I’m what people call a technical person.
To those that know me in person, this is obvious. I’ve always been good with numbers and then, as I got older, it was clear that I was good with computers. My sister told me it’s so because I can get into the mind of the CPU and understand how it thinks.
Some weeks ago, right after I started this here blog, a co-worker of mine asked me why I don’t post in my native tongue, Romanian. I replied that I’d always written in English. That’s because when I was little, I used to speak much better English than I did Romanian. Heck, my first love poem was written in English.
So, I tend to think in English. And that came in handy when learning about computers. They were all in English. All the programming languages are in English, all the commands are in English. The OS`s were all in English, browsers, most of the internet, most of the music I like, most everything! My first thought of most every workday morning is ‘Crap! What time is it?!’ — in English!
But, apparently, that’s just me. I found out that people tend to like applications more if they’re in their native tongues. Especially Deutsch people. They even keep their cell phones` languages to German.
I.hate.that! It’s just me maybe I know, but I hate getting an email from facebook and seeing it’s in Romanian, because someone likes their websites in Romanian.
I get lost when the application menu is written in Romanian. I also hate the wording. I know because I’ve translated some apps from English to Romanian. After doing so, it became clear I would never do that again.
Right now, I’m going to finish writing my English thoughts to this digital English editable div, hit the button labeled ‘Publish’ and then click a link labeled ‘View post’
What language do you keep your apps in?
13 Brilliant Comments
I hope that I am one of those “Deutsch” -people you like. Well, my cell phones’ language is not deutsch!:)
I’m a “Deutschdenker”
Viel Spass!
English. Because of the power of habit and reluctance to change, really. Romanian looks weird but I`m convinced you could very well get used to it, German, or Arab for that matter. Same goes for thinking.
Not only germans, all Europe is like this.
E.g. Italians didn’t know what I was saying by “Bello laptop”. For them “portabile” was the right term.
I like the fact that nations care about their heritage and language. Can’t be bad. What? We don’t all have to know English, we don’t all have to be technical. Heck I hate people having phone menus in Ro, but not everyone is me or you.
@Tudor
Yes, you’re right in everything you said, and that was my point. I’m only talking about computers and gagetry, though. The spoken language is something else entirely.
What I want is for nations to keep their heritage, but not shove it down my throat. If you keep your computed in Japanese, don`t call me when it breaks down.
@ily
I wrote a whole article on habit and reuctance to change. I’m sure you’re right when you say I could think in any language, and operate in any language. I just know I’m faster in English because everything is more obvious, computer-wise.
You cannot translate ‘pula mea’ into English and make it have the same meaning. Conversely, ‘nor de etichete’, ‘posta electronica’ or ‘de-gat-legau‘ just sound bad. You can get used to anything, true, but that doesn’t mean you’re meant to.
‘Electronic mail’ doesn`t sound too fancy either, precisely because you are not used to it. Just a poor example, I know, and I do see your point, that`s the whole beauty of languages and nuances. But you can`t tell me for a fact you are ‘meant’ to think in English until you`ve gotten used to (not just tried) thinking in a variety, if not all, of other languages.
And this is where the conversation might slip into other realms. xD
@ily
You can get used to anything if you’re around it enough, but maybe you could take the time you’d waste trying to get used to something and use to do something else, anything else. Obviously, you can miss out on a lot with this mentality, which is why ballance is required, and that’s where people draw different lines. At least you and I do, apparently.
Never said what my personal point of view was. But my claim that you can never know what you are and are not in fact meant to do still stands.
We rarely disagree on a personal level, I just like it when you disagree.
I do agree with your claim that you can never know what you’re meant to do. It’s not a matter of knowing, is it?
Isn’t that why we act on whims?
I like to think of myself as a technical person too. Of course my celphone is in english, when I do programming I also think in english and more than often, in a conversation, english terms come before romanian ones. Hell, I will act as a retard if I have to deal with a romanian windows. Necessity forced me to use both romanian and italian windows, what a pain.
But a blog is not of a technical matter. I will never be able to express myself in english when I write a post. Maybe because my posts are not so technical and my topics are more soul related than yours.
And when I want to hear what your soul has to say, I’d like to do so in its own language.
That’s a whole other concept in itself.
I* do agree with your claim
It`s not a matter of knowing as it is a matter of educating oneself. Judging by the same principles, I could very well say I was meant to read Dan Brown and watch Hollywood blockbusters, just because the extra effort put into experimenting with Kafka or Tarkovsky would be, by your criteria, a waste of time.
Variety is excellent because different things are good for different reasons. English is good because it is easy to learn, not at all difficult to master, the only language spoken by Americans, the people who monopolize industry and pop culture (as you said: songs, movies etc. – they`re all in English). Quite frankly, I don`t see another language becoming universal any time soon, mainly for those reasons; seriously, who sees most Americans as likely to become fluent in any language other than their own?
But I digress. The conclusion I was trying to reach is that, also with languages, different ones are more or less suitable for different purposes. However, German is (at least as far as I know) the undeniable Queen when it comes to technology and all exact sciences. I`m not sure about others, but something tells me English wouldn`t quite make top 3.
@ily: “Judging by the same principles, I could very well say I was meant to read Dan Brown and watch Hollywood blockbusters, just because the extra effort put into experimenting with Kafka or Tarkovsky would be, by your criteria, a waste of time.” — I also made that point, you just chose to ignore it. Again, I’m talking about English in a very web- and it- centric sense. The language you choose to make love in is neither my concern nor mine to shun at.