>> Jens wrote: >>> I think as a system administrator, one is out of luck if one can't >>> follow the English announcements anyway.
> Siegbert wrote: >> [snip] >> >> I dislike this attitude "No English, no IT". In many states school >> systems aren't good enough or English is not taught >> as first foreign language. As a side note: I personally know Germans >> and foreign Chinese students here in Germany >> working in this business, whose English skills wouldn`t allow reading >> complicated DSAs. > Jens wrote: > Please don't get me wrong. I am not promoting an elite circle of > "selbstbeweihraeuchernden Goettern" as you Germans call it, that > distinguishes itself by the fact that they are able to speak English. I > would support anything that would open this topic to a broader > community. But for the reasons I stated I do not believe that a > translated list will help much in this matter. > In fact English is not my first foreign language either; it is not even > my second foreign language. But I decided to learn enough of it to > participate here, not because I like the language so much but because I > found I could not get around without it. > I was really surprised (in a positive way) to hear from these German and > Chinese linux administrators that are doing well without being able to > understand english DSA's. I am really wondering how they do it, because > I could not do it. Maybe the different opinions here are on one side based on the assumption that Debian is for the professionals only. IMHO, that's wrong. The people I talk about with the lack of English knowledge are in the IT business, but they aren't sysadmins. But they own debian boxes for private use (DSL-router, firewall, ...) and yes, it was me, who recommended Debian. Was it wrong doing so, should I have sent them to Suse or Mandrake instead? I don't check the English skills before I install a box for a friend, so the assumption that every Debian installation refers to an English speaking box owner is simply wrong, too. BTW, Lehmann's book store sells a specially crafted Debian CD set here in Germany with German installation documentation. I'm sure similar things exist in other countries, too. But we all know, that even private boxes should be as secure as possible to prevent misuse, which also affects professionally maintained systems. So any effort to strengthen security on all Debian boxes spread over the world is much appreciated. If there would be international debian-security-announce lists, we could simply reach more people, as we could advise them on install time to subscribe to a security list with a language they understand. So information will make its way through to them. Relying on them, to check regularly some web sites is suboptimal, as we all know this simply won't work in everyday's life. So if there are volunteers, who will do the work, I really can't see any downside. If there aren't, drop this idea. That's it, IMHO. Ciao Siegbert P.S.: Of course, it is much easier to be able to speak English; but this world is imperfect both security and education wise. :-)
