The most used language is Chinese (Mandarin). The second is Spanish.
That really depends on how you measure things. If you’re talking total speakers (as opposed to native), then Mandarin barely beats English. That’s because English is the lingua franca of business and technology. Many countries run their business and technology schools in English for that exact reason.
But it’s not the point - how many people speak the language. The point is that in computer programming, English is the indisputably dominant. Nothing comes close.
I find it highly unlikely that the majority of developers in these languages speak English during daily scrums and planning meetings.
Actually that does happen. But that’s beside the point. The person in question is obviously going to speak their native language. The point is - do they speak the language of programming? Can they get all the documentation they need in Farsi, or Mandarin, or whatever?
Forgive me, but if there is such a vibrant and thriving programming community in Italian, then why would they need to come to FCC? They come here because (for whatever reason at this point in the socioeconomic history of the world) English has become a de facto lingua franca in much of the world and is the language in the world of programming.
Let me put it this way, due to recent political turns in my country (cough, cough) my wife and are are considering moving overseas. I’ve spent a lot of time perusing jobs overseas. When I look at programming jobs in non-English speaking countries, I often see things like, “Must speak English” or “Must be fluent in English”. Often the postings are actually in English and a few even mention that English is the language of the office - because they know that it is a language that anyone in that field will speak.
Again, I hate to be the ugly American. I’ve spent most of my adult life working with people from other countries. I’ve taught ESL. I do sympathize. It seems very self serving for a native English speaker to demand that everything be in English (but in all fairness, I’m not demanding that.)
I got my MA in music. While at the university, we’d have people who would swear up and down that it wasn’t fair that they had to learn piano. But piano is the common language of the world of Western music study. I’d say the same of English for web dev.
Sure, you can get a web dev job where you never have to speak English. And you could find some documentation in your native tongue, even if you have to be 6 months behind the curve as you wait for someone to translate it. It just seems to be that you would always be struggling.
And I ask again: If there are thriving coding communities in those languages, then why are they coming here? They come here because the world of web dev is predominantly an English speaking one. Maybe in 100 years it will all be Mandarin or Hindi or Spanish, but for now it is English.
For the record, I am always patient with nonnative speakers. I will not complain if people start conversing in some other language. I’m just saying that if people want to maximize their opportunities and access to information in this field, then English is a must.
I’ve seen a few times on the fCC forum where a non-English speaker has tried to communicate and the response what generally “I have no idea what you just said”.
How else should they respond? To pretend that they understood? If you can show me someone mocking someone for not having good English skills, then there would be a problem. I haven’t seen that. But when I don’t understand someone (regardless of their native tongue) my first response is always to let them know that I don’t understand. I have to talk to my wife’s family all the time and they are constantly telling me they don’t understand - I don’t get offended.
I don’t know. I mean I applaud your desire to be more welcoming and inclusive. Please don’t think that I’m getting angry about this or anything. I just disagree. And you disagree with me. That’s fine.
I should state that this is just my opinion on the subject and should not be taken to be FCC’s position.