> hi all,

> several people have asked about the language of the event, so let me
> repeat this: while we believe most of us would speak either English or
> Russian, we are not pushing everybody to present or communicate in those
> two only. for example, there is nothing wrong if one of five
> simultaneous presentations will be in your local language, if you
> believe there is a sizeable audience from your country to benefit from
> it (thus, out of 400+ people who registered to participate, a good
> quarter are probably from Latvia, thus it would make sense to have a
> presentation in Latvian, if you are not comfortable with Russian or
> English). whatever language you choose to present is totally up to you.

> please also remember that with 400+ people coming from (we hope) 20+
> countries, it's very hard for us to zero in on what language we are
> going to use in the corridors. but, if you speak either Russian or
> English, you should be fine. if you speak both, you will be super-fine.
> our assumption is that from 400+ participants a sizeable chunk -- well
> over 50% -- would speak English (that's a new media event after all, we
> are not talking agriculture :-), so if you speak ONLY English, you
> should still be fine.

> as for the language of our email communications: the language of this
> particular Google group is no way reflective of the diversity of
> languages we are going to hear in Riga :-) so, while it would be really
> good if all of us continue providing a short summary in English if you
> write in Russian (and vice versa), we may want to create separate groups
> -- one for English-speakers and one for Russian-speakers, since, I
> guess, not everybody enjoys getting too many emails in a language you
> cаn't comprehend from people you don't really know. i've heard several
> semi-private complaints about the dominance of Russian in this
> mailing-list, but until somebody replies and takes action, those of us
> who are Russian-speakers will presume that everything is fine and
> well-understood. so please, instead of quietly unsubscribing from this
> group, just send a message instead.

> Also, if you think, there is a need for a separate English-language
> google group to complement the existing one, please drop me a line. i
> believe that this separate English-langauge group can actually help to
> unlock some of the communication barriers between the East and the West
> ;-) so far, we haven't heard much on this group from Estonians and
> Lithuanias, for example, which is a pity. if it's a language issue, we
> should surely start an English-language group to complement the existing
> one.

> =============================================
> RU краткое (и примерное) содержание. к
> вопросу о языке Barcamp Baltics:
> мы надеемся, что большинство из нас
> говорит по-английски или по-русски.
> однако, не стоит себя ограничивать
> этими языками. если вы хотите сделать
> презентацию на своем родном языке и
> уверены, что у вас будут слушатели,
> то дерзайте (особенно, это касается,
> участников из Латвии--их будет,
> наверное, четверть от общего числа,
> поэтому не стоит ограничиваться
> русским или английским; так как
> одновременно будет идти несколько
> презентаций, каждый найдет себе
> презентацию, который он понимает).

> для тех, кто не говорит по-русски, я
> предлагаю создать отдельную
> гугл-группу на английском языке, чтобы
> там тоже могло происходить
> какое-то общение. а то пока у нас засилье
> русского языка, что, по
> понятным причинам, может не всех
> устраивать.