[Qgis-user] English only list or Main list?

[Nicolas Cadieux]

Hi Jürgen,

You are not offended because you have probably never been repeatedly 
told not to speak German in Germany.  For people who do not live in a 
country where this is often the case, I understand they cannot relate to 
what I am stating.  My rant is culturally - country specific and 
perhaps, not appropriate for this forum.  I acknowledge this but I am 
tying to make people aware of a situation that can really tick people off.

I understand this list is primarily used by people who understand 
english and that this facilitates communication.  I usually publish in 
English, or write on this list in English for this very same reason.   I 
agree that pointing people to language specific list can help those who 
have a poor understanding, or no understanding of English.  I have done 
that in the past and have also translated messages from French or 
Spanish to English when I see unilingual posts, even when I don't know 
the answers to the questions. This way they can still get helped and 
others can benefit from the post as you point out. Unfortunately, the 
other lists that I have visited are not as dynamic as this one... but 
that's another story.

You don't get my last point because, in your case (and in the case of 
most developers) you have _chosen_ to communicate in English for all the 
good reasons and are not regularly mocked at when using your mother 
language in public.  You are not from a country where you are expected 
to speak in English and to make that effort while anglophones (in my 
case) are not making any efforts to communicate with you in French.  
While this is thankfully changing in Canada as more and more anglophones 
learn French and make the efforts (and are actually starting to realize 
the importance of learning more than just one language), this is not the 
case in other countries like the US where Spanish speaking people are 
often the target of outright racism and regularly told "this is an 
English speaking country".

I too appreciate the use of English in this list, specially when the 
writer is German, Austrian or from Iceland because Google translation 
just does not cut it when talking in technical terms. I am simply 
stating that this is a courtesy to be appreciated and not to be taken 
for granted.  While Europeans regularly speak many languages, this is a 
richness not appreciated in many parts of North America.

Yours truly,

Nicolas Cadieux


On 2018-10-19 10:22 AM, Jürgen E. Fischer wrote:
> Hi Nicolas,
>
> On Fri, 19. Oct 2018 at 09:07:36 -0400, Nicolas Cadieux wrote:
>> This is a public rant.  I find it extremely offensive to read comments like
>> “this is the English list” to people who write to this list in any other
>> language than English.
> I don't.  This is the main user list and it's in English - because that's the
> language everyone here understands - if you don't understand English, there's
> not much point subscribing in the first place.
>
> Using a language other than that excludes the majority of the subscribers from
> benefiting from what is being said and from contributing to the discussion.
>
> And I don't find a response that clarifies this and also points to a better
> suited list offensive either.  Maybe even with a English translation if the
> original posting seems relevant to all.

>> If you disagree, please note that the QGIS site refers to this list as the
>> “The MAIN list for user questions: used for discussion of QGIS in general, as
>> well as specific questions regarding its installation and use.”  The MAIN
>> list... not the ENGLISH list. This message is also repeated in other
>> languages as can be seen here.
>> https://www.qgis.org/fr/site/getinvolved/mailinglists.html#
>> https://www.qgis.org/es/site/getinvolved/mailinglists.html#
> Hm, that might be a translation issue.  We used to point to local lists there
> (eg. fossgis-talk-liste at fossgis.de for German) - but that's apparently
> meanwhile gone.If you are still offended, please keep in mind that QGIS is primarily, to my
> knowledge, a European effort made by people who have German, Austrio-German,
> Spanish, French, Italian and other as their first language and that they are
> developing in English, their second, third or forth language.  You should be
> grateful for their efforts to reach out the international community in a
> language spoken a cross the world.
> I don't get that point.   Developer's post in English here.  Developer's - at
> least I do - also prefer others to post in English here.  And if somebody
> posted in German, I'd probably point the person off-list to the above list.
>
>
> Jürgen
>
>
>
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