Quote:
Originally posted by TerriblySorry
I'll be off then. The decision to enforce English here (and it will be enforced, right Jude?) is tantamount to excluding those members of the global community who, probably through no fault of their own, do not speak English. I will not support any community that actively seeks to prevent some members of that community from having their say. |
What good is letting people "have their say" if no one else on the board can understand what they're saying???
I think there's a good deal of overreaction and misatribution of motives going on here. I'm the last person to exclude anyone, deny people their "voice," or force a certain culture onto others. However, that's NOT what is happening.
I'm going to let Jude's position stand as it is -- he's right that having multiple languages is currently not possible logistically. Instead, I'm going to argue that we should use English as the common language even if multiple languages *was* possible.
First of all, there is good reason to have a single "common" language on a board such as this -- the strength of the community is based on its ability to communicate, and the value of the content is based on the fact that everyone can read and understand that content. If people used many different languages here, we'd end up having the content split into many different language-specific pockets, some duplicating each other (a waste of bandwidth and storage space), some exclusive of each other (TRULY excluding others). So I think having a single "common" language makes sense.
Second, Head-Fi has, to this point, been a de facto English board ("de facto" means that it's that way without being legally or officially established as such). Most people here either speak English as their primary language (the vast majority of members) or speak it as a second language (and those people communicate very well in it). There is no other language that could replace English that would let the majority of people on Head-Fi communicate. So if there is to be "one" language here, it should be English.
Finally, given how few people were speaking only Chinese (using the recent example), what's the point of them using Head-Fi to converse, knowing that the vast majority of Head-Fi'ers can't understand them? Email, IRC, a newsgroup, or another forum dedicated to their native tongue would all be much better methods for them to communicate. Those who don't speak English at all, but really want to talk headphones, can just as easily start another board using their native tongue.
It's pretty clear that Head-Fi welcomes people from every race, religion, culture, gender, and geographic area -- no one is being "excluded." Even when members have trouble with English, the membership is very patient and really tries to help. It's unfortunate that not everyone in the world can speak English. However, it comes down to this: two things have made Head-Fi the community it is: a common interest in headphones and audio, and a common language that allows people to talk about that interest.