English (was Re: A few hums)

[Iljitsch van Beijnum]

On donderdag, jul 24, 2003, at 00:57 Europe/Amsterdam, Scott W Brim 
wrote:

> Since I can't find any text at all right now, how about:

>   The IETF has never decided to do anything about the known problems
>   with language and verbal communication despite its increasing
>   international participation.  At this point there are serious
>   difficulties for those who are not native speakers of English, in
>   understanding presentations and arguments, in reading and
>   understanding colloquial text, and in formulating responses in order
>   to participate in the usual lively IETF discussion.  There are also
>   problems for those who speak English natively but are not used to the
>   accent or dialect of another participant.  The IETF needs to decide,
>   explicitly, what it will or will not do about these issues.

This here is dangerously close to blowing the whole thing way out of 
proportion. Yes, it would be nicer to if I could use my native 
language, but I'm not waiting for all you guys to learn Dutch. I 
haven't worked with interpretation, but from what I see (UN, european 
parliament) it sucks. And the IETF can't afford it anyway. So I'll 
manage to get by in English. And guess what: most of your 
colloquialisms aren't that difficult to understand. (Now spelling, 
that's another matter.)

There is enough evidence that non-native English speakers can function 
just fine within the IETF. Unfortunately, there are also examples to 
the contrary, at least to some degree, as some participants can be hard 
to understand. I do maintain that this has very likely something to do 
with the speed at which is spoken, so it should be possible to gain 
improvement here with some one-on-one feedback.

What I'd really like to know is how many people would like to 
participate in the IETF but don't because of language issues. If this 
turns out to be a large number, more effort in this area is justified. 
But it could also be a negligible number, so no action is warranted.