Language Barriers LO19391

Artur F. Silva (artsilva@individual.eunet.pt)
Sat, 03 Oct 1998 11:21:20 +0100

Replying to LO19381:

Some time ago Rick wrote:

>>> [Host's Note: Welcome Diego. This is a serious question... Language is
>>> important and can often be a barrier. There are automatic translations
>>> available, and at http://altavista.digital.com you can get translations of
>>> the learning-org web site into five languages. But, I personally doubt
>>> that these will be satisfying. I think the ultimate solution is a
>>> companion learning-org dialogue in Spanish to serve the rest of the
>>> Americas. ...Rick]

In a certain way, I have been doing exactly what Rick suggested, but I
don't feel confortable with it. I coordinate a portuguese list on
Management, at the University of Coimbra, where LO is one of the subjects.
Once or twice I "quoted" parts of messages from this list and comment them
... in portuguese...

We can see one such example ( and try the Altavista translation
feature...) at :

http://www.dei.uc.pt/majordomo/forum-gestao/msg00381.html

( Sorry Rick for not having informed you yet ...; do you mind if I continue
to do that from time to time ? )

But the reason why I don't feel confortable, is because I agree with Richard :

At 23:05 01-10-1998 -0700, Richard Charles wrote:

>For those who are fluent in English, it certainly helps for them to
>continue sharing in English--but for those who might lurk only because of
>a language barrier (a hesitancy to post in English because it makes them
>feel awkward),

( You can be sure about that, Richard, specially if English is not even the
second language of someone ...)

>then I would certainly like to see their original and
>fluent thoughts in their own mother tongue.
>I would prefer this to having language-centric LO lists isolated from one
>another.

I don't like the ideia of multiple LO lists separated by language. Apart
from the fact that we may lost the "multicultural richness", Richard
refered, I think that a separation of this type is a contradition to LO
basic concepts, isn't it ?

So, Rick, do you think we could try Richard suggestion and learn from it ?
We can always use the Altavista translation feature ( I have not tryed
yet, but have good references) or have some personel assistance. ( written
Portuguese is much close to Spanish, by the way )

Regards

Artur

artsilva@mail.eunet.pt

PS: I can offer some assistance in translating English to Portuguese, or
French; but not the reverse, my English is not god enough.

-- 

"Artur F. Silva" <artsilva@individual.eunet.pt>

Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>