[jude]

Quote:

Originally posted by TerriblySorry When my kinsfolk - the Welsh - were struggling under the yoke of the English, the kids were all forced to learn English (as a foreign language) at school. These days, the kids mostly speak English as a first language, and getting them to learn Welsh again after all this time is proving to be almost impossible. I will not support a global community that does not at least make the effort to accomodate another's mother tongue. Cymru am baeth.

What effort would you like to see made? See below.


Quote:

Originally posted by Ross Personally, I don't think it hurts anybody if there are some occasional posts in a language other than English. I think we need to exercise tolerance and appreciate diversity - while it still exists. There won't be many of these posts, so why get excited about it? I would rather see a few posts I can't understand than see some people excluded because they can't communicate in English. Ross

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showth...&threadid=7509

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showth...=&postid=84904

Ross, buddy, that's all fine and dandy, but then please tell me how the moderators are supposed to know what the heck's being posted.

Even if we bring on a Chinese-speaking moderator, there should be more than one moderator who can understand the content of posts.

As threads are started in still more languages, should I bring in more teams of moderators for each language?

If you think it's not important for the admin/moderators to know what's being said, consider for a second that moderators would not generally be able to recognize libel, commercial posts and ads, copyright infringement, racial slurs, or even just generally when a thread is getting out of control or off-topic.

To suggest that we're "excluding" anyone... well, not any more than an Italian-language forum excludes me, and I'm not offended by that.

I respect the opinions of those who disagree, but, then I guess we'll just agree to disagree on this.

 

[TerriblySorry]

Quote:

Originally posted by cajunchrist Oh puh-leeze! Same thing happened to the Cajun culture when Huey Long tried to modernize Louisiana, and hardly anyone speaks Cajun French anymore. We have retained our cultural identity brilliantly with the English language, and now we can more fully participate in our American society. Anyone who defends their culture against the inclusion of new ideas damns themselves to obscurity. We all have a hard enough time understanding each other in our native tongue; this board would soon fracture and splinter into single language threads if we were truly an anything goes forum. Then, the whole idea of communicating new ideas to each other would fall apart, and the concept of a global community disintegrates. One world, ready or not...

Mama mia! Your national language is a part of your cultural identity. If your people find themselves being able to better participate in American society now that they speak English, they need to realise that their past efforts were hindered by a culture that prejudices non-English speakers.

Why doesn't everybody just learn Klingon? Then we could all communicate no matter what our mother tongue.

Today is a good day to cry...

 

[slindeman]

Don't forget also, that this is a moderated community. I imagine it is very difficult to moderate a discussion when you cannot easily decipher it. I'm not saying it would necessarily happen, but it could happen that things get posted which are contrary to the spirit of Head-fi, without any of the moderators realizing it. Sure people probably aren't going to come here and post links to **** or anything, but I would feel quite uneasy if it were my site and I didn't know what was being said on it. Just a thought anyway.

Maybe a simple post in english, such as "Any who speak xxxxxx please PM me," would be the way for someone who has difficulty with english to start.


EDIT:

LOL, I posted the same things as jude, but he's a lot faster on the trigger...

 

[jude]

Quote:

Originally posted by TerriblySorry Why doesn't everybody just learn Klingon? Then we could all communicate no matter what our mother tongue.

Klingon = English

Problem solved.

 

[anders213]

My Sympathy goes out to all those that wish to communicate and learn from fellow Head_Fiers but cant because of Language barrier.
But do note that it gets kinda annoying when someone posts several threads in a foreign language we cant even decipher.
It would most certainly help if someone who can under the language(Chinese in this case) post a reply to the thread with the quotes and briefly describe the content. That will make us readers less annoyed and make the moderators a easier life.
(If posting in a foreign language other than English is really needed)

Anders

 

[CaptBubba]

I don't recall any time when somebody was ridiculed here for their lack of experience or skill with English (we have made fun of people for saying things like "pornographic memory", but that's different).


I'm willing to sit and try and figure out what someone is saying, but I can't even try when it is posted in another launguage.

