Non-native english speakers

[Somenoob]

Who else here has difficulty with explaining, describing and/or defining computer matters in their native language? I was talking to some friends earlier about some common software concepts and I found myself using English technological terminology in almost every sentence. My native language is very sophisticated but not if concerning technology. Linguists have been adding both software and hardware terms but no one bothers to learn them since the English ones have already been adopted. And the grammar of this language is extremly complex so using foreign words makes it really sound out of place, strange and somewhat incomprehensible.

[kidders]

Hi there,

I'm a native English speaker, but I have to say I sympathise. Languages often borrow quite successfully from each other, but I hate to see it happen at the expense of a language. English's word endings, the positions of emphases, and so on can be a little weird, and don't always sit well elsewhere.

The thing that is perhaps even more annoying is how some countries can find themselves being railed on for attempting to address the problem ... as if pride in one's own language somehow equates to xenophobia.

The big question, I suppose, is what Ubuntu (and the Linux world in general) are doing with your language. (What is it by the way?) How is the quality of your localisation?

[PartisanEntity]

I have the same problem, and I notice it quite clearly while translating aysiu's site into German. I simply have not used or read technical terms in their German equivalent as I have in their English form. Often when talking technology with friends, colleagues or relatives I am forced to use English terms because I am so familiar with them.

[AtrejuT]

I don't think that's just limited to computer stuff. I'm not a native speaker but I do study in english and I'm having a _really_ hard time trying to explain what I'm doing in any other language but english. (And I know this is true for all kinds of subjects, not just physics which is what I am doing).

To some extent this is sad, because there might be perfectly suitable words in your native language and you 'unlearn' to use them. But for other words there is just no suitable replacement - and then I don't see any problem using foreign words - as someone mentioned above language is a living thing, and it's quite normal for it to change, to assimilate words from other languages and to export its own words to other languages in turn...

[diskotek]

me!

but there is a linux project that uses mostly turkish words for english terms (they are translating technical terms as well in their distro & tryin to make new standarts for computer-software terms, windows translations are horrible). they are pretty good, but getting used to these phrases would be little hard.

[kidders]

Often when talking technology with friends, colleagues or relatives I am forced to use English terms because I am so familiar with them.Using english terminology surely isn't a bad thing per se. Having said that, I have had the very odd experience of finding myself struggling with words that are part of my own first language, because they just don't work in the one I'm speaking at the time. In Irish, for instance, (thanks to some odd grammatical rules) it can sometimes be hard to spell (or even say) certain english words in sentences, without sounding like an idiot. The language's own words are no better, because nobody recognises them without having to stop and think about it.


for other words there is just no suitable replacementTrade marks, etc?

I'll keep quiet now though ... a native english speaker has no place in this discussion!! (I just found Somenoob's thread unanswered, and thought it was interesting.)

[diskotek]

Using english terminology surely isn't a bad thing per se. Having said that, I have had the very odd experience of finding myself struggling with words that are part of my own first language, because they just don't work in the one I'm speaking at the time. In Irish, for instance, (thanks to some odd grammatical rules) it can sometimes be hard to spell (or even say) certain english words in sentences, without sounding like an idiot. The language's own words are no better, because nobody recognises them without having to stop and think about it.

Trade marks, etc?

I'll keep quiet now though ... a native english speaker has no place in this discussion!! (I just found Somenoob's thread unanswered, and thought it was interesting.)

but it's all about protecting language, however language is a living thing, it can be easily deformed... using english terms is not giving any positive effect to language. i think in all countries that english is not native language; are effected by english. there is also terms likes: turklish, spanglish etc.. for example using english terms can be only understood as english speakers in the society. but non-english speaker are also using these terms but it sounds more funny. (you have to hear my father pronounce "harddrive"). and it has no positive effect in this sense i think replacing these words with suitable words would be better...

[Extreme Coder]

Native Arabic speaker here. It sometimes gets hard to explain to someone a specific technology idea, so I use mixed Arabic with English, if they know English. If they don't, then oh well, they might as well not hear what I'm saying.

Extreme coder

[azkehmm]

It's my experience that danish (my native langauge) has generally accepted translations of a lot of english technical terms, so I don't find it very difficult to explain stuff in danish. I do often encounter younger people who find it funny that I use danish terms instead of the english ones, because they think english "sounds more cool." That's kinda sad , in my opinion (even though danish is a rotten ******* of a language. Like dutch, only 10 times worse:))