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On English and programming.

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  • J Johnny J

    No no - for phone support it's not a requirement that you don't know English - it's a requirement that you don't know computers (or mobile phones or broadband or whatever) :doh:

    Beidh ceol, caint agus craic againn - Seán Bán Breathnach
    -----
    Don't tell my folks I'm a computer programmer - They think I'm a piano player in a cat house...
    -----
    Da mihi sis crustum Etruscum cum omnibus in eo!
    -----
    Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects - Will Rogers, 1924

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    urbane tiger
    wrote on last edited by
    #35

    surely you mean for phone support it IS a requirement that you do NOT know English Then it doesn't matter what else you know or don't know, or even if you know some unknown unknowns.

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    • A Andrew Leeder

      I think I read somewhere that there are more English speakers in China than there is England. :~

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      urbane tiger
      wrote on last edited by
      #36

      Andrew Leeder wrote:

      I think I read somewhere that there are more English speakers in China than there is England.

      But I don't think its true, I think its less than 20m. There are more English speakers in India ~120m, and Nigeria ~80m, than in the UK ~58m According to no less an authority than the immediate past prime minister of UK&NI, China is planning to have all people between under 25 speaking English by 2025.

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      • S SinghUlarity

        Don't worry, another 10 years and everybody would be speaking Chinese (Mandarin /Cantonese bleh) :rolleyes:

        I are n00b.

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        urbane tiger
        wrote on last edited by
        #37

        SinghUlarity... wrote:

        Don't worry, another 10 years and everybody would be speaking Chinese (Mandarin /Cantonese bleh

        Nuh, the Politburo knows the rest of the planet ain't going to learn Mandarin or Cantonese. So they've got everyone over there learning English, Spanish etc That way they can take over while we're asleep :laugh:

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        • S SinghUlarity

          Don't worry, another 10 years and everybody would be speaking Chinese (Mandarin /Cantonese bleh) :rolleyes:

          I are n00b.

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          Fabio Franco
          wrote on last edited by
          #38

          When that time comes, poor kids at school... This will be failing many of them

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          • C Chaveca_

            what underdevelopped country are you? I'm in one of the worse ones I we don't have that anymore... :laugh:

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            Fabio Franco
            wrote on last edited by
            #39

            If there is in portugal, you gotta have it everywhere... :laugh: Sorry for the joke, but there is a little thing on Brazilian jokes challenging Portuguese intelligence and I beleive the other way around is also true.

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            • D David1987

              There was an article linked to in the CP news that said that you don't have to know English to be a good programmer. I'm Dutch, and I know from experience that that can not be true. Sure, you can program without knowing English (English keyword? you don't have to know what they mean anyway, you just have to know what they do), but you can not learn to program without knowing English. Nearly all literature is in English. The rest is usually badly translated - from English. Discussion forums are generally in English. Usenet is in English - except for the few localized NG's (which aren't used anyway). Wikipedia is in English - they claim not to be, but the best article is almost always the English one (except for very national topics). And if that wasn't enough, if you're getting your Master's degree, the classes are in English. Also, every job description I've ever seen (for jobs in the Netherlands), good English communication skills are required. If you don't know English, you can bag my groceries.

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              dvanderwerken
              wrote on last edited by
              #40

              Yeah, but you need to know Japanese to watch fresh anime -- which is why I'm learning Japanese. Regardless, I always wondered about this topic. I mean, can I program in Japan if I know Engrish? Do they localize the keywords or is an int and int everywhere in the whole wide world? My Japanese language exchange partner did some programming in C# and couldn't get the program to work. He sent it to me and I fixed it. Is this because I know English and he doesn't or is it because he's not a very good C# programmer (that doesn't really mean I am either, though).

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              • D David1987

                Actually, I had to learn English, German, French and Latin :( But after the second year I chose ancient Greek instead of Latin. Back in the old days you could drop German and/or French, but now you can't.

