SoloLearn: To be or not to be (translated)?

Question

Hey!
As a non native English speaker, I find the idea of making these courses accesible to more people, specially bc I live in a country where the average person is, at most, scared of English. I even see the possibility of us all, bi/trilingual or polyglots people, to be part of that (possibly) big step for this company.
I love this place, but imagine me having a brother who'd like to learn these things, and I'd hate to send him to another place when this is the one I'll suggest people..
I'll read y'all!

Answer 1

Translation is a great idea, it could reach even more eager people 😊. Just because SoloLearn is from the US doesn't mean it should be only in english. Otherwise, Skype that's from Estonia should be in estonian and not offer english. And I don't think Q&A in people's native language wouldn't get any answers, on the contrary, there's people downvoting and telling you to ask in english all the time and that stops many from asking because what I've noticed is that when you are learning a new human language at first you are good at reading and listening, you understand what you are reading and listening, but the toughest part is to write it and speak it fluently, that is why I've met non native english speaker sololearners that are "afraid" to ask questions in english because they feel that they won't be understood (even using google's translator). Although I deeply encourage foreigners to learn english because it will make their lives easier in the long term in this field, especially finding related material.

Answer 2

You should try out a free language learning app called Duolingo, I am using this myself to do the reverse of learning my native English Language in order to stay competitive.

Answer 3

@visph I only said it was from the US as @MarioL mentioned that. I have no clue of its origins but I did a quick research on Bloomberg and other sites and the 2 founders are from Armenia, not India. Also, check out this thread, people discussed this and said it is not from India: https://www.sololearn.com/Discuss/283533/?ref=app

I do agree english is the international language, I just think it would be nice to let foreigners choose in which language it's easier for them. I've seen some sololearners copy-pasting the lessons on a translator to better understand some concepts and it's not bad I think for them who are not bilingual.

Answer 4

@Mario L. wrote: << programming languages are English (don't know if there's any which is not). >>

There's a lot, even if they don't are the more used:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-English-based_programming_languages

But the mainly default of non-english based programming languages, is that reduces the number of available information/helping source ^^
Anyway, you can't "translate" almost english based programming languages, with some 'define', macro-commands and or function redefinition... But learning a new programming language is learning a new language before all, it doesn't matter on which based is: you learn new words and new logical context of them.

Answer 5

I was answering only to the @Mario sentence, because it seems to me complementary related...
All naturals anguages have community producing more or less stuff to explain/learn any programming languages, but it's a fact that you find generally the more complete in english language: you can learn any of them in whatever natural languages, but learn some basic and technical english will be an advantage at long term ^^ ( and sometimes, you find really good stuff in your natural language, but always it's just an exception :P )

Answer 6

of course translations would make the app more attractive. but which languages should there be? Spanish, French, German, Italian, Chinese, Japanese for sure. but what about Brazilian, Hindi, Russian, Swedish, Dutch etc? that would be a bit too much... also most people would post their questions in Q&A in their native language and won't get any answers, because all the others don't understand them.
programming languages are English (don't know if there's any which is not). many people learn English in school. IT is mostly English.
plus SoloLearn is from the usa. so this app is English.
if you don't know English, too bad, search for tutorials on programming in your native language. that's the only possibility left.

Answer 7

@Carlos Lopez:

I understand that by reading Q&A Discussions, but I may be wrong and have missunderstood... as it seems to be condradictory answers and I find now mostly that you're seems right ;P

https://www.sololearn.com/Discuss/283533/why-sololearn-is-full-of-indian-people-is-this-app-created-by-any-indian
https://www.sololearn.com/Discuss/296815/who-is-the-founder-of-sololearn

Answer 8

@Mario L. I understand perfectly that point. The fact that almost all programming languages are written in English puts us all, people who speak two different 'human' languages, in a pretty superior position, but when that is contrasted with how easily it could be for native English speakers to get this information, I just imagine my people getting it the very same way. That's the main point in my question: just a question who asks if some sort of information equality is possible.
Thanks for your response man!

Answer 9

@Paola Mancia: SoloLearn isn't from the US but from India, so there's a really choose of using international language from the devellopers, not just because it's their natural language, even if english is relatively commonly used in India ^^

Answer 10

@visph I don't mind the programming languages they're written in, I mean the lessons themselves. What are your thoughts on that?
Because yes, youre gonna be learning a new markup / programming language that its in English, but the explanations could be in the users native language.

Answer 11

@Daniel William Rutter Well, that could be a pretty good example. Do you recall how Duolingo started? Those good old days (actually, just some years ago) It was primarily in English. I digged it by that time, but the community was relatively small. Slowly they started adding new languages and now look at all the possibilities. That, and the app creation, were, as I firmly believe, the reasons why its popularity skyrocketed.

SoloLearn has its own app. Why is it not a bad idea to bring more success to what's already pretty good by emulating the other part of their formula?

Answer 12

@visph Oh, hahaha! I didn't see his name. My bad! Thanks for both your answers bud. 💪

Answer 13

@visph I'll have to differ because it seems it was founded in Silicon Valley, back in 2013. Do you have your sources?
Mine's this article:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2016/02/prweb13197012.htm

@Paola Mancia I mean, since the majority of users are from the US, they'll try to prevail the language. That's the reason behind the question. There are tons of people who would love to have the same opportunity as us to learn the art of designing ideas with these languages, and the only barrier between both of them is that huge English stone. I would even become a translator if that helps others have the same opportunity I'm given on this platform.

Answer 14

@visph That's totally fine mate. Thanks for sharing those! Will check them right after I finish some pending hws (talk about addictive apps, haha!)