Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!uunet!mcsun!inria!loria!hermann
From: hermann@loria.crin.fr (Miki HERMANN)
Newsgroups: news.groups
Subject: Re: CALL FOR DISCUSSION: soc.culture.german
Message-ID: <1508@loria.crin.fr>
Date: 27 Feb 90 08:44:41 GMT
References: <1472@serene.UUCP> <2120@cbnewsk.ATT.COM> <15186@fluke.COM> <5552@crdgw1.crd.ge.com>
Reply-To: hermann@loria.crin.fr (Miki HERMANN)
Organization: CRIN - CNRS & INRIA Lorraine, Nancy, France
Lines: 44

In article <5552@crdgw1.crd.ge.com> oplinger@minerva.crd.ge.com (B. S. Oplinger) writes:
>In article <15186@fluke.COM> inc@tc.fluke.COM (Gary Benson) writes:
>>
>>I agree. Mo such requirement exists for any other "soc.culture" groups --
>>why should the Germans require English-only postings?
>
>Because not everyone who wants to be able to read/know/participate can 
>read and write German! Isn't this obvious? English is simply the most
>common language across the rather large (Japan/North America/Europe at
>the least) areas and diverse (just imagine all those countries)
>cultures.

This isn't true. English has become the Latin of the  20th century but
it is NOT   the  most common  language.  You cannot  rely on  only one
language, moreover if it is  your mother tongue.  The dynamics  of the
life at the end of our century requires the knowledge of more than one
foreign  language. IMHO,  English, German, and    French  are a  must.
Spanish  is  highly  appreciated.  Concerning  non-European languages,
Japanese   seems to  gain importance,  but   it is  difficult to learn
(Japanese alphabet   and  Kanji). It is  also  true  that  the passive
knowledge  is  almost always  better  than  the active, therefore  for
expressing clearer  your ideas it is more   advantageous  to  use your
mother tongue if your partner understands it. There are  good examples
in the history of mathematics:  Henri Poincare (a Frenchman) and Felix
Klein (a German) had a large correspondence. Each of them wrote in his
native language and the other understood it.

Pushing  English to  be, from  your  sight,  the  most common language
reflects exactly the  american  attitude determined by  the  fact that
wherever you go in North America you can make yourselves understand in
English. If you lived in Europe, you would have a different opinion. I
would suggest you to learn a  foreign  language and then to appreciate
reading a book in  original in the language your  have learned.  It is
worth the effort.

BTW, I  am in favour  of creating soc.cluture.german  with postings in
English and German as well (no translation necessary).

Miki HERMANN
Centre de Recherche en Informatique de Nancy
--------------------------------------------
e-mail:  hermann@loria.crin.fr
post:    CRIN, B.P. 239, F-54506 Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy Cedex, FRANCE
phone:   +33  83.91.20.00 ext(poste) 28.68