>I also received several messages in German. I don't read German. What do
>you do when you
>received messages in other languages?

We have a policy that posting is allowed in any language.  If we have
doubts about the nature of the post, we ask for additional information
in one of the languages that we (moderators) can deal with (Eng.,
French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Latin, ...). Even though ours is a
list for language teachers, some subscribers feel uncomfortable seeing
messages that they do not understand and have asked that anything posted
be translated into English.  We do not like that idea, unless the
English-only people are willing to translate everything they say into
everyone else's native language (Some of our subscribers speak English
as a 4th or 5th language and would find it difficult to write it even if
they can read it - We don't want to exclude them).  We ask that subject
lines be in the same language as the post, and we encourage subscribers
to consider that more people will be able to understand if the language
used is a common one.  We also promise that if Spanish become the
dominant language, we won't outlaw English either ;-)

I think the language question is really about population.  Ask yourself
who is your intended audience.  What do you want to do to encourage
those people to participate.  Most lists that I know have one or two
official languages, but you can always be flexible, especially if your
goal is international communication.  Even on our list where we
encourage people to use whatever language they wish, there are few
postings that are not at least in part in English.

As long as you have a clearly articulated policy, subscribers go along,
at least on our list of professional educators. They may forget to follow
the rules, but they generally try ... most of the time ... and those who
refuse are history.

Bob
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 Robert Ponterio                     | [log in to unmask]
 co-manager of FLTEACH               | State Univ. of New York Cortland
 Foreign Language Teaching Forum     |_________________________________
 http://www.cortland.edu/www/flteach/