Date: Sat, 17 Feb 1996 16:25:25 +0100
From: m-14970-AT-mailbox.swipnet.se (Hugh Rodwell)
Subject: Re: Languages


Lisa wrote:

>Maybe it's just because you're new, Hugh, you gavent' caught the
>talkn not very long ago, about languages on this list.  English
>excludes some people too.  Although Spoons lists are generally
>uncensored and membership is self-selected, so that there is no
>exclusion in that sense, a variety of languages seems less exclusive
>than requiring any particular language.

No sweat - if everybody's ready for complications, let it happen.

It's just that I get very frustrated at meetings - and this list is just
like one huge chaotic meeting - where there is no interpretation available.
And most people aren't all that good at being their own interpreters. Just
imagine that meeting about collectivization in 'Land and Freedom' without
interpretation.

One of the things I enjoy most about reading Marx when he's going at it no
holds barred and not for publication - like in the Grundrisse and his
letters to Engels - is the way he uses different languages to enrich his
ideas. The most appropriate expression for one thought is in one language,
the most appropriate reference to something else is in another. But this
does exclude people who lack the languages concerned if a translation isn't
provided.

I fully approve of the following policy:

>Non-standard /non-fluent language of any sort is also welcome.  Some
>people find it
>embarassing to be still learning, but without practice there is no
>progress.  We must only be prepared to be asked to clarify things
>when they are not clear, as indeed we must always be, even without
>any language barriers.



>Given the previous subject line, I was kind of hoping that I would
>see a post written in Chinese...

Sorry I couldn't oblige. But we might get some postings in Welsh before long.

Hei Jukka, mikset jotakin suomeksi?

Kippis ja p=F6yd=E4n alle,

Cheers,

Hugh




     --- from list marxism-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---

     ------------------