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by oewolf 5577 days ago
No? then you suggest to wait at least 6 months after an intensive time-consuming-I-can't-do-anything-else English fast course to get up to speed to a competent English hacker level, so I can read/participate in something like HN?

Does this looks realistic to you? considering that the number of good Spanish hackers to-be and that-are is not small.
1 comments
arctangent 5576 days ago
I don't want to suggest that anybody who speaks a language other than English is disadvantaged in any way. Quite the opposite.

But it is a fact that English is the language of technology (and science). If you want to participate then you really need to be familiar with the lingo. This is why I said "love it or hate it".

If you want to be a good hacker then you must learn English because there's a huge amount of advice on the web in English to help you. If you can't read it then you're missing out.

Starting a community in another language works in the short term, but it really isn't productive in the long term (either for the members of that community or the wider community). This was the key point I was making.

To address your specific point: what is six months? I've spent over 20 years learning to program in various languages. Why not spend six months learning English so that you can participate with the global programming community?

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oewolf 5576 days ago
Ah, good hackers will eventually learn English, at their own pace though. Why spend 6 months in a really intensive English training course stopping everything else when you can have an influx of material on your own language now?

Plus, believe me when I say, not every Mexican teenager guy/gal with skills have the resources to pay a training course like the one you suggest (I didn't, learnt it on my own, took many years, still not perfect though).

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arctangent 5575 days ago
I haven't suggested a training course :-)

I'm arguing for people hanging out in English forums rather than hanging out in forums designed to cater to their own language.

But I do take your point that good hackers will eventually learn English. I'm suggesting that this is by necessity - it's not a language you can ignore if you work in the technology sector.

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