cjn@calmasd.UUCP (Cheryl Nemeth) (01/18/85)
I'm curious as to why the only language on usenet is English. Doesn't this go to Europe? Or is it assumed that most people on the net have English in common and that's the most practical language to use? -- Cheryl Nemeth All opinions expressed in this article are my own, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Calma Company or my cats. "Life is a series of rude awakenings" R. V. Winkle [Robert Asprin]
doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee) (01/22/85)
> I'm curious as to why the only language on usenet is English. Doesn't this > go to Europe? Or is it assumed that most people on the net have English in > common and that's the most practical language to use? Because English is God's own language -- check out the Bible, it's written in English and all of God's words are in English :-) To be a bit more serious, we Americans so dominate computing right now that English is sort of a de facto standard, kinda like MS-DOS. It's also a case of the "squeaky wheel getting the grease"... Americans don't see the point of learning other languages (refer to humorous opening line) while Europeans have found that being multi-lingual is definitely useful to them. We don't speak their language, but they speak ours. (The French take *enormous* exception to this lop-sided state of affairs). And the non-Europeans who don't speak English generally don't use an ASCII-compatible alphabet (no Russian, Greek, Japanese, or Chinese characters). Hmmm, what does the A in ASCII stand for???? By the way, English *is* the official language of aviation. Even the control tower operators in Moscow communicate with Aeroflot pilots in English. (There's always an exception -- Quebec allows tower controllers to communicate in French with French-speaking pilots) -- Doug Pardee -- Terak Corp. -- !{hao,ihnp4,decvax}!noao!terak!doug
hrs@homxb.UUCP (H.SILBIGER) (01/24/85)
English has become the de facto international language. For example, the CCITT, which is the internatioal standards body for telecommunications, has three official languages, English, French and Spanish. Plenary sessions must have simultaneous translation in these languages. There are sometimes other translations, such as Russian or Chinese, but these are not officially provided and are paid for by the requestors. (In the case of the Russians, they bring their own!) The discussion in the sessions is almost exclusively in English. Only the French speak in French, and Spanish and Latin-American delegates, when present, speak in Spanish. In the working sessions, where official translation is not required, everyone! speaks English. In the ISO, the International Standards Org., English and French are official. When simultaneous translation is not available, which is often, the French usually graciously waive translation, except for the introduction. All further discussion is in English.
trav@ucla-cs.UUCP (01/25/85)
In article <276@terak.UUCP> doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee) writes: >> I'm curious as to why the only language on usenet is English. Doesn't this >By the way, English *is* the official language of aviation. Even the >Doug Pardee -- Terak Corp. -- !{hao,ihnp4,decvax}!noao!terak!doug Certes, mais dans le monde des communications, le monde de USEnet, l'on parle du CCITT (Comite Consultatif International Telegraphique et Telephonique) et non du TTICC*. Neanmoins, je dois reconnaitre que Doug Pardee est dans le vrai en cela que l'ASCII n'est pas pratique pour utiliser des accents et autres cedilles, et qu'a mon grand regret il y a plus de personnes lisant l'anglais que le francais sur ce reseau, ainsi que dans le monde de l'informatique. Tentatively, an approximate translation: Indeed, but in the world of communications, the world of USEnet, one talks more about CCITT (a French achronism, see above) than about TTICC*. Nevertheless, I must agree with Doug Pardee and say that ASCII is difficult to use with some of the French letters (accents,...), and that, unfortunately on my point of view, there are more people able to read English on this net and in the computer world, than able to read French. * Francais/French Anglais/English ONU UNO OTAN NATO CCITT -?-> TTICC -- Pascal Traverse UCLA Computer Science Department 3732 Boelter Hall // Los Angeles, CA 90024 // (213) 825-4885 ARPA: trav@UCLA-LOCUS.ARPA UUCP: ...!{cepu,ihnp4,trwspp,ucbvax}!ucla-cs!trav