Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 06:24:41 -0700 (MST) From: Charles Mott <cmott@srv.net> To: chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: The Language Barrier [Was: Could FreeBSD be ...] Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.96.971117060214.675B-100000@darkstar.home> In-Reply-To: <24684.879743950@jkh.cdrom.com>
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On Sun, 16 Nov 1997, Jordan K. Hubbard wrote: > Actually, if anything I'd say that english has become more of a > "lingua franca" than ever. I haven't personally been to every single > country in the world (yet :) but it seems that there's almost none > where one can't find english spoken in some capacity if it's truly you > language of last resort. It's true that English is now the standard second language of the world (although Russian and Mandarin are important over certain regions), and if you use computers at a detailed level, some understanding of English is absolutely necessary. It's just that I've been noticing that web pages seem to naturally adapt themselves to localization and that people will tend to revert to their native languages when it is convenient to do so. I also have this vague feeling that the Chinese are eventually going to do something really stunning in science or technology, and completely within their own culture, so that these developments will be opaque to the non-Chinese speaking world. Charles Mott
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