Quote:
Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze
Whatever you might think of Meisler's syntax in expository writing = coding thesis, it's unfair to refute an argument he's not actually making. Meisler hasn't ever advanced the depressing and xenophobic idea that English is the only language in which a logical person may express ideas gracefully -- if he had, I wouldn't have linked to him.
In terms of your example of multilingual coders with special difficulties in English, Meisler is arguing that, for example, an English-challenged Russian or Indonesian coder might be a perfectly graceful writer in their native language and that that is what matters. No one should presume that English is normative and the only logical language (particularly when it's far less logical than many others -- French, Italian, Romanian, etc.). Meisler's point is that being able to write and think well in at least one language is mandatory, not that the language in which one thinks need be his alone.
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I think you're accusing theducks of an argument that he/she was mistakenly accusing me of making. Whereas, I was clumsily trying to make pretty much the same argument that you gave above. We all seem to be in violent agreement (unless I'm completing the circle by misunderstanding you
).