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                dvanderwerken
                wrote on last edited by
                #41

                Modern Greek or Classical Greek? I took two years of Classical Greek while an undergraduate. Man, I loved tha class. It was my easiest class too. Unfortunately, I never learned a language I could use to communicate with others in the world. I learned a heck of a lot about grammar though. Okay, the real problem in the USA with languages is that we're too big? Who are you going to practice with? Many of our states are bigger than whole countries in Europe, Asia, etc. Okay... with all the Mexican immigrants, Spanish is quickly becoming a "second" language here, but it's not necessary nor is it all that prevalent throughout the country.

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                • D dvanderwerken

                  Modern Greek or Classical Greek? I took two years of Classical Greek while an undergraduate. Man, I loved tha class. It was my easiest class too. Unfortunately, I never learned a language I could use to communicate with others in the world. I learned a heck of a lot about grammar though. Okay, the real problem in the USA with languages is that we're too big? Who are you going to practice with? Many of our states are bigger than whole countries in Europe, Asia, etc. Okay... with all the Mexican immigrants, Spanish is quickly becoming a "second" language here, but it's not necessary nor is it all that prevalent throughout the country.

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                  David1987
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #42

                  Classical Greek, the stories were great, and I had a laugh nearly every lesson at the crazy things they can manage to say in a single word :)

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                  • D David1987

                    There was an article linked to in the CP news that said that you don't have to know English to be a good programmer. I'm Dutch, and I know from experience that that can not be true. Sure, you can program without knowing English (English keyword? you don't have to know what they mean anyway, you just have to know what they do), but you can not learn to program without knowing English. Nearly all literature is in English. The rest is usually badly translated - from English. Discussion forums are generally in English. Usenet is in English - except for the few localized NG's (which aren't used anyway). Wikipedia is in English - they claim not to be, but the best article is almost always the English one (except for very national topics). And if that wasn't enough, if you're getting your Master's degree, the classes are in English. Also, every job description I've ever seen (for jobs in the Netherlands), good English communication skills are required. If you don't know English, you can bag my groceries.

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                    Slobos
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #43

                    It related the funny comment in my mind as something like: "If you call your self programmer and don't knew any English you will be bagging my groceries sooner or later." or "Go find another profession if you can't speak English." and I would agree on it.

                    I like being sober. It gives some kind of quality to life that I can't really put my finger on... it is like running life from console way less colors but so much more control.

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                    • D David1987

                      There was an article linked to in the CP news that said that you don't have to know English to be a good programmer. I'm Dutch, and I know from experience that that can not be true. Sure, you can program without knowing English (English keyword? you don't have to know what they mean anyway, you just have to know what they do), but you can not learn to program without knowing English. Nearly all literature is in English. The rest is usually badly translated - from English. Discussion forums are generally in English. Usenet is in English - except for the few localized NG's (which aren't used anyway). Wikipedia is in English - they claim not to be, but the best article is almost always the English one (except for very national topics). And if that wasn't enough, if you're getting your Master's degree, the classes are in English. Also, every job description I've ever seen (for jobs in the Netherlands), good English communication skills are required. If you don't know English, you can bag my groceries.

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                      Kenneth Kasajian
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #44

                      People should learn English, and people who only know English should learn at least one other language.

                      ken@kasajian.com / www.kasajian.com

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                      • D DragonsRightWing

                        digital man wrote:

                        (Cos I'm blatted if I can be asked to learn a forine langwidge).

                        Thus says the man with a Latin quip in his autosig ...

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                        R Giskard Reventlov
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #45

                        I was joking (even though some humorless wanker has downvoted me) :-)

                        "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me

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                        • D David1987

                          Maybe the Obvious Maddox Reference wasn't obvious :)

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                          Asday
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #46

                          Oh Maddox. Haven't been on that website for, like, a hundred years. Wonder if there's anything new...

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                          • G giuchici

                            Yeah, but don't worry. In compensation you still have to deal with all the crap that comes with trying to localize your application: time formats, currencies ... :((

                            giuchici

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                            Asday
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #47

                            ... Strings... Do me a favour, and translate: "Found %d files in %d folders." Into French, Russian, Chinese, and there was one more I forgot. May as well have a whole new application. :laugh:

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                            • D David1987

                              Classical Greek, the stories were great, and I had a laugh nearly every lesson at the crazy things they can manage to say in a single word :)

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                              Asday
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #48

                              You can't say that and leave us without an example. :(

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