Looking In From The Outside

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When we look at Steem we see a community of many nationalities all communicating in English. I would say in the high 90 percents anyway. This is a handicap to many who don't have English as their mother tongue. Steem is hard enough to understand and I am an English speaker.

I think this could be the cause of why so many accounts struggle to grow and not understanding the platform properly and then leave. I engage with many users from across the world whose knowledge in the use of the English language is probably better than the average English speaker. It is good to see some of the apps doing translations now so they can cater to more than one language. This will help break down the barriers that I think existed for some.English is spoken in many countries today but not everyone is comfortable writing in English and the users here in this position I admire you for being braver than me.

I admire the users with foreign language skills and have asked myself if Steem was in another language besides English would I be here today? Honestly the answer would most likely be a big NO. I think it would scare me off for sure as I am not great with languages and it would be too daunting for someone like me. I am not someone who picks languages up easily even though I know another one Afrikaans ,which is not very useful outside of South Africa. Personally I wish I knew French or Spanish so at least I could get some use out of it in the future.

Look at the likes of @anomadsoul, @erikah, @markkujantunen and @exyle just to name a few and reading what they write you would struggle to know that English isn't their first language. Not every user is up to their standards though and are using Steem to learn English which will help them improve going forward. I have no problem engaging with someone who doesn't have perfect English as they are doing better than me if I was trying to communicate in their language.

Steem is a learning tool in many more ways than most of us see it. Breaking down the language barriers for some though is their biggest challenge and I think this is where most users have struggled.I think in time we will see more apps like @wherein which will make things a little easier for those communities where you can communicate using your mother tongue with other users in your community.

When we look at Steem in this way we do start to realise what is lacking to make it more appealing for mass adoption. If everything is in English then those people who don't speak it need their own communities in order to understand this place a lot more easily. Over time I think we will find more of these communities popping up.