Hi,
This sounds great !
Yes, these are the usual problems. Some people think that by teaching
computers in English... the students will learn English. The result is
that they do not learn computers and they do not learn English. Computer
scientists, all over the world... tend to be the worst enemies of
localization, they do not accept the localized terminology (they think
it is funny) and do not see the problem of children who do not speak
English...
The best advice is to give to them OpenOffice in a language and script
that they cannot understand (Khmer !), and see how much they can learn.
I used to start conferences speaking in Spanish, so that nobody would
understand, and - after a minute everybody would be frustrated - and
understand quickly the problem of language.
Maybe the strategy is to start for the first minute with slides of
OpenOffice in Khmer :-) and then explain to them that this is the same
feeling that children have when they see interfaces in English.
Another point that I sometimes make is that computer English is
completely different from conversational English. If you feels the
children's heads with complex computer concepts in English, you have not
advanced anything towards helping them speak, understand or read real
English for conversation or learning.
In Cambodia the education system has changed to OpenOffice BECAUSE it
was in Khmer, otherwise it would have been much more difficult.
Best of luck !
Cheers,
Javier
Vu Do Quynh wrote
Javier SOLA a écrit :
Dear all,
I just came back form an ASEMEO (ASEAN Ministries of Education meeting).
The representatives of the Ministry of Education of Vietnam had a big
poster saying that they wil only use OpenOffice in schools, and
confirmed to me that the decission is official. It is great news ! The
pity is that they will use the English version :-(
Hi,
Yes I am aware of this situation and I'm fighting to promote the use of
the VN's localized version.
Today we will have a preparation meeting with the national television
channel VTV2. There will be about 30 tutorials broadcasts of about 30
min. each on OpenOffice.org that are planned for this year. Already we
had discussions on which version to use: English US or Vietnamese.
Usually informaticians like to use the English version (due to English
knowledge et better acknowledgement of English technical terms vs their
VN counterparts). Also there is an established custom of using (pirated)
software in English and available manuals are commonly developed in
Vietnamese but using screenshots of English versions of softwares.
This is because until now you did'nt had the choice between different
languages of one piece of software, like it is often the case with FOSS
softwares.
Thus it is rowing against the mainstream to wish to implement the use of
Vietnamized OpenOffice.org. However good sense says that if you work for
the people and want to promote IT use in poor areas, then you better
choose a localized software whenever available. I'll see if government
deciders are logical with their choice of serving the people or not.
Regards
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