4 ms·

> if it is not being translated into English, there are big chances it is not worth reading That's such a close-minded view of things, and that's also assuming

by Zababa 5y ago

> if it is not being translated into English, there are big chances it is not worth reading That's such a close-minded view of things, and that's also assuming that translation is not a lossy process.

DiggyJohnson 5y ago
This is not the strongest interpretation of what GP was trying to say. You are assuming you know more about what this individual wants to read that the individual yourself, just to make a very obvious statement that presumably everybody in this thread is already aware of.
- Zababa 5y ago
  I think it is. As someone that learned English too (French is my first language), I know how much it expends your world. You suddenly have access to a wealth of knowledge, resources, media that you didn't have before. However, I would never say something like: > if it is not being translated into English, there are big chances it is not worth reading English may be the language with the most written text (altough I'm not even sure of that), but that's still a fraction of what humanity produced. Dismissing the rest as "probably not worth reading" makes no sense to me. That doesn't prevent me for recognizing that for exemple knowing English is a big advantage in software, since there are more resources and they are often higher quality than what I can find in French. The keyword here being "often". Not "always". And that's taking a very "technical" and "easy to translate" domain. When taking into account culture and all of that, I know that people that can't understand French miss a lot of French culture. Just like I know that I miss lots of culture from languages I don't understand.
eimrine 5y ago
I so much love when somebody judges :) My reading goals are mostly whitepapers from few scientifical areas I am trying to follow, what can be more open-minded? Of course, if you are talking about some sophisticated fiction, you are going to experience giant losses of content, usefullness of which may be not so high for such me then for you. And by the way, if it is needed to read something being translated from a language I do not know, I'd rather search for the one has been translated into my mother language.
- Zababa 5y ago
  The judgement is a reaction to yours, that "if it is not being translated into English, there are big chances it is not worth reading". This is a textbook example of being close-minded, and implies two things: a narrow view of the world, "things that don't cross cultural borders to reach the english-speaking/reading population are rarely worth reading" ; and the lack of any language-specific things. > My reading goals are mostly whitepapers from few scientifical areas I am trying to follow, what can be more open-minded? Considering that things can be both out of your reach and worth reading would be more open-minded than your current stance. > Of course, if you are talking about some sophisticated fiction, you are going to experience giant losses of content, usefullness of which may be not so high for such me then for you. This is not only about "some sophisticated fiction". An example from the tech world: "Le Langage Caml", a textbook on OCaml, doesn't have an English version. This leaves a hole for people interested in OCaml that can't read French, since this book is a great way to start with the language, and there aren't many book on the topic in the first place. > And by the way, if it is needed to read something being translated from a language I do not know, I'd rather search for the one has been translated into my mother language. That's fair, but as I've said, often some things are lost in translation. People from different countries will not always speak in ways that map perfectly well to English. Even with a relatively close culture and language here in France, translating the degrees of formality/informality that people have when talking together is hard. This is why sometimes people take entire movies and transpose them to another country: you can't just translate everything. This is even happening with the UK and the USA, two countries that mostly share a language. But just sharing that language isn't enough to understand how people live, how they think, how they express themselves, what they value. Now, you may not be interested in all of that. That's fine. But don't dismiss it as "not worth".
- DiggyJohnson 5y ago
  Ignore individuals that assume you don’t know what you’re talking about, when you’re talking about yourself. The point you’re making about the access of English is very interesting, and has very little to do with this criticism.

by Zababa 5y ago

DiggyJohnson 5y ago

This is not the strongest interpretation of what GP was trying to say. You are assuming you know more about what this individual wants to read that the individual yourself, just to make a very obvious statement that presumably everybody in this thread is already aware of.

Zababa 5y ago
I think it is. As someone that learned English too (French is my first language), I know how much it expends your world. You suddenly have access to a wealth of knowledge, resources, media that you didn't have before. However, I would never say something like: > if it is not being translated into English, there are big chances it is not worth reading English may be the language with the most written text (altough I'm not even sure of that), but that's still a fraction of what humanity produced. Dismissing the rest as "probably not worth reading" makes no sense to me. That doesn't prevent me for recognizing that for exemple knowing English is a big advantage in software, since there are more resources and they are often higher quality than what I can find in French. The keyword here being "often". Not "always". And that's taking a very "technical" and "easy to translate" domain. When taking into account culture and all of that, I know that people that can't understand French miss a lot of French culture. Just like I know that I miss lots of culture from languages I don't understand.

eimrine 5y ago

I so much love when somebody judges :) My reading goals are mostly whitepapers from few scientifical areas I am trying to follow, what can be more open-minded? Of course, if you are talking about some sophisticated fiction, you are going to experience giant losses of content, usefullness of which may be not so high for such me then for you. And by the way, if it is needed to read something being translated from a language I do not know, I'd rather search for the one has been translated into my mother language.

Zababa 5y ago
The judgement is a reaction to yours, that "if it is not being translated into English, there are big chances it is not worth reading". This is a textbook example of being close-minded, and implies two things: a narrow view of the world, "things that don't cross cultural borders to reach the english-speaking/reading population are rarely worth reading" ; and the lack of any language-specific things. > My reading goals are mostly whitepapers from few scientifical areas I am trying to follow, what can be more open-minded? Considering that things can be both out of your reach and worth reading would be more open-minded than your current stance. > Of course, if you are talking about some sophisticated fiction, you are going to experience giant losses of content, usefullness of which may be not so high for such me then for you. This is not only about "some sophisticated fiction". An example from the tech world: "Le Langage Caml", a textbook on OCaml, doesn't have an English version. This leaves a hole for people interested in OCaml that can't read French, since this book is a great way to start with the language, and there aren't many book on the topic in the first place. > And by the way, if it is needed to read something being translated from a language I do not know, I'd rather search for the one has been translated into my mother language. That's fair, but as I've said, often some things are lost in translation. People from different countries will not always speak in ways that map perfectly well to English. Even with a relatively close culture and language here in France, translating the degrees of formality/informality that people have when talking together is hard. This is why sometimes people take entire movies and transpose them to another country: you can't just translate everything. This is even happening with the UK and the USA, two countries that mostly share a language. But just sharing that language isn't enough to understand how people live, how they think, how they express themselves, what they value. Now, you may not be interested in all of that. That's fine. But don't dismiss it as "not worth".
DiggyJohnson 5y ago
Ignore individuals that assume you don’t know what you’re talking about, when you’re talking about yourself. The point you’re making about the access of English is very interesting, and has very little to do with this criticism.