 

[lini]

Why not make both sides happy? I'd prefer English in the already established forums, too, but I guess it wouldn't harm to include the "Babylon Lounge - audio-related discussion in your language" (just made it up). Thus non-english-speaking folks would have a chance, too. And I think some of us could and would visit this forum and translate the interesting posts for further discussion on the main forums or the other way round.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[dhwilkin]

The moderation thing is the biggest problem. I was going to suggest loading the pages in Babelfish. But I just tried, and maybe half of what was posted in those two threads got translated, so that's not good enough. Besides, when in Rome...

 

[Redwoood]

Jude,



you have my full support here.

I already wanted to propose something like this myself ( but

then thought it was better done by a moderator/board-god-jude )



This web site is a place where people from all over the world can

exchange their opinions. The whole point of posting here is that

everybody else can read it. By posting in some other language

one prevents a lot of people from reading these posts.



To say it's discrimation to forbid non-English postings is absurd.

IMHO people who post in these languages discriminate others that

don't understand them.

If anybody wishes to post something in German Dutch, Chinese or

whatever other language, he/she is free to do so on a different board

where everybody else understands it. Or why not do this via PMs or

emails. Anybody who wishes to send me something in German, French or

Italian is very welcome to do so ( although I can't promise an eloquent reply

)



To value one's national identity is very important, but this is not the place to

do it. There are other web sites that exist for this purpose only. And if there aren't any, why not create one yourself? ( How about a Welsh audio site TerriblySorry

? )

This is a place where we share knowlede, information and opinions.

In order to do so, we also have to share a common language, it's that simple.

English is just the logical choice, being the lingua franca of the internet and

the native language of the guy who owns the system...





I don't want to offend anybody - but I'd like to understand everybody.



Bye



Redwoood

 

[Tuberoller]

When I was in the MARINES I often heard the saying"if you don't learn my language,your kids will".This does not apply here.When I was in Las Vegas at CES I found myself in a difficult position trying to communicate with Chinese manufacturers and distributors,among those was Joe Lau.I felt bad that I was unable to understand what he was saying.When he explained to me how difficult it was for him to get to the US to exhibit at the T.H.E. Show I felt even worse.If you are a music lover or audiophile this will get even more difficult soon,as a full 30% of the goods we use are made in Asia by Asians,not US companies importing as in the past.We have to understand that in China they have only limited use of the net.every site they visit is monitored by the government,including this one.They just recently had even more restrictions placed on their use of the web.This is a casual freedom for all of us,it is easy for us to forget that some in other countries stand in long lines in a cyber shop or library to get the short time on a pc they use to visit our sites.Look at the pics from the Chicago and Detroit get togethers, the one I took was later in the day ,and see that half of the head-fiers still around were of Asian decent.The only two people I have kept in contact with since that time are both of Asian heritage.I am not saying this should be a dual language board but if we got a spot on it for people to leave feedback for trading CDs we can have a small space for foreign members to post in their laungauge.Especially when they are usually just trying to say hello.

 

[Audio-Me]

I am full blooded Korean and I speak & write the language, however my vocabulary and grammar are very limited. Even if I knew my native language as well as I do english, it still doesn't make sense to be typing away in it @ head-fi. It should be common sense to interact in english as the entire website is clearly in english and do not see any multilingual options, so I figure most everyone here speakers english as their primary language.

 

[morphsci]

I do not see having foreign language forums as being constructive. In fact I see them as divisive of the community. We have very few rules on the board so I think having a rule on posting language is not really a bad thing. It is certainly not discriminatory anymore than having a national language is discriminatory. I personally do not know anyone who is fluent in all the worlds languages and dialects.

 

[TerriblySorry]

Quote:

Originally posted by jude Klingon = English Problem solved.

Well, the idea is that everybody has to learn a second language. Shows willing, I think.

 

[Mr_Happy]

I recommend esperanto, a true international language

 

[TerriblySorry]

Quote:

Originally posted by Redwoood This web site is a place where people from all over the world can exchange their opinions. The whole point of posting here is that everybody else >>>>who understands English<<<< can read it. Redwoood

Sorry, couldn't resist.