Summary: Python.org as a multi-language portal (was: Some thoughts about Python, python.org and non-English languages)

[M. Müller-Oertel]

Kyler Laird wrote:

> >Python.org is currently English-only. This will most likely mislead
visitors
> >to think about English as a requirement for learning or using Python. I
> >suggested to redirect visitors to welcome pages in their native language
> >according to the language settings of their web browsers.
>
> If I give someone a URL and he goes there and does not see
> essentially what I saw, he's likely to be confused by my
> reference.

That's a valid point. You should be redirected nowhere, if you type in a
specific URL like http://python.org/xyz.html. On the other hand nobody
should be confused if http://python.org presents information in his
language.

> Would it be sufficient to change Python.org to have language-
> specific banners?  I know that when I visit non-English pages
> a link to "English version" is a welcome sight.  Would a link
> (in the appropriate language) saying "We have [language]-
> specific resources available." do it?

Yes, there are many ways to reach the goal.

Unfortunately we do not know how much enthusiasm there is for the
multi-language approach with the python.org webmasters, the native language
Python communities and the core developers. The way to go is in the range of
do-it-like-the-Debian-folks and
what-we-have-now-should-be-good-enough-for-everyone.

> Perhaps even add an appropriate flag.

Flags are nice to look at, but they represent nations. We shouldn't misuse
them to represent languages, even if everyone else does. As I pointed out
yesterday (local time :-) in another thread there often is a many-to-many
relationship between languages and nations.

> That'd make me feel welcome and give me an easy *option* to
> get to something that might assist me.  It could even be
> incorporated into many pages.
>
> >These welcome pages would introduce Python in a few words and list some
hand
> >picked quality links to Python resources in the visitor's native
language.
>
> I like that part a lot.
>
> --kyler

Marcus