[Ubuntu-be] Enough already!

[Alex Ficelle]

Dear list,

Some people speak only Dutch, some people speak only French, some both 
Dutch and French or French and Dutch, some can also speak English, some 
no English at all. No matter the combination of languages you choose, 
not everybody will ever be totally satisfied or comfortable.

I notice the current language "policy" used on this mailing list has 
worked well until now. Those who can, write in English; those who 
cannot, write in their own language. Messages intended for everybody 
were written in English; messages intended only for people speaking a 
certain language were written in that language. People who could not 
read the language used in a particular message, but felt that particular 
message might be of interest, asked for the meaning or for a translation 
on the list or made a special effort to decode it by themselves.

As for real-life meetings, English has always been the lingua frenca 
(even if a clumsy one) and has enabled us to communicate when the whole 
group was concerned (even if communication was not 100 % perfect) and to 
get things done or going. People usually reverted to French or Dutch 
when speaking of informal matters in smaller sub-groups (during breaks, 
for example); they usually switched back to English when someone who 
could not understand the language felt an interest in the topic at hand.

In the past few months, I reduced my involvement in Ubuntu-be 
significantly because of big (time-consuming) changes in my personal 
life. I kept reading this list, though (and I have no problem reading 
messages in English, Dutch, French or German). And I must say I do 
really not like the new trend in the past few months of debating over 
language "issues" more than organizing events about Ubuntu.

I read many times repeated that the current language policy would drive 
people away from the list. Like I said above, my experience has shown 
that the policy has worked well until now. And right now, those sterile 
and endless debates about language are driving me away from the list, 
not the policy.

Alexandre