On 19/10/2012 10:14, Elena ``of Valhalla'' wrote:
you can't expect people from the project to speak French, German,
Italian, Spanish, Polish and every other language spoken whenever
people want to form a local OSM community (or just map).
That is why intermediaries are needed - and why the English speakers
must learn to accept the need for international intermediation.
* When there is an important announce in this mailing list it only takes a few
hours for it to be posted on the italian ML, usually translated.
Yes - and it does not happen magically.
What the foundation/project could do is to setup a framework
so that the local communities can form translation teams
that could be used when there is a need to send a private
message to some member.
No, this is not just about translation. International intermediaries are
not transparent translation devices - they are not human instances of
Google Translate.
This is about intercultural relationships - much more complicated than
mere translation. We don't just have different languages, we have
different cultures - which means different values, different
institutions, different practices.
Of course, we also have common languages, common cultures, common
values, common institutions and common practices - which is how we
manage to move this project forward.
But at the international level, we can't expect the differences to
spontaneously vanish into the new world order. Some of them do - the
Internet does create such magic, but some remain and we have no way
forward unless we manage that diversity for the greater good.
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