Re: [PATCH] Chinese Language Maintainer

["Dr. Keith G. Bowden" <k.bowden@physics.bbk.ac.uk>]

What I would like to see is the Americans learning English as a FIRST
language.

Keith (England)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@zytor.com>
To: "Li Yang" <leo@zh-kernel.org>
Cc: "Rob Landley" <rob@landley.net>; "Gerrit Huizenga" <gh@us.ibm.com>;
"Kunai, Takashi" <kunai@linux-foundation.jp>; <holzheu@linux.vnet.ibm.com>;
"Andrew Morton" <akpm@linux-foundation.org>; <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>;
<lf_kernel_messages@linux-foundation.org>; <mtk-manpages@gmx.net>;
<jack@suse.cz>; <randy.dunlap@oracle.com>; <gregkh@suse.de>; <pavel@ucw.cz>;
<tim.bird@am.sony.com>; <arjan@infradead.org>; <sam@ravnborg.org>;
<jengelh@computergmbh.de>; <joe@perches.com>; <auke-jan.h.kok@intel.com>;
<hansendc@us.ibm.com>; <davem@davemloft.net>; <Valdis.Kletnieks@vt.edu>;
<kenistoj@us.ibm.com>; <schwidefsky@de.ibm.com>;
<heiko.carstens@de.ibm.com>; <linux-doc@vger.kernel.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 15, 2007 7:12 PM
Subject: Re: [PATCH] Chinese Language Maintainer


> Li Yang wrote:
> >
> > I think you worried too much about this problem.  :)  Let me explain
> > the situation here in China more clearly.  Actually, English is
> > mandatory in most schools and universities.  Only very few people
> > learn other language as a second language.  Therefore software
> > developers who are almost educated should have the basic English
> > skill.  However, that doesn't mean that they can read English or
> > communicate with native English speaker very easily.  Consider your
> > second language learn in school for analogy.
>
> Actually, I disagree.  English *is* the second language learned in
> school for most European developers (except, obviously, the ones from
> the British isles), and we don't have that problem.
>
> > Read in English will be much slower and more likely to cause
> > misunderstanding.  This will
> > reduce the likelihood greatly of English documentation being read.  If
> > we are promoting contribution to the Linux community, we should
> > maximum the possibility that these key documents being read.
> > Translation will serve this purpose very well.
>
> What we have found in Europe, is that that it has limited value, and
> that the closer to the core you are, the less value it is, because at
> that stage you should be communicating more with other developers.
> Putting yourself behind a wall of translation is unfortunately a
> detriment in that way.
>
> -hpa
> -
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