The Message and the Medium

October 26, 2004

Perfect exchanges like this delight me.  You will have to decide whether you share my taste in communications humor, this from the Toronto Globe and Mail.  The original transaction was no doubt meant, if slyly, quite seriously.

"Why bother translating software into isiZulu?" people ask Duane Bailey. "Who needs it? English is the language of global business -- you'd be better off spending your energy teaching people English. To which Mr. Bailey replies, quite simply, "Izixhobo kufuneka zisebenzele abantu, hayi abantu izixhobo. Isoftware sisixhobo ngoko ke kumele sisebenzele abantu ngolwimi lwabo lwasemzini!

What he said. [Insert your own bete noire here] sisixhobo ngoko.  And what follows. And a plug for including ieveryone [sic] in the circle of human exchange, IMO the truest justification for global commerce.

"Computing in Zulu," October 25, 2004, 4:50 pm. When languagelog is on...