Uncle Jazzbeau’s Gallimaufrey

the linguistic politics of blogging

François Nonnenmacher has posted an entry on his blog, Padawan dot info, responding to accusations of high treason for blogging in English rather than his native French. Where stands his accuser? Karl Dubost. There's more than just gross numbers involved here, for as most would admit, English speakers outnumber French speakers. So how can Karl seriously suggest that writing in English somehow marginalizes what François has to say? It seems his duty is to his co-speakers of French first, and the rest of his (mostly) English-speaking techie readership second. If your French is up to it, you ought to take a gander and decide for yourselves. La Grande Rousse offers her opinion, too. It's a matter of concession to a vaster readership over ease of expression in ones native tongue. It also seems to me that François gains a larger audience of non-native English readers than he would non-native French ones.