaction to the expressed desire to make the content in question available in English. As if I am tired of you Americans Americanizing everything you touch[2]. This sentiment is also expressed in Ramstein's song "Amerika"[3]. But that's why it is called a "stereotype". I shouldn't stereotype a population of +300 m out of a small sample size (that includes YouTube/Twitter too). I lose a lot of potential good/bad experiences if I continue to do that. And even if, for the sake of the argument, 90% match my silly stereotype, I still should have an optimistic modus operandi. Pessimism/cynicism is a counterproductive trait. You should be an optimist[1]. But putting all that aside, what makes you think that the inquirer is an American? He could be a French person knowing Japanese and Russian besides English. Anyhow, we shouldn't follow protectionist policies. Nothing good comes out of that. We should be thankful/appreciative to people who are willing to share content with others (open source, creative commons, etc.). References: [1] Algorithms to Live By [2] https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2021/01/04/report-playstation-brand-decline-playstation-japan-research-firm-concerned/ https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2021/01/04/report-plays... [3] https://youtu.be/Rr8ljRgcJNM https://youtu.be/Rr8ljRgcJNM Edit: for the people who take issue with my post here: I would appreciate a feedback on why my post is counterproductive/bad. Thank you!
- benhurmarcel 6y ago
  I am not sure you meant to answer to my comment, because I didn't mention feeling uncomfortable, and didn't take any guess about anyone's nationality. Also I'm not American, I edited my comment to clear that up.
- d26900 6y ago
  You're right, benhurmarcel. My input here has come to nothing, and it wasn't a good input to begin with. I wish there was a retract option.