Hi, so we've heard a broad range of opinions here, and no doubt many things have been said that will with pleasure be pulled out of context in years to come, proving how unwelcoming OSM is to anyone who doesn't submit to the diktat of English.
I would like to stress: 1. You do not need English for normal everyday participation in OpenStreetMap. Our website and editors are translated into dozens of languages, and regionally you can do your mapping in your language without having to discuss with anyone from another country or continent. In fact, if you are local to a place, your local knowledge will trump that of overseas English-speakers in 10 of 10 cases. 2. By nature, once things require agreement between different groups speaking different languages, a pragmatic solution needs to be found that allows people from these groups to communicate. By default, this will be English; though if the involved parties agree to use a different language that's just fine. 3. It is a valid question whether something like a body of water bordered by 5 countries, none of which uses English, (a) should have a name tag with an English name in it, and (b) should be rendered on openstreetmap.org with its English name (both are independent of each other). 4. This is not a matter that should be driven by zealotry; we need to be pragmatic here. If a decision is made to change something, it might make sense to decide on "phasing something out" and "phasing something else in", or decide to make a change at a later date, so that map style makers etc. could prepare adequately. 5. The usual language on this list is English. If you cannot use English but want to make an important point, post in your language and we'll make an effort to understand, or those who share your language will translate. If you *can* use English but don't use it because you want to make the point that the reliance on English is giving an unfair advantage to those who can use English - your point is taken, but see #1... Bye Frederik -- Frederik Ramm ## eMail [email protected] ## N49°00'09" E008°23'33" _______________________________________________ talk mailing list [email protected] https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
