Re: [OT] Posters with English as 27th language by Danny Sauer .

Gerhard wrote regarding 'Re: [OT] Posters with English as 27th language' on Mon, Dec 19 at 05:05: > You are lucky to live in a world (and I believe that this is only > temporary, as pretty much everything) where English is the de facto > international communication standard. That makes things easier for native > English speakers. Some hundred years ago or so, it was French. Maybe in > hundred years from now, the standard will be some form of Chinese. There's a big difference between cutting someone some slack because they haven't really gotten a good handle on English and being grateful that someone can take some time out of their busy schedule to half-heartedly learn the language that everyone else on a forum uses. The first is reasonable, but the second? If someone wants to participate in a forum which is exclusively English, then they need to be able to communicate clearly in English. That's not being mean or insensitive, it's just the way it is for any language. BTW, it's not just non-native speakers. I've worked with people whose families have spoken exclusively English for generations, and who *still* can't clearly get their ideas across in writing. They're either non-native, or dumb - it's not clear from their writing alone, since both appear so similar without hearing the accent. Though, it was clear on the security camera I bought yesterday. One of the features is "a firm crust". I have no idea what the crust of a security camera would be, but I guess it's firm on my model. That was probably just a poor translation. A very poor translation. --Danny