As suggested by a few users, I believe that we should add an international forum for users who do not speak English well enough to understand others. The server and/or plugin community is made up of a variety of cultures speaking a variety of languages, and I think that it's only fair to them that we allow them to speak their native language if they aren't strongly fluent in English. Limiting a person to English could restrict their thoughts and not give them the opportunity to explain their situation properly. Some analogies to describe their situations would be: 1) telling a fish to walk. 2) having a janitor teach a Calculus class. The janitor has the ability to use Google and can try and learn enough of it to teach the students, but assuming that he doesn't have a thorough background in mathematics, he couldn't fully express the lesson to the students. I'm aware that some users could break the rules if given the opportunity to speak another language, however that is where translators would come in and volunteer some of their time(if possible) to check if they are breaking the rules or not. Please take this suggestion into consideration, as it would benefit the community in a variety of ways.
I don't think its nessicary. I mean I wouldn't need it, and also, wouldn't it be fine to use google translate?
I am not a native English speaker, but I appreciate that using a common language is most beneficial. But if users end up talking in their own language zones, (1) they cannot integrate with the rest of the community, and (2) they will receive help from a much smaller community, and end up feeling ignored. A fish cannot walk however hard it tries. A human can at least try a translator. This doesn't restrict their thoughts; this just restricts the extent to which they can express their thoughts. However, considering that this forum mostly consists of technical discussion and seldom involves abstract discussion, expression of ideas would not really be very limited. I don't see how this analogy relates to the discussed issue. Language is the means of communication, while in your case you're most likely referring to that the janitor doesn't know anything about the content of the communication. When the janitor uses Google, he is self-learning the content, and then let the students learn the second-hand knowledge from him. The source of the content is not from him. On the other hand, with a proper dictionary and some basic English grammar knowledge, or at worst with an online translator, the user is expressing his own ideas; it's just the reader not comprehending his content thoroughly, but at least the idea is there. Not to mention that programming languages are primarily based on English. Disclaimer: This is not an official statement.
Granted, my analogies were really bad and I can see how using a common language would limit division among the community, but my point still stands. If they don't have adequate knowledge of English (and I'm not sure how hard it is to learn English, since I'm a native speaker) and can't find the correct vocabulary to express their problems, it would be frustrating for both sides. Language barriers are frustrating in general, but take this post for example. He doesn't explain his issue in the original post, but someone that spoke his language explained to him that they couldn't solve his problem if they didn't know what it was. And through some posts back and forth in another language, with many people telling him to speak English, they were solving the issue. Of course on the flip side of the coin, I can see how ignorance played into this situation, with the original poster not showing any acknowledgement of English posts or any attempts at translation. But I'm sure there's a solution here that would benefit everyone in the end. I'd be interested to see if anyone has ideas.
Another point against your point is that having conversations (or at least trying to communicate) english will improve their english over time. I used to be really bad at english 3yrs ago, but since I joined this community it only improved. My grades also went from Ds/Cs to Bs/As. I can only say that it was positive for me not being able to speak german on the old forums and fighting my way through with whatever I remembered from school. While I do see that I had some pre-knowledge of english while making my first post, it was really not much. About the quality of google translate. I think I also used it back then, but i am not sure
Off topic, but learning new languages and thinking in that language gives a new mindset to tons of people. It's the whole reason a conlang(constructed language) called toki pona that was created based on ambiguity and simplification. So learning new languages(such as English) could expand the mindset and therefore help in a positive direction.