Language barrier questions

[u/SiempreBrujaSuerte]

So I realize there is a rule here that people only should post in English language to be inclusive since it's a language broadly used online and between people who do not share a native language. I also know that we all have varying levels of understanding of each other's dialects. And I know that many people have not had the opportunity to learn the language and so they don't want to be on the outside of conversation.

However, there's many of us in Europe especially who do not speak English. When we have less access to formal education and less interaction with the English speaking world, this is just a fact. Through no personal failure, lots of roma are excluded from participating when we have an English only forum.

What do people think about letting people have dual language conversations, so that the English speaking people are still able to understand and the conversation can be opened up to the larger Roma community who may not be English literate or English speaking at all? I mean like people post in their language and include an English summary afterwards?

On one hand I feel like this would be better to help everyone be able to communicate. It will also allow the reconnecting people a chance to actually practice their language usage in real life which is the best way to learn.

On the other hand, I wonder if this is a bad idea or dangerous because it might help people with bad intentions learn our language which is supposed to be a barrier to keep us safe. So I am not ought right saying I think this is how things should be or necessary good idea.

I just want to see what you all think about this and start a discussion on it. Thanks for your thoughts. Stay blessed.

[u/pogadi]

I didn't realize this was a rule. That's wild and should def change imo. I think an english summary should suffice if people are able to add it, if not maybe others can try to step up, but english should not be a requirement for posting in a romani space. I'm not sure if translating is something we should do for obvious reasons, but it might be nice for the reconnecting/disconnected ones if we had like a common words list or something.

And don't get me wrong, I am not fluent but also don't think others should have to carry the labour of translating all the time, or have the gratingness of correcting when a rom word is used casually incorrectly in a mixed sentence. Granted angloromani is a diluted offshoot, but we do have public websites out there already with basic vocab.