In a similar vein, all aviation radio communication must be conducted in English. There is even more of an overriding need there due to safety, but it is driven by similar realities.
In addition to historical origins, the bulk of original and continued core participants being English only or at least primarily sharing English as the only viable option, the following statistics may indicate why English will remain the best choice for a common language: http://www2.ignatius.edu/faculty/turner/languages.htm Thus, if you add the secondary speaker populations to the primary speaker populations, you get the following (and I believe more accurate) list: (number of speakers in parentheses) 1. *Mandarin Chinese* (1.12 billion) 2. *English* (480 million) 3. *Spanish* (320 million) 4. *Russian* (285 million) 5. *French* (265 million) 6. *Hindi/Urdu *(250 million) 7. *Arabic* (221 million) 8. *Portuguese* (188 million) 9. *Bengali* (185 million) 10. *Japanese* (133 million) 11. *German* (109 million) The following is a list of these languages in terms of the number of countries where each is spoken. The number that follows is the total number of countries that use that language (from Weber, 1997): 1. *English* (115) 2. *French* (35) 3. *Arabic* (24) 4. *Spanish* (20) 5. *Russian* (16) 6. *German* (9) 7. *Mandarin* (5) 8. *Portuguese* (5) 9. *Hindi/Urdu *(2) 10. *Bengali* (1) 11. *Japanese* (1) The number of countries includes /core countries/ (where the language has full legal or official status), /outer core countries / (where the language has some legal or official status and is an influential minority language, such as English in India or French in Algeria)/, /and /fringe/ /countries/ (where the language has no legal status, but is an influential minority language in trade, tourism, and the preferred foreign language of the young, such as English in Japan or French in Romania). For a complete breakdown of each and an accompanying chart, click here <http://www2.ignatius.edu/faculty/turner/worldlang.htm>. After weighing six factors (number of primary speakers, number of secondary speakers, number and population of countries where used, number of major fields using the language internationally, economic power of countries using the languages, and socio-literary prestige), Weber compiled the following list of the world's ten most influential languages: (number of points given in parentheses) 1. *English *(37) 2. *French* (23) 3. *Spanish* (20) 4. *Russian* (16) 5. *Arabic* (14) 6. *Chinese* (13) 7. *German* (12) 8. *Japanese* (10) 9. *Portuguese* (10) 10. *Hindi/Urdu* (9) sdw On 11/11/16 7:27 AM, jan i wrote: > I mostly listen on this list, but being international I simply cannot let > this go un responded. > > I never said English will bring in more users than China. I *did* say that > if you want more international/cross-border users, you will need to use a > more international language. Outside of China I will also say that the > rest of the world mostly does not know Chinese. > > I politely think some demographics are really incorrect here…there are > quite a lot of people who speak Chinese outside China (and not only Chinese > people living Abroad). Take a good look at the eastern countries and you > will hear a lot of Chinese. Of course in these countries it is not the main > language, but bear in mind english is also not the main language in quite a > number of countries. > > If we look at which language is most international as in spoken by most > people, then english is not on top of the list, languages like Spanish and > Chinese surpass english. > > For the record, I am a messaging lover. I am a committer/PMC on ActiveMQ, > and I love to play with Kafka and other MQs outside the ASF such as > RabbitMQ. I can honestly tell you directly that if your discussions are in > Chinese, I will likely never play with your software. Now based on your > tone, I am guessing that likely you do not care. That is fine. But there > are a lot of folks who will be in the same