How do Different Vernacular Languages Affect Coding?
I had an interesting realization when I was discussing my progress in learning Ruby at Flatiron School with one of my friends. Our conversation was in Spanish. During the conversation, I described some of the capabilities of the app I built and the methods that I used while building the app for my module 1 project. It was at that moment that I realized I had just used a combination of three languages throughout the whole conversation — even though I tried to strictly speak Spanish, since I rarely get to speak in my first language and have experienced a reduction in my vocabulary due to lack of practice. My friend is bilingual and has some coding knowledge, which prevented speaking a combination of Ruby, Spanish, and English from being an issue. However, this conversation made me wonder the following:
“Does a person’s vernacular language limit someone’s ability to learn new coding languages or is the process unchanged since you are learning a new language anyway?”
“Do coding languages get translated into different vernacular languages with the goal of maintaining the right context for objects, built-in methods/functions, syntax, etc?
“How do other alphabets and directions of reading/writing affect the process of building/using apps?”
After doing some thinking, attempting to code in “Ruby + Spanglish,” and reading on the internet, it seems like translating the coding language itself into a different vernacular language would be an extremely challenging task. I found out that functions in Microsoft Excel change from one vernacular language to another. In my opinion, this still does not make Excel cool, and could create additional challenges at an international company where more than one language may be spoken.
As someone who is learning a new coding language, I have arrived to the conclusion that understanding the context of what a certain object or syntax represents is a small enough part of learning a new language that it may not warrant translating the whole coding language to retain the original context. I found Ruby’s documentation in Spanish, or should I say… Documentación de Ruby? This was an indication that there are resources for those who use only one vernacular language that is not English. It also means there are even more resources for someone who knows multiple vernacular languages!
It was tough to find a single answer to the question about the challenges that are associated with using a different alphabet. Apparently nothing prevents a person from using non-ascii letters or a different alphabet when coding. It appears that the only requirement is that the compiler uses a consistent map for letters in its reserved word list and the use of English characters is primarily a convention, due to most early developers being English-speakers.
When it comes to directionality or reading/writing from Left to Right (LTR), Right to Left (RTL), and Top to Bottom (TTB), syntax and program developers should take into consideration the impact the end user’s vernacular language of choice will have in the functionality of their applications. An app will break if it does not support the directionality that might be inherent to certain vernacular language — and not supporting these languages greatly limits an app’s potential userbase. From a development standpoint, it’s possible to change the direction text is written in through the use of different keyboards or text editors for ease of use, but things can get complicated really quickly for multiple reasons, such as the amount of additional syntax necessary for the conversion of text directionality to happen seamlessly on the developer end.
In conclusion, it seems like most non-english speakers are forced to learn english and a coding language simultaneously (to a certain extent). There may be documentation in non-english languages that may facilitate learning a coding language even though there is a vernacular language mismatch. Given that context can be crucial while troubleshooting errors, one might encounter additional challenges as a non-english speaker. There are coding languages that are not based on english, but they are not widely used. I can’t believe I had not thought of all these questions before!
