[Foundation-l] multilingual mailing list

[Samuel Klein]

John Vandenberg writes:
>> This *is* a multilingual list.  All languages are welcome here.
>
> While they are welcome, they are typically shoveled away to another
> list very quickly.
>
> A multilingual space is one where English is not the principle
> language, and/or people are not expected to use English if they can.
> foundation-l *does* expect people to use English if they can.

I don't want to anthropomorphize the list, but it's certainly true
that having 99 out of 100 messages in English makes people who want to
write in other languages feel shy.

Most of the deeply eloquent people whose posts I enjoy reading on
lists in other languages do not post here; possibly because they don't
care for the topic but possibly because it takes more effort to be
eloquent in English. And presumably this assumption makes some people
not sign up at all.

It might not be a bad idea to have a multilingual foundation list
where the expectation is inverted -- that most people won't use
English unless it is their best language, or they find it necessary to
communicate.

-- 
Samuel Klein          identi.ca:sj           w:user:sj          +1 617 529 4266