boat as me. *You* need to > define on who your want your audience to be. > > Well remember by that saying “english” you exclude e.g. people that do not > speak english, so is that really better. > > Instead of making this a dog-fight whether english is THE language, we > should think about how to make tools that embrace at least the big language > groups. Apache Software Foundation has its roots in the US, but even in the > US you find large groups that speak other languages, and I sure hope ASF > embraces the world independent of race, gender …. and language. > > I’m not really sure of why you are coming to members@ asking advice, then > getting defensive to those about answers that you don’t want to hear. What > responses were you looking for? Were you looking that the rest of the > members who mostly don’t speak Chinese to answer that its a great idea? If > this is the attitude you will take, then you are wasting our time in > attempting to answer you. > > > I for one, think this is an excellent theme for members@, do we really want > to limit ASF to only embrace english speaking communities…at least that was > not the ASF I saw when I joined. > > rgds > jan I. > > On 11 November 2016 at 08:14, Jeff Genender <jgenen...@apache.org> wrote: > >> I would think that English is generally used because its the most >> international language, not because its the most used in the world. Thus >> it helps cross borders for communication. At the end of the day, I think >> you need to look at your community and ask if you want it to cross borders >> or not. Do you want worldwide contribution (and adoption)? I can tell you >> that I glean a lot of information from the mail lists when I run into >> problems or issues using Apache software. If the discussions are in >> Chinese, you may miss a lot of people who can be a part of the discussion >> from outside of China. I think you really need to think about who you want >> your users to be and how you want your product adopted. >> >> In addition, this is an incubated project. AFAICT, the champion doesn’t >> speak Chinese, and I am wild-guessing maybe 2 of the mentors do. This >> means the other mentors may have a difficult time steering the project when >> they are needed. It makes it difficult for the champion to asses any >> problems without having someone notify him of a translated issue. In the >> unlikely event that the project requires input from the incubation PMC or, >> the board for that matter, it would be very difficult to get a proper >> insight into the issues without have solid knowledge of the language. >> >> I personally don’t know of any rule or regulation that locks down a >> language and perhaps a board member can chime in on that. But my .02 is >> that if I were bringing a project to Apache, my thoughts about community >> would be getting as many people and users involved as possible. If you >> don’t use a more cross-border/international language, then I believe that >> you may ultimately be hindering your project beyond your borders. I think >> that would be a shame. OTOH, maybe your desire is to keep RocketMQ a >> Chinese piece of software. I guess that is ok too… but I would be >> interested in why. >> >> Just my usual .02. >> >> Jeff >> >> On Nov 10, 2016, at 11:53 PM, Tom Barber <t...@spicule.co.uk> wrote: >> >> I believe I saw something the other day where someone was talking about >> diverse languages on mailing lists. personally I think it's okay but >> obviously it decreases the chance of participation of others. >> >> of course the old saying "if it wasn't discussed on the list it never >> happened" didn't mention the language. >> >> Thought must be taken for jira and code comments as well. how would non >> Chinese speaking people follow development? >> >> On 11 Nov 2016 06:45, "Reynold Xin" <r...@apache.org> wrote: >> >>> Adding members@ >>> >>> On Thu, Nov 10, 2016 at 10:40 PM, Reynold Xin <r...