Thread: Language Powers
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Old 03-13-2008, 01:01 PM   #13
BigV
Goon Squad Leader
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Seattle
Posts: 27,063
Quote:
Originally Posted by Clodfobble View Post
The reality is 99.9% of people don't actually interact globally in their lives. --snip.
Was at work this evening at 0015 PDT to meet our people in The Netherlands at 0800 local time. Thank god their English is impeccable, because as work on their computers with remote connections to see their screens, I find the localization of Windows XP in Dutch utterly impenetrable. I also have worked on systems localized for French, Italian, Swedish, German and Finnish. In cases like this, I'm working by braille. I remember that for some context sensitive menus, "Properties" is the bottom of the list. I have some screenshots of the Control Panel we all know and love in many of the languages listed above. Even the keyboards are substantially different.

Listening to them code switch in the background as they translate what I said to the other people in the room not on the phone is a testament to their skill. I wish I knew more languages.
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