--On Sunday, December 02, 2012 08:35 -0800 SM <sm@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > It is not about different dialects of English. There are > people in one part of the world who speak English. There are > people from other parts of the world which do not understand > that English because of: > > (a) The way English is spoken > > (b) The speed at which English is spoken > > (c) The vocabulary used (d) Their reading-English is much better than their spoken English and they have trouble keeping up even if (b) is quite moderate. > The people face a high barrier for active participation at a > meeting. But can be considerably aided in many cases by written material (slides, summaries, or both) well in advance especially if those material are also used at the meeting, thereby aiding synchronization. >... > Accommodating the group of people is not enough. It is up to > the group of people to say what they would like done to make > the IETF easier for them. It is up to the (North American) > group to, if you excuse me, shut up and take what they say at > face value instead of trying to prove them wrong. Sigh. Some of the comments above are derived from exactly the types of discussions you are trying to encourage. Other parts of it derive from trying to understand and participate in presentations and discussions in languages in which I can sort of get around but am not real-time fluent (while the issue in the IETF is the set of languages, dialects, and pronunciations we call "English", the problem isn't unique). Cultural styles also make some of the most affected parties less likely to speak up for their specific needs on this list than one might like. That leaves the rest of us with a choice between trying to synthesize from other conversations and experiences and taking the position that, until the people with the most severe versions of the problem speak up, there is no problem. I believe the latter would be unfortunate for many reasons, not least of which is that better use of meeting time and presentation aids/ materials would help those of us who are native speakers as well. >... john