@apache.org> wrote: >>> >>>> To play devil's advocate: is it OK for Apache projects that consist >>>> primarily of Chinese developers to communicate in Chinese? Or put it >>>> differently -- is it a requirement that all communications must be in >>>> English? >>>> >>>> I can see an inclusiveness argument for having to use English, as >>> English >>>> is one of the most common languages. However, many talented software >>>> developers in China don't have the sufficient level of proficiency when >>> it >>>> comes to English, as the penetration rate of English in China is much >>> lower >>>> than other countries. It is as hard for Chinese speakers to learn >>> English >>>> as for English speakers to learn Chinese. >>>> >>>> One can certainly argue forcing everybody to use English will also >>> exclude >>>> those Chinese developers, and from the perspective of the number of >>> native >>>> speakers, Mandarin (a Chinese dialect) outnumbers English 3 to 1 >>> according >>>> to Wikipedia. >>>> >>>> Similar argument also applies to Japanese, and many other countries, >>>> except the number of Chinese speakers is much larger. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> On Thu, Nov 10, 2016 at 10:18 PM, Luke Han <luke...@apache.org> wrote: >>>> >>>>> Hi Gunnar, >>>>> >>>>> I don't think your point is right, one community's problem (maybe not >>>>> real, >>>>> but just >>>>> refer to what you mentioned) could NOT represent all contributions from >>>>> China, >>>>> or any other territories from all of the world. >>>>> >>>>> This will misleading people to ignore contributions from Chinese and >>> LABEL >>>>> for such >>>>> contributors and committers..as your pattern, there are tons of >>> "issue" to >>>>> describe like >>>>> Russian Contribution, German Contributions, Canada contribution or >>>>> others... >>>>> that's not right way. >>>>> >>>>> Yes, Chinese people are not native English speakers, but they are >>>>> contributing to >>>>> most of the ASF projects and others foundation projects very much, >>>>> involved >>>>> in many >>>>> discussion, development, decision and others deeply. >>>>> >>>>> Let's try to talk with some data, here's summary about last 31 days >>>>> mailing >>>>> list activity from lists.apache.org [1]: >>>>> >>>>> Project | Emails | Topics | Participants >>>>> HBase | 610 | 406 | 100 >>>>> Spark | 412 | 88 | 124 >>>>> Kylin | 294 | 144 | 61 >>>>> CarbonData | 852 | 250 | 116 >>>>> HAWQ | 284 | 109 | 57 >>>>> Trafodion | 87 | 20 | 25 >>>>> >>>>> There are many Chinese people are participating in these projects, you >>>>> could check >>>>> each one and see how Chinese people are discussing within mailing list. >>>>> >>>>> It's really not easy for Chinese people, they have to find out a way to >>>>> access >>>>> gmail or others since there's GFW, they are not native English >>> speakers, >>>>> they have limited experiences for open source especially the Apache >>> Way. >>>>> But they are willing to contribute, willing to participate global >>>>> community, and try >>>>> their best to learn and follow The Apache Way. We should have the >>> patience >>>>> for >>>>> those new comers. >>>>> >>>>> As one thing I'm doing now is try to let more people to know our >>> journey, >>>>> our experience >>>>> about how to follow the Apache Way, how we overcome such >>>>> challenges...through >>>>> conference, events, meetup, blog, book and so on...and also helping >>> many >>>>> potential projects >>>>> who are interesting to join Apache family. >>>>> >>>>> I would like suggest to change this topic to something like "Help >>>>> Trafodion >>>>> community" >>>>> which will help to focus on real issue and your concern (Does Trafodion >>>>> PMC >>>>> know >>>>> this concern?) I'm very happy to help...share with you many articles, >>>>> session recordings and >>>>> others about open source, even could try to do some face to face >>>>> discussion >>>>> if necessary:-) >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> [1] https://lists.apache.org <https://lists.apache.org> >>>>> >>>>> On Fri, Nov 11, 2016 at 3:00 AM, Gunnar Tapper < >>> tapper.gun...