I want to second what Allen Dick said...one should never be embarrassed by
their English or let it hold them back from adding to a discussion, asking a
question, or making a contribution.  Moreover, if English is just not
possible...use another language as by using the translator the rest of us
can get a reasonably good idea of what is being communicated.
-----Original Message-----
From: Allen Dick <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Friday, January 30, 1998 6:52 PM
Subject: Spanish
 
 
> I made an error (pressed the wrong address botton) and sent a
> message in Spanish to the list.  I apologized immediately to the list
> as the message was sent to the list by error.  I do think that it would
> be impolite to send an other than English language message to the list
> when I know that this is mainly an English speaking forum...
 
FWIW, I think most of us would rather have some posts in languages other
than English than lose valuable members -- or ideas.  Often there are
barriers to knowledge that are caused by geography or language and maybe
the answers to questions that bother us are freely available elsewhere.  I
wonder what the Chinese know about varroa that we don't?
 
Sure there may be a few who gripe when they realise that they can't
understand a post, but no matter what a person does, someone is going to
object -- and frankly I have made posts in plain carefully chosen English
that have been well misunderstood ;)
 
Personally I found the Spanish exchange fresh and interesting, and, as
another list member suggested, I went to the translator on the web for a
better interpretation than my weak Spanish could supply.   It is always
amusing to see what that translating machine thinks about technical words.
I have a link on the RossRounds.com pages <http://wwww.RossRounds.com> to
the same translator and it makes a mangled mess of the trade name, but I
think that people who really want to know about Ross Rounds (tm) and don't
speak English will find it useful.
 
I notice that Europeans are used to having to try to communicate in a
melange of languages and I appreciate the fact that we have many
non-English members from around the world here patiently puzzling their
way through our messages.  I hope it is worth it.
 
I know it is hard to write in English sometimes and I fervently hope
that if these members feel they have something important to say that they
will feel assured enough to write in their native language to BEE-L.
 
We'll try to figure it out and, after all, there is a delete button on
every computer if we find it too challenging.
 
Allen