Better English could do miracles for Ukraine
English is ubiquitous language in the internet and the language for all things about programming. Communities like StackOverflow, HackerNews or Reddit became global in reach exactly because English is so universally spread.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s obvious!” — you might be thinking. OK, so why don’t we apply this in everyday life?
It is crucial to become more open and comprehensible to the outside world and to integrate with global community. Globalisation and technologies continue to make the world smaller by the hour.
My point is that we should force ourselves to use English more often, even when most of us speak Russian or Ukrainian natively.
We can’t afford to be on the outskirts of this new global village.
Unlike Russia, Ukraine doesn’t have a big local market for IT. At least, not yet. Few Ukrainian companies reached sophistication and maturity to demand and buy top-notch development services at the globally competitive rates.
Being part of the global world is fun and rewarding. There is so much going on everwhere, why narrow yourself artificially?
Take for instance developers.org.ua. There is no English content whatsoever even though there is an audience for this. We can do better.
Same with conferences. It puzzles me to no end why Startup Crash Test is all Russian. Don’t you guys want international exposure and coverage?
There are exceptions, for instance AgileEE or PyCon Ukraine and I really wish there will be more events like these.
There are so many bright people here in Ukraine and it’s a pity this talent is largely hidden behind a language curtain.
Some politics to conclude
It’s maddening Ukrainan society spends so much time arguing about Russian vs Ukrainian. What’s the fucking difference? Make English a required exam to get a high school diploma, like Israel does and China does. That would make miracles!
Найкращі коментарі пропустити