[lg policy] blog: Ok, the subject has changed to language policy now

[Harold Schiffman]

Ok, the subject has changed to language policy now

Posted Dec 19, 2012 18:22 UTC (Wed) by coriordan (guest, #7544)
In reply to: What GPL/EU compatibility is needed? by Wol

Parent article: European Union's open source license to become
compatible with GPLv3

> those major language groups (English, French, Germanic, Romance, Slav)

The problem with picking a language group (English is a Germanic
language and French is a Romance language) is that even
native-speakers within those groups can't understand each other, let
alone speak and write the other languages.

I speak two Germanic languages, but I can't understand German, and I
speak one and a half Romance languages but I can't understand Italian.

> then every country can translate into their own specific language

Who pays? If the country pays, then it's unfair because very little
will be published in, say, Dutch, so the Dutch speakers (who form 1.5
medium-sized countries) will have to pay higher translation costs than
the English- or German-speakers (who form much larger economies and
could better afford such costs).

Or should the EU pay? In that case you've just recreated the current
situation whereby everything is translated into every language and the
EU pays.

There is no simple answer: language policy will always provide oodles of fun :-)

http://lwn.net/Articles/529889/

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