[OSM-talk] [OSM-talk-fr] Continued aggression against French contributors (cadastre integration)

[Jean-Marc Liotier]

On 19/10/2012 10:14, Elena ``of Valhalla'' wrote:
> you can't expect people from the project to speak French, German, 
> Italian, Spanish, Polish and every other language spoken whenever 
> people want to form a local OSM community (or just map). 
That is why intermediaries are needed - and why the English speakers 
must learn to accept the need for international intermediation.
> * When there is an important announce in this mailing list it only takes a few hours for it to be posted on the italian ML, usually translated.
Yes - and it does not happen magically.
> What the foundation/project could do is to setup a framework
> so that the local communities can form translation teams
> that could be used when there is a need to send a private
> message to some member.
No, this is not just about translation. International intermediaries are 
not transparent translation devices - they are not human instances of 
Google Translate.

This is about intercultural relationships - much more complicated than 
mere translation. We don't just have different languages, we have 
different cultures - which means different values, different 
institutions, different practices.

Of course, we also have common languages, common cultures, common 
values, common institutions and common practices - which is how we 
manage to move this project forward.

But at the international level, we can't expect the differences to 
spontaneously vanish into the new world order. Some of them do - the 
Internet does create such magic, but some remain and we have no way 
forward unless we manage that diversity for the greater good.