I haven’t seen the original argument since the comment has been deleted.
But I’ve decided to comment since I sympathize, I have had problems with English spelling in the past to the point of having people volunteer to proofread my posts before I post them. Language barriers are something I can relate to.
I would love to participate in a nonEnglish Less Wrong, however my native language is so small I would be a nonnative speaker anyway.
Perhaps German? I’m better at it than English, French could also be doable but any other languages are off the table for me.
Translating the main sequences into various world languages would be a good way to raise the global sanity water line a bit more. LW is very very Anglocentric (understandable considering the recent history of Compsci) in its demographics. Its also a way for people who don’t feel they know enough to write top level posts to contribute. I know we have the people here to translate all the articles into Russian, French, German and Spanish. I have no idea about Hindi but there are probably a few notable posters who are very fluent and have a large enough specialized vocabulary. Arab, Chinese and perhaps Japanese would be more tricky I think.
On second thought… Is anyone here interested in starting a learning group for Lojban?
Perhaps translating LW articles and occasionally debating in the language would be a good way to learn it, and perhaps (considering the nature of the language) it would help to have eventually all articles translated into Lojban, with Lojban being the “source code” version of the article and English the obligatory translation and default option. Unambiguity can be very useful.
I agree that translating LW articles into Lojban would be worthwhile, though i see its benefit more as promoting Lojban than promoting LW. Unlike other Lojban translation projects (i.e. Alice in Wonderland, The Legend of Zelda), the LW articles are likely to be subject to a lot of examiners getting helpfully nit-picky about the translation.
Also, longer term, it may help add to Lojban’s practical usage as a rational language to early on have a set of high-quality Lojban documents that are explicitly and thoroughly rational. It could provide something analagous to a set of “kata” for future users of the language, a target ideal and example form.
I haven’t seen the original argument since the comment has been deleted.
But I’ve decided to comment since I sympathize, I have had problems with English spelling in the past to the point of having people volunteer to proofread my posts before I post them. Language barriers are something I can relate to.
I would love to participate in a nonEnglish Less Wrong, however my native language is so small I would be a nonnative speaker anyway.
Perhaps German? I’m better at it than English, French could also be doable but any other languages are off the table for me.
Translating the main sequences into various world languages would be a good way to raise the global sanity water line a bit more. LW is very very Anglocentric (understandable considering the recent history of Compsci) in its demographics. Its also a way for people who don’t feel they know enough to write top level posts to contribute. I know we have the people here to translate all the articles into Russian, French, German and Spanish. I have no idea about Hindi but there are probably a few notable posters who are very fluent and have a large enough specialized vocabulary. Arab, Chinese and perhaps Japanese would be more tricky I think.
On second thought… Is anyone here interested in starting a learning group for Lojban?
Perhaps translating LW articles and occasionally debating in the language would be a good way to learn it, and perhaps (considering the nature of the language) it would help to have eventually all articles translated into Lojban, with Lojban being the “source code” version of the article and English the obligatory translation and default option. Unambiguity can be very useful.
Kial ne lerni Esperanto?
komponisto and I both speak it. I figured Konkvistador did too, or was at least familiar with it, based on the username.
In fact, the last letter in my username is in Esperanto! (Seriously.)
komponisto kaj mi ambaŭ scipovas ĝin. Mi supozis, ke ankaŭ Konkvistador scipovas ĝin, aŭ almenaŭ konas ĝin, pro la uzulnomo.
Efektive la fina litero de mia uzulnomo estas en Esperanto! (Serioze.)
Ŝajnas ke estas jam rimarkebla minoritato :-)
i ie go’a i ji’a xu do se bangu la lojban
I agree that translating LW articles into Lojban would be worthwhile, though i see its benefit more as promoting Lojban than promoting LW. Unlike other Lojban translation projects (i.e. Alice in Wonderland, The Legend of Zelda), the LW articles are likely to be subject to a lot of examiners getting helpfully nit-picky about the translation.
Also, longer term, it may help add to Lojban’s practical usage as a rational language to early on have a set of high-quality Lojban documents that are explicitly and thoroughly rational. It could provide something analagous to a set of “kata” for future users of the language, a target ideal and example form.