@gmail.com> >>>>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> Hi, >>>>>> >>>>>> Using the RocketMQ proposal to start a larger discussion. >>>>>> >>>>>> Apache Trafodion is another project that has a lot of contribution >>> from >>>>>> China. >>>>>> >>>>>> One of the struggles I've seen is that the contributors aren't that >>>>> active >>>>>> on email. Rather, they prefer to use a forum on QQ communicating in >>>>>> Chinese. >>>>>> >>>>>> I'm currently the release manager and I must admit that it's hard >>> not to >>>>>> see all discussions. Several of us are trying to encourage questions >>> etc >>>>>> via the email lists but users just prefer Chinese forums. >>>>>> >>>>>> I suspect that Apache will see more of this behavior moving forward, >>>>>> especially as other proposals come in. So, I'm hoping that members in >>>>> China >>>>>> can help advise on what can be done to address communication issues >>> like >>>>>> this. >>>>>> >>>>>> Thanks, >>>>>> >>>>>> Gunnar >>>>>> >>>>>> On Nov 5, 2016 12:21 PM, "Ross Gardler" <ross.gard...@microsoft.com> >>>>>> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> Some folks may remember my state of the feather session a couple of >>>>> years >>>>>> ago when I called for more awareness of the ASFs role in open source >>>>> beyond >>>>>> English speaking countries. This was prompted by a fact finding trip >>> to >>>>>> China. >>>>>> >>>>>> RocketMQ and the team behind it was one of the projects I talked to. >>> We >>>>>> discussed the Apache way at length, however I have not been involved >>>>> with >>>>>> this proposal. >>>>>> >>>>>> I'm excited to see this proposal. I hope we can bring this project >>> and >>>>>> welcome the excellent team I met in China into the foundation. We >>> will >>>>> need >>>>>> to work hard to ensure the project is a success. Like other China >>> born >>>>>> projects we will find that there are cultural differences that we >>> need >>>>> to >>>>>> understand, but this would not be the first time we, as a foundation >>>>> and as >>>>>> individuals, accept an opportunity to grow in this way. Having met >>> some >>>>> of >>>>>> the proposing team I am confident that with the right mentors the >>>>> project >>>>>> can succeed. >>>>>> >>>>>> Bruce, thanks for stepping up to help. >>>>>> >>>>>> Ross >>>>>> >>>>>> --- >>>>>> Twitter: @rgardler >>>>>> >>>>>> ________________________________ >>>>>> From: Bruce Snyder <bruce.sny...@gmail.com> >>>>>> Sent: Saturday, November 5, 2016 9:21:47 AM >>>>>> To: general@incubator.apache.org >>>>>> Subject: Re: [DISCUSS] RocketMQ Incubation Proposal >>>>>> >>>>>> Hi John, >>>>>> >>>>>> Proposals for new ASF projects are offered to this list for >>> constructive >>>>>> feedback. I am happy to help steer the RocketMQ proposal and project >>>>> using >>>>>> your suggestions. >>>>>> >>>>>> First, as explained previously in this discussion thread by Von >>> Gosling, >>>>>> there was some company IP that was mistakenly committed to the Github >>>>>> repository and through a '...unlucky... scavenging activity' the >>> history >>>>>> was >>>>>> erased, as Von put it. I interpret this to mean that someone's git-fu >>>>> went >>>>>> awry which unintentionally caused the history to be removed. Von also >>>>> gives >>>>>> further explanation of the project history in a response below. >>> Indeed, >>>>>> this is an unfortunate situation (and one that I've seen before with >>>>> git), >>>>>> but should this prevent the project from coming to the ASF to improve >>>>> and >>>>>> grow under the auspices of the ASF and The Apache Way? >>>>>> >>>>>> Second, regarding your statement: 'and its a bit surprising, since >>>>> Bruce is >>>>>> the chair of one of the competitors' -- All projects at the ASF exist >>>>>> together regardless of their focus and all projects needs good >>> mentors, >>>>>> regardless of whether they are seen as competing or not. My interest >>> in >>>>>> helping the RocketMQ project is no different than my interest in >>>>> continuing >>>>>> to