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I could not agree more with you. As you may have noticed, I was only half joking when I said that I was lost in translation in one of my previous posts. I felt uncomfortable for 2 reasons :
the one you mention ie some of the comments I could not understand and the second, on which I am along the same lines as Plutonium Page : having had the opportunity to learn, let alone speak many languages on a regular basis is, well, a matter of luck, even if it takes personal efforts to maintain a good level in that languages on the long run.

My written English is far from fluent and I sometimes miss the idiomatic expressions and idiosyncrasies, but I don't mind too much as I know this is not a native language for many of us on ET and that making mistakes is not a discriminative factor. That's one of the many reasons I like ET, as it uses a language the majority understands and can make themselves understood in using it. It is about bringing people together.

When through hell, just keep going. W. Churchill

by Agnes a Paris on Tue Jan 24th, 2006 at 06:50:13 AM EST
Agnes, I was glad you commented on my diary, but, since you are a French-speaker, I would have been happier if you'd joined in the spirit of the thing -- which was an experiment -- and commented in French yourself. Otherwise, I quite appreciate your position on the use of English as a lingua franca, and, as I say above, am not a militant for the cause of a multilingual ET. Just that we have discussed this for a long time and it was perhaps time to have a stab at it and see.

And this is a gentle, fun-filled snark :-) Why is your signature in an incomprehensible, exclusive language? (I know, I know, you started out in Latin...) ;) ;) ;)

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Tue Jan 24th, 2006 at 07:10:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Well, afew, I guess I would need to make a pretty long stop by a shrink's practise to answer your question : why didn't I join in in French ? :-)
Instead, I think I will try to put together a diary about the advantages and drawbacks of being split between different countries and cultures.
Would gladly have joined yesterday, in whatever language you may have requested, but the thread was toward its end when I recovered my computer connection.

And I'm happy you enjoyed my sign comment- quite confident you missed nothing about it :-)  

When through hell, just keep going. W. Churchill
by Agnes a Paris on Tue Jan 24th, 2006 at 07:18:00 AM EST
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