Spanish speakers to rescue!

[yetifoot]

LOL @ MR MATCH

I JUST USED A TRANSLATOR TO SEE WHAT HE SAID >

I am utilizing a translator now, so really, I do not have any idea what I am saying

[Ralph]

See what I mean? Seems too many folks prefer to go the "English" way, as being the most popular language used in programming and, therefore, the languae one is most probable in which to find a solution to one's own programming problems. Not to ignore the needs of non-English speakers, but, the facts are that most of the main programs (Windows, BASIC, QBasic, QuickBASIC, VB, VBA, Lotus 123, Exce, Word, etc., etc. were developed in English. And...

Just for illustration, http://www.krysstal.com/english.html says:
l

It is estimated that there are 300 million native speakers and 300 million who use English as a second language and a further 100 million use it as a foreign language. It is the language of science, aviation, computing, diplomacy, and tourism. It is listed as the official or co-official language of over 45 countries and is spoken extensively in other countries where it has no official status.
...
This domination is unique in history. Speakers of languages like French, Spanish and Arabic may disagree, but English is on its way to becoming the world's unofficial international language. Mandarin (Chinese) is spoken by more people, but English is now the most widespread of the world's languages.

Half of all business deals are conducted in English. Two thirds of all scientific papers are written in English. Over 70% of all post / mail is written and addressed in English. Most international tourism, aviation and diplomacy is conducted in English.

I think that English is as necessary to programming as touch-typing is.

So, if we want to really push the Spanish-speaking QuickBASIC websites, I think it's going to be a really uphill battle.

As an example of what I believe, MrExcel.com shows 167,969 threads with 820,792 hits for English, and only 674 threads with 2339 hits for the International forum, in which most threads have been in Spanish, with a few in German and Scandinavian.lenguages.

[Moneo]

Ralph,

What you say is true, but look around the threads of this forum. Yes, there is a certain amount of code posted, but the majority of the posts are discussions. I think that what these native Spanish speaking programmers want is a place where then can post their code in English, but have their discussions in Spanish.
*****

[Ralph]

Moneo:
What I have read here have been discussions by bilingual, English- and Spanish-speaking programmers, saying, "How do we create enthusiasm for an existing QuickBASIC forum for Spanish-speaking programmers?" That is, how do we avoid these one-a-week or one-a-month type of posts, and heat up that forum? That, I believe, is the question to resolve.

The answer to the above question is always, get a good group of enthusiastic leaders to head the forum, and have them beat the bushes and furnish lots of contributions. And, get the news out! Establish a mailing list to as many Spanish-speaking programmers and start a strong campaign, asking for volunteers, etc. And so on!

[Moneo]

Moneo:
What I have read here have been discussions by bilingual, English- and Spanish-speaking programmers, saying, "How do we create enthusiasm for an existing QuickBASIC forum for Spanish-speaking programmers?" That is, how do we avoid these one-a-week or one-a-month type of posts, and heat up that forum? That, I believe, is the question to resolve.

Yes, I think that's what Antoni had in mind.

The answer to the above question is always, get a good group of enthusiastic leaders to head the forum, and have them beat the bushes and furnish lots of contributions. And, get the news out! Establish a mailing list to as many Spanish-speaking programmers and start a strong campaign, asking for volunteers, etc. And so on!

Ok, but how do we go about causing this? Who is going to do all this work? The only motivation I can see would be for the mentioned Spanish forum itself. I personally don't know where or who runs this forum. I'm just trying to help since I'm an American who's fluent in Spanish.
*****

[ShadowWolf]

Ralph it not like antoni Gual idea hasn't been done before. for example there is a German QB forum with its own little nitch community. and last time i heard it was still going strong but i don't really know since my first language is English and my secondary is extremely weak french so i don't really check other language forums since i well can't understand them .

[jakeman922]

hmmm, estoy utilizando un traductor ahora, tan realmente, yo no tengo ninguna idea qué estoy diciendo ^_^

¿Usted utilizó el traductor de Google? Eso es lo que utilizo, puesto que la única segunda lengua que sé es Latina (y no lo sé bien ).

¿Preguntas o comentarios?

[Ralph]

Moneo and ShadowWolf:

I hear you both, but, the fact remains that, until someone, or more than one, starts working hard at this, things will not get accomplished. So, the question remains, where are the folks that should be taking the lead in this? If they don't exist, the refered-to forum will simply not take off!

I am not one to take this kind of job. First, I have no experience in this sort of thing. Second, and more importantly, I was burned once, long ago, and so retired from trying to be "up front".

Are any of the other posters to this thread willing and ready to help out? Maybe, if they express that desire, a leader will speak up and take on that important position.

[Moneo]

Ralph,

Have you visited the forum mentioned by Antoni? I joined and tried to stir up some interest by posting topics and challenges in the Quickbasic sub-forum, in Spanish of course. The only ones that reply are Antoni and a guy from Mexico named Atrapado. Antoni replies with good coding examples, but Atrapado only offers lip-service to the topics. Antoni and I tried different topics, like sorts, algorithms, and graphic stuff. Many people read the posts, but there is just no response.

The other sub-forms on other languages are equally dead.

Since the administrators have disapperared, one of the moderators is trying to put together a team to create a new forum site. Will a new Spanish programming site be a success? Who knows.
*****

[Ralph]

Moneo:

I visited the site today, and have read all the QuickBASIC topics. I have responded to some of the ones that I thought I could contribute something to.

I think the site is very well organized, and uses the same (or very similar) format as does MrExcel.com. As far as a new site, I would be happy to use the existing one we are talking about, and do some more contributions and ask a question or two, also.

Remember, all forum posts that I have seen have some 10 to 20 hits for each answer...usually. So, I would say, just keep plugging, don't worry about the "poor response", as, for historical and developmental reasons, English carries the day.

Let's all us Spanish-speaking QuickBASIC users just continue to visit that site regularly, contributing what we can more frequently. This is the only way to maintain the site that I can think of.

Just remember that, "IF IT IS TO BE, IT IS UP TO ME"