be involved with the ActiveMQ project. I have nearly 15 years >>>>> experience >>>>>> at the ASF and I'm not here to play games and favor one project over >>>>>> another. I continue to be involved with the ASF to collaborate >>>>>> constructively with others on open source and to foster a community >>> of >>>>>> inclusiveness where we can all continually learn and grow. The ASF >>> is an >>>>>> inclusive place where even experienced projects can learn from new >>>>>> projects. As I've said for many years, we all come for code and stay >>> for >>>>>> the people. My intent is to use my experience to help a new project >>> and >>>>>> people to the ASF. >>>>>> >>>>>> Third, I think the two questions you have posed are both good >>>>> suggestions >>>>>> for discussion and debate and might even help to improve the >>> proposal. >>>>> Even >>>>>> if there are no solid answers today, I think these would also be >>> great >>>>>> ideas to debate around the code base and within the project moving >>>>> forward. >>>>>> I really like the idea of cross-pollination with the projects you >>>>> mentioned >>>>>> as well as others at the ASF. Since I have not worked on the RocketMQ >>>>> code >>>>>> base, I will allow Von to respond to two questions posed by John with >>>>> his >>>>>> thoughts: >>>>>> >>>>>> Von, can you please provide your thoughts on the following two >>> questions >>>>>> specifically: >>>>>> >>>>>> - How can RocketMQ work with the existing Kafka or ActiveMQ >>> communities >>>>> to >>>>>> build cross platform clients? >>>>>> - How can RocketMQ look to leverage Cassandra, Geode, Derby as >>> backend >>>>>> persistence stores? >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> Bruce >>>>>> >>>>>> On Fri, Nov 4, 2016 at 3:26 PM, John D. Ament < >>> john.d.am...@gmail.com> >>>>>> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>> On Fri, Nov 4, 2016 at 4:43 PM Roman Shaposhnik < >>> ro...@shaposhnik.org >>>>>>> wrote: >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> The proposal looks fine in general, but I'm slightly concerned >>>>> about: >>>>>>>> https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url= >>>>>> https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Falibaba%2FRocketMQ%2Fgraphs% >>>>>> 2Fcontributors&data=02%7C01%7CRoss.Gardler%40microsoft.com% >>>>>> 7Cd12890186efe4c6e60c908d40597dcff%7C72f988bf86f141af91ab2d7cd011 >>>>>> db47%7C1%7C0%7C636139597197176036&sdata=96ixj1Js5% >>>>>> 2BytkM0Pru7nABYfTTYimOP5se5POgOMleo%3D&reserved=0 >>>>>>>> It seems that the model so far has been -- through huge blobs of >>>>>>>> code over the wall. Given that the composition of initial >>> committers >>>>>>>> is all from Alibaba I hope their mentors will spend a lot of time >>>>>>>> making sure that "commit early, commit often" mentality prevails. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> In addition to that, I can't seem to reconcile the statement: >>>>>>>> "The source code was opened up in 2012." >>>>>>>> with what I see on GitHub. What am I missing? >>>>>>>> >>>>>>> So I think these are the same points I was bringing up as well. I >>>>>> suspect >>>>>>> its a case where there wasn't a ton of open source development on >>> the >>>>>>> product and it was kept internal. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> I'm still a bit leary about the "relationship with other apache >>>>> products" >>>>>>> section still. I'm not interested in seeing how a podling competes >>>>> with >>>>>>> other projects (and its a bit surprising, since Bruce is the chair >>> of >>>>> one >>>>>>> of the competitors), but instead how the podling has synergies with >>>>> the >>>>>>> other components. I raised that they're using ASF projects today >>> in >>>>>> their >>>>>>> code base. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Some other ways to address this section: >>>>>>> >>>>>>> - How can RocketMQ work with the existing Kafka or ActiveMQ >>>>> communities >>>>>> to >>>>>>> build cross platform clients? >>>>>>> - How can RocketMQ look to leverage Cassandra, Geode, Derby as >>> backend >>>>>>> persistence stores? >>>>>>> >>>>>>> etc.. