On May 4, 2005, at 6:41 PM, Marielle Lange wrote:
Imagine you are a non-native. How would you feel about publishing this on the
revolution list? Would you dare put a post that consists in a babelfish
translation on a Russian list (assuming you do not know a word of Russian)? As
a native, what is your first impression (you know, the one that counts so much)
of the writer of the babelfish post above?
Actually, having lived in places where English is certainly not the only language and sometimes not the dominant language, I no longer fear muddling through as best I can. [Hawai`i, Mexico and, now, Wales]
My experience is that the people on this list will go out of their way to help anyone - and especially those brave enough to post as best they can in English. Of course, the newcomer doesn't know this but hopefully will stay on the list long enough to realize everyone is here to help.
It is not a question of politeness, but of self-restraint. Foreign speakers will
usually refrain from contributing until they are confident enough about writing
in English.
This is true - hopefully, we're starting to change that. :)
I like this idea. At least providing a babelfish link in the email is worthwhile.
Politeness possibly rather recommends a babelfish link to be automatically added
at the bottom of all posts, including the ones in English. ;-)... The wiki I use
(http://revolution.lexicall.org/wiki/) does that, why not copy their script? Why
not also use it on the revolution website?
Ro
PS Translating my writing into another language and back again is not fair! Many would claim I don't even write in English in the first place! ;)
To translate this email into another language, please copy this and go to <http://babelfish.altavista.com/>
Ro Nagey ~ Evangelist ~ [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Runtime Revolution - User-Centric Development Tools ~ http:// www.runrev.com/
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