Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/08/23
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]...will help fellow LUGgers better understand the concept of skepticism about a double blind camera comparison a hell of a lot better than talking about Pepsi Challenge, especially if Pepsi didn't happen to run this promotion in their country. One of the many useful elements of the LUG's value is the experience and perspective of Leica Users who don't use English as a first language. The sooner we Americans recognize English as merely convenient in such applications, and that no international forum has a "mother tongue", the better off LUG will be. This is a request for all LUGgers to extend all LUGgers the courtesy and the consideration of trying to make ourselves easily understood. After all, the camera of our affections is [mostly] made in Germany. Just because foreign education systems outshine [in many dimensions] those in the United States is no reason for we Americans to expect our questions to Leica, AG, in Germany to be received and answered in English. Yet they are, and many Americans do ourselves and others a disservice when we expect it, rather than stop, be surprised, admire it, and woo-o-ow, express respect and thanks for the --very--real--courtesy--extended--. We Americans have no preemptive language rights to an international forum like the LUG. General foreign language fluency levels of Americans leave many of us no choice but to participate in an English language forum. Foreign users should speak up when slang and idioms are used that complicate or confuse rather than facilitate LUG communication. Use of slang and idioms and U.S.-only examples leave interested people out and diminish understanding...counter to what LUG is all about. "Hey, that old Kodachrome-25 rendered skin tones as red as the meat of an Israeli orange!" This doesn't create real clarity of understanding and shared context for most Americans. We all benefit from Erwin's work, which often has to be tediously translated into English rather than simply forwarded in Dutch or Italian. We have LUGgers in Belgium, Canada, Italy and Spain, and lurkers in dozens of other countries. The last Digest contained news about Ted from Maylasia. Many Americans need to rapidly notice that the world has gotten a hell of a lot smaller in the last few years, and American world influence along with it. The reasons English has often been used in international contexts are shrinking, not growing, each year. And America's worldwide business and academic competitiveness erodes as it continues its failure to inject language-educated business people into the mix. It takes harder work to keep up. Please give this some thought. My objective is not to cause flames, rather help create a more useful, more easily understood Leica User's Group. Thanks.