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Thanks, >>>>>>>> Roman. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> On Fri, Nov 4, 2016 at 11:00 AM, Brian McCallister < >>>>> bri...@skife.org> >>>>>>>> wrote: >>>>>>>>> +1 ! >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> On Fri, Nov 4, 2016 at 8:37 AM, Jim Jagielski <j...@jagunet.com >>>>>> wrote: >>>>>>>>>> Cool. >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> +1 >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> On Nov 3, 2016, at 6:10 PM, Bruce Snyder < >>>>> bruce.sny...@gmail.com> >>>>>>>> wrote: >>>>>>>>>>> Please find below a proposal for a new Incubator podling >>> named >>>>>>> Apache >>>>>>>>>>> RocketMQ, a fast, low latency, reliable, scalable, >>> distributed, >>>>>> easy >>>>>>>> to >>>>>>>>>> use >>>>>>>>>>> message-oriented middleware, especially for processing large >>>>>> amounts >>>>>>>> of >>>>>>>>>>> streaming data. >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> The draft proposal can be found in the wiki at the following >>>>> URL: >>>>>>>>>>> https://na01.safelinks.protect >>> ion.outlook.com/?url=https%3A% >>>>> 2F% >>>>>> 2Fwiki.apache.org <http://2fwiki.apache.org/>%2Fincubator% >>> 2FRocketMQProposal&data=02% >>>>>> 7C01%7CRoss.Gardler%40microsoft.com%7Cd12890186efe4c6e60c908 >>> d40597dcff% >>>>>> 7C72f988bf86f141af91ab2d7cd011db47%7C1%7C0%7C636139597197176 >>> 036&sdata= >>>>>> xjsmhUA5%2Ftnl5HnA4LtQnVGa5ddYybjaKIe3CRgS9S0%3D&reserved=0 >>>>>>>>>>> Below, please find the text for the proposal below. >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> Thanks, >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> Bruce >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------ >>>>>> --------- >>>>>>>>>> To unsubscribe, e-mail: general-unsubscribe@incubator. >>> apache.org >>>>>>>>>> For additional commands, e-mail: >>> general-help@incubator.apache. >>>>> org >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------ >>>>> --------- >>>>>>>> To unsubscribe, e-mail: general-unsubscr...@incubator.apache.org >>>>>>>> For additional commands, e-mail: general-help@incubator.apache. >>> org >>>>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> -- >>>>>> perl -e 'print >>>>>> unpack("u30","D0G)U8V4\@4VYY9&5R\"F)R=6-E+G-N>61E<D\!G;6%I;\"YC;VT*" >>>>> );' >>>>>> ActiveMQ in Action: https://na01.safelinks.protect >>> ion.outlook.com/?url= >>>>>> http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2F2je6cQ&data=02%7C01%7CRoss.Gardler%40m >>>>> icrosoft.com% >>>>>> 7Cd12890186efe4c6e60c908d40597dcff%7C72f988bf86f141af91ab2d7cd011 >>>>>> db47%7C1%7C0%7C636139597197176036&sdata=WObI4mpJLTWW%2Fg6% >>>>>> 2BNB3ERPQJ6JVFuM0u4fWySbWWpGI%3D&reserved=0 >>>>>> Blog: https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url= >>>>>> http%3A%2F%2Fbsnyder.org%2F&data=02%7C01%7CRoss.Gardler%40mi >>> crosoft.com >>>>> % >>>>>> 7Cd12890186efe4c6e60c908d40597dcff%7C72f988bf86f141af91ab2d7cd011 >>>>>> db47%7C1%7C0%7C636139597197176036&sdata=9EWI%2FF%2FgDyaU9qybAVHRZ% >>>>>> 2FigY6o%2FjkAuZxilJ8uZMEg%3D&reserved=0 <https://na01.safelinks. >>>>>> protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fbruceblog.org%2F& >>>>>> data=02%7C01%7CRoss.Gardler%40microsoft.com%7Cd12890186efe4c >>>>> 6e60c908d40597 >>>>>> dcff%7C72f988bf86f141af91ab2d7cd011db47%7C1%7C0% >>>>>> 7C636139597197176036&sdata= >>>>>> Vlc0l%2FVfE997etkGwBIVJ0wSQ6eDz3bPoWzeWLTl6X8%3D&reserved=0> >>>>>> Twitter: https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url= >>>>>> http%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fbrucesnyder&data=02%7C01% >>>>>> 7CRoss.Gardler%40microsoft.com%7Cd12890186efe4c6e60c908d40597dcff% >>>>>> 7C72f988bf86f141af91ab2d7cd011db47%7C1%7C0%7C636139597197176 >>> 036&sdata= >>>>>> iCFOJzNIqieH5fJ%2BL6%2BxaVjgi8q2hiqjlc2VVerPr40%3D&reserved=0 >>>>>> >>>> >> -- Stephen D. 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