I’d like to make a brief note on the importance of translating EA content because I’ve often encountered a general idea which is something like “as a movement, we are basically mainly interested in people who already speak English so they’d just read the original and the translation wouldn’t bring any additional benefit”.
An answer to this could be a standalone forum post, but in short:
There are in fact, very talented people who could make great contributions to the movement who for a number of reasons don’t communicate in English that well. If our outreach is in English only, we will likely miss them.
Even if someone seems quite competent in their command of English but it may still impact their willingness to consume English content, and even if they do, they may not enjoy it as much because their comprehension is not 100%.
It seems that reading text in your primary language lands differently, especially when you want the reader to connect with the material emotionally. Reading it in your primary language seems to increase the extent to which you’re able to internalize the message (especially for someone with low comprehension skills in English)
A lot of EA material is already targeted at the English-speaking world and it can feel alienating—like it’s not REALLY meant for me. Sure, EA sounds interesting but it’s something for OTHER people, not me, living in *insert a small foreign city*.
Thank you for the comment!
This is related to your 3rd and 4th point, but I’d also add that it’s important to give people vocabulary to use in the language they’re most comfortable speaking (or thinking in). Two main reasons come to mind:
EA is already over-jargonized. If EA only provides materials in English, then people who want to speak about EA-adjacent issues in another language will tend to use the English terms they’re familiar with, which might be incromprehensible, alienating or downright off-putting to the people they’re speaking to (who are hearing about EA for the first time, for example).
Having a set of concepts and terms in your primary language helps you using them naturally, confidently, creatively even.
So it’s not just about you internalizing the message better, it’s also about being able to convey it better.
I’d like to make a brief note on the importance of translating EA content because I’ve often encountered a general idea which is something like “as a movement, we are basically mainly interested in people who already speak English so they’d just read the original and the translation wouldn’t bring any additional benefit”.
An answer to this could be a standalone forum post, but in short:
There are in fact, very talented people who could make great contributions to the movement who for a number of reasons don’t communicate in English that well. If our outreach is in English only, we will likely miss them.
Even if someone seems quite competent in their command of English but it may still impact their willingness to consume English content, and even if they do, they may not enjoy it as much because their comprehension is not 100%.
It seems that reading text in your primary language lands differently, especially when you want the reader to connect with the material emotionally. Reading it in your primary language seems to increase the extent to which you’re able to internalize the message (especially for someone with low comprehension skills in English)
A lot of EA material is already targeted at the English-speaking world and it can feel alienating—like it’s not REALLY meant for me. Sure, EA sounds interesting but it’s something for OTHER people, not me, living in *insert a small foreign city*.
Thank you for the comment! This is related to your 3rd and 4th point, but I’d also add that it’s important to give people vocabulary to use in the language they’re most comfortable speaking (or thinking in). Two main reasons come to mind:
EA is already over-jargonized. If EA only provides materials in English, then people who want to speak about EA-adjacent issues in another language will tend to use the English terms they’re familiar with, which might be incromprehensible, alienating or downright off-putting to the people they’re speaking to (who are hearing about EA for the first time, for example).
Having a set of concepts and terms in your primary language helps you using them naturally, confidently, creatively even. So it’s not just about you internalizing the message better, it’s also about being able to convey it better.