So I was thinking on learning an European language to get involved more into the FOSS community in countries where this type of tech is “more normalized”, like France or Germany for example, and potentially collaborate and participate in future conventions about FOSS, privacy and security. I know that I could do this using my English skills (cuz English isn’t my primary language m8), but as far as I can tell, a good amount of FOSS and related projects are based in Europe (e.g. Framasoft based in France or KDE based in Germany).
But I don’t wanna waste my time learning a language that I may not be using for my personal goals (I’m wasting my time with Japanese already lul), so I’d like to ask you guys what do you think about this. I’m mostly thinking on French or German, but I may be missing other important languages.
Does learning a language like those could improve my tech skills so to speak?
I tend to think if you are able to learn languages well, which it seems you are since you already speak your native language + english and are comfortable learning Japanese + another language at the same time, then it might be better to try learning a technical language that would provide a more direct contribution to whatever FOSS projects your interested in.
Most german devs I know are comfortable with communicating in english, so while it might be a “nice to have” skill, I don’t think that it’s necessary unless you want to start working in germany or france at some point.
German is my first language, so I can’t really tell how difficult it is to learn this language, but some of my friends in uni had to learn it and also learned french (some C1, some C2). Most of them told me that french is much easier to learn, so if you have limited time it might also make sense to approach this topic from a cost/benefit viewpoint, but I also don’t know if you have any private reasons or interests where one language or the other would benefit you more.
While I have no insight into FOSS projects that use a language other than English, I had the same thought as @anonymous363 and @faxe. Assuming most European project contributors have working knowledge of English, it doesn’t seem to make sense to learn French, German, etc. If you’re interested in contributing to FOSS projects, it may be better to learn programming languages. That said, knowing another spoken language may be useful for translation and outreach, but how useful depends on each project.
Engaging in tech is not just about working on FOSS projects. Educating people about tech and privacy, socially/politically fighting for privacy and against technological authoritarianism, giving tech support, etc., are important too. How literate and culturally receptive are speakers of your native language and Japanese speakers on the topics of privacy, digital security, software freedom, etc.?
There are a lot of Russian-speaking people who are very interested in linux, open-source projects and privacy tech. Linux has become interesting for many people, just because linux is faster in the cheaper computers that we can afford. Russian is, or at least was, a good language for tech and privacy community, but unfortunately geopolitical circumstances are causing problems for us and it is becoming increasingly harder to access the rest of the internet.
Yep, ime most Europeans can use English just fine for such purposes.
If you really want to learn a new language to find a bubble to interact with, try learning Russian or Chinese. Although those are some of the most difficult langauges to learn. Those are largely still very isolated ecosystems and have a lot of hidden value/potential.
Considering you live there and speak the language, there may be a good place for you to fight for privacy and better tech. If you believe so, try doing a search for FOSS projects, advocacy groups, etc. in Central America. Alternatively, is there anything you could start/create for that region?
Maybe not much, because people don’t care much about this type of topics in this part of the world. I’m currently running a little blog and I’m starting a podcast, but I don’t think these projects will do much.