It's not about not wanting other people to speak whatever language they want in subforums. If there's a German subforum, I don't care... I just know that I won't go there and there's going to be a lot of people who are trusted within the Maemo community who won't. Native German speakers who aren't comfortable with English won't go to the main forums very often.

The problem is when User X goes into the German subforum and says "the N920 has an 8 inch screen". Maybe someone's around that knows better, maybe there's not. Suddenly it becomes accepted knowledge that the N920 has an 8 inch screen in the German subforum. N920 is announced... and suddenly there's nothing but complaining. "They said it was 8 inch! What a dealbreaker!"

If we can't guarantee that the information given on maemo.org is correct... what makes a language subforum here any better than anywhere else? Of course, we can't even really do that on the English forum either.

Just a thought... go ahead and start the other language subforums though because in the end, it won't affect me all that much anyways... hopefully.

What did I say about comfort zone?

Of course an extra effort will be needed. People knowledgeable that know more than one language will have to help a lot.

But I think it is worth it.

I think the complimentary Maemo communities will have their own solutions, like Symbian Freak has a Croatian forum. There will be language centric sites that will fill the void. Please keep this English only, like most developer sites. I'd be afraid if the administration had to add more on its plate. Its tough enough as it is managing what is already here in one language...

On other sites, I have seen a few Americans become very hostile to people who speak foreign languages. Their attitude is, "this is America, speak English!" Of course, this is not America, this is cyberspace; we know this, because this is a very international group.

Even here, I have seen people become angry at someone's turn of phrase or tone in English that made it clear to me that the angry people didn't really get that they were dealing with someone whose command of English was imperfect.

So I think it would be great for there to be forums for non-English speakers here. I'm confident that there are plenty of competent techs in all major languages, and when it becomes known that language-specific forums exist here, they will come, if they aren't here already.

I'm a native English-speaker.

I am also against this idea.

Rather then deciding of making a new forum , I suggest making maemo/wiki in different langs.

I disagree, and for this reason. If you keep this forum English only, everyone can work together. The bigots and insensitive folks not used to people that don't speak English as a primary language will figure it out over time, just as they did on Symbian Freak. If you seperate the languages, different locales will become splinter groups, and will not always work with other groups as much.

Leave that to the specialty and local sites. There are already multiple Maemo communities based in various countries. Let them decide if they want a seperate forum for their own languages. We should remain focused on the global language of tech, which is English (hope I'm not overstepping here, but many tech guys feel this is the way to go.).

Chris, while I don't agree fully with your ideas, I thank you as your objection is the first I read that is well explained and as such enriches the discussion.

Chciałbym zauważyć iż maemo.org powinno również stanowić miejsce w którym ludzie nie mówiący po angielsku mogą znaleźć pomoc. Nie możemy ich dyskryminować ze względu na język. N900 stanie się (mam nadzieje) bardziej popularnym urządzeniem niż N8x0 i powinniśmy zapewnić wsparcie co najmniej dla oficjalnie wspieranych języków (przez Nokie dla N900). Nie chodzi o toczenie dyskusji jak się to teraz dzieje tylko pomoc i udzielanie odpowiedzi na forum narodowym. Proponuję żeby osoby które już obecne w społeczności maemo.org i mówiące w tych językach zgłosiły się jako kandydaci na moderatorów.


And this is the link for those who do not speak Polish Pretty good translation.

It really doesn't matter if many techs feel that English is the way to go. As I can testify, many people in the world have no real understanding that everyone doesn't speak the language they speak. Language specific forums would be for those people, and the techs would have a place, too. There are undoubtedly many people who have not posted here who could make this an even more universal group.

(And "separate" is how you spell that word!)

No one is saying that people who don't have a good command of English can't post in the English-language forums, but where should people post who don't have a good command of English? I have seen people who obviously only understood much Spanish post here to almost total incomprehension. There didn't happen to be any fluent Spanish-speakers around, which is ridiculous.

Yes, it's very easy for people speaking a second language to accidentally get on people's nerves with how they say what they are saying and very often they are just using the wrong word. I know that when I first started learning French, my French boss was kind of freaked out and said that I came across as a very aggressive person which is far from the case (at least face-to-face).

Anyone here on maemo.org should try to understand that they are dealing with people whose first language may not be English and be a bit more understanding. I think it's awesome that we get so many people here who at least try in English even if they aren't good at it.

If enough people think we need language subforums... go ahead, I guess.