- From: Chris Hubick <chris@hubick.com>
- Date: 01 Jan 2003 12:48:34 -0700
- To: W3C Evangelist <public-evangelist@w3.org>
On Wed, 2003-01-01 at 12:14, Ineke van der Maat wrote: > You wrote: > > The problem is making people care about > > doing something the /right/ way. > > Can you tell me what the differeence is between learning a foreign > language using the correct grammar and semantics, and learning an > internetlanguage (in this case XHTML) and also using the correct > grammar and semantics? > > IMHO both should be done so correctly as possible. People learn languages, spoken or technical, for the purpose of communication and information exchange, not for the sake of learning the language itself. Language is a "means" not an "ends" in both cases. People generally only learn enough of the language necessary to fulfill their specific needs. Many people who speak english don't know what "anterior" means because they generally don't /need/ the term to express what they personally use english for. Similarily, many people writing web pages don't know what a "div" is, because they generally don't /need/ it to express what they personally use HTML for. Yes, perhaps people would be better off to learn the meaning of both, but neither are required, and are thus used rather infrequently. If you find a person who is capable of expressing any concept they wish while speaking english, you will have a difficult time getting them to learn new english words. People generally just learn enough to do what they want to do, learning more only when necessary. -- Chris Hubick mailto:chris@hubick.com http://www.hubick.com/
Received on Wednesday, 1 January 2003 14:48:38 UTC