Ask HN: What are the best websites that the Anglosphere doesn't know about?

Re:Ask HN: What are the best websites that the Anglosphere d... by fy20 on Monday February 15, 2021 @04:22AM (#26140825)

There's a home automation protocol that's been around for over 20 years called KNX. It's backed by big names (ABB, Hager, Gira, Osram, Mean Well) however outside of Germany it's pretty much unknown. Compared to ZigBee or Z-Wave it's wired and the config is stored in the devices themselves, so there's no single point of failure. It has strict certification requirements so you can be guaranteed that products from different manufacturers will work together (this does mean its more expensive though). The quality of the hardware (esp. motion/presence sensors) is a lot better than what you can buy from Amazon or the 'smart home' section in your local Walmart.

There's plenty of content (in German) on YouTube about it, and forums:

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCiCPbFz0Ld6mera2fNDRWzw

https://knx-user-forum.de/

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What are the best websites that the Anglosphere d... by thecleaner on Monday February 15, 2021 @06:03AM (#26141533)

Germany really needs to start documenting their work in English. This is good stuff.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What are the best websites that the Anglosphere d... by jxf on Monday February 15, 2021 @07:08AM (#26141969)

Or more people need to learn German? The community is already there, obviously — if others want to join, that's how they do it.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What are the best websites that the Anglosphere d... by qntty on Monday February 15, 2021 @12:27PM (#26144809)

Have you ever tried to communicate in beginner/intermediate-level German with a German speaker? They'd most likely insist on switching to English.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What are the best websites that the Anglosphere d... by yorwba on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @06:39AM (#26153006)

It's a natural reaction in one-on-one conversations to switch to the language that least impedes communication. That's annoying when you're trying to learn a language but wouldn't be too bad as an outcome if your actual problem is just the lack of English documentation.

But in the case of a larger online community where German is used by default, you'd be unlikely to get everyone to switch to English just by posting in bad German. After all, you might just as well be a Kazakh whose English is even worse, and as just another anonymous newcomer, there's no reason to accommodate you in particular.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What are the best websites that the Anglosphere d... by derangedHorse on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @07:55AM (#26153408)

OP brought up English because it’s one of the most widely used languages in the world, thus a translation would make KNX more accessible to everyone. Standards are created to make things interoperable across manufacturers so expanding the market to include other countries ( and competitors) is good for consumers everywhere. Unfortunately German isn’t as far reaching a language and asking the majority of inhabitants in other countries to learn it may be too high a barrier to entry

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What are the best websites that the Anglosphere d... by bloqs on Monday February 15, 2021 @02:39PM (#26146323)

After many attempts to speak german with germans, it seems to be a consistent theme that they prefer english if you are incompetent.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What are the best websites that the Anglosphere d... by d26900 on Monday February 15, 2021 @08:25AM (#26142486)

Not everyone has the time to learn yet another language. Besides, learning a language to understand content like this takes a lot of time. (I speak 4 languages already.)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What are the best websites that the Anglosphere d... by enchiridion on Monday February 15, 2021 @11:20AM (#26144112)

A lot of negative replies to this which don't make sense.

We're talking about software which is used to make money. Translating it to English would help with that, because English is the default for software development (yes this is changing, but it's true at the moment).

It's not like we're talking about a work of art, it's a tool the creators sell.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What are the best websites that the Anglosphere d... by thecleaner on Monday February 15, 2021 @11:59AM (#26144501)

I mean I said this out of appreciation. I suppose its just much easier to not get involved with the German software ecosystem at all since the impression is that they dont need attention from people who don't speak German. I don't see any reason why more people would have a professional reason to do so.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What are the best websites that the Anglosphere d... by kreeben on Monday February 15, 2021 @07:01AM (#26141919)

Germany is fine with you not being able to ingest their documentation. If there is ever a need to do anything it would be the need for you to learn German and the need for anyone monolingual to learn a second language. The more balance in the world the better place it would be.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What are the best websites that the Anglosphere d... by benhurmarcel on Monday February 15, 2021 @07:07AM (#26141960)

I agree with your point on principle, but to balance a bit: I'm trilingual but don't (yet) speak German. Yes there's no fair reason why English should be the standard language, but there's value in a standard language and that's the closest we have.

Edit: I'm not American and English isn't my native language

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What are the best websites that the Anglosphere d... by kreeben on Monday February 15, 2021 @07:43AM (#26142182)

I empathize with you. But I reject that it should fall upon Germany to learn English for your convenience or that the task of translating their texts should fall upon them. I guess I reacted (perhaps poorly) to GP's statement that Germany "really should start documenting their tech in English" which to me sounded rather preposterous.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What are the best websites that the Anglosphere d... by sneak on Monday February 15, 2021 @10:46AM (#26143782)

Germany already learned English. There is approximately no-one in Germany under 30-40 who doesn't speak a little English.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What are the best websites that the Anglosphere d... by Chris2048 on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @09:15AM (#26154029)

How does Germany ingest technologies from outside Germany? Is all tech in DE home-grown?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What are the best websites that the Anglosphere d... by d26900 on Monday February 15, 2021 @08:06AM (#26142332)

Authors addendum: This post was a mistake on my part. Please downvote this post. Thank you! I would rather have a retract option, but there is none here on HN.

Original post:

Apologies to you on behalf of people who made you feel uncomfortable.

Full disclosure:

I had (still have?) negative biases/sentiments/stereotypes towards Americans: being ignorant, self-absorbed, reckless, careless etc.

And this almost made me have a knee-jerk reaction to the expressed desire to make the content in question available in English. As if I am tired of you Americans Americanizing everything you touch[2]. This sentiment is also expressed in Ramstein's song "Amerika"[3].

But that's why it is called a "stereotype". I shouldn't stereotype a population of +300 m out of a small sample size (that includes YouTube/Twitter too). I lose a lot of potential good/bad experiences if I continue to do that. And even if, for the sake of the argument, 90% match my silly stereotype, I still should have an optimistic modus operandi. Pessimism/cynicism is a counterproductive trait. You should be an optimist[1].

But putting all that aside, what makes you think that the inquirer is an American? He could be a French person knowing Japanese and Russian besides English.

Anyhow, we shouldn't follow protectionist policies. Nothing good comes out of that. We should be thankful/appreciative to people who are willing to share content with others (open source, creative commons, etc.).

References:

[1] Algorithms to Live By

[2] https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2021/01/04/report-plays...

[3] https://youtu.be/Rr8ljRgcJNM

Edit: for the people who take issue with my post here: I would appreciate a feedback on why my post is counterproductive/bad. Thank you!

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What are the best websites that the Anglosphere d... by benhurmarcel on Monday February 15, 2021 @08:34AM (#26142567)

I am not sure you meant to answer to my comment, because I didn't mention feeling uncomfortable, and didn't take any guess about anyone's nationality. Also I'm not American, I edited my comment to clear that up.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What are the best websites that the Anglosphere d... by d26900 on Monday February 15, 2021 @08:41AM (#26142634)

You're right, benhurmarcel. My input here has come to nothing, and it wasn't a good input to begin with. I wish there was a retract option.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What are the best websites that the Anglosphere d... by tubularhells on Monday February 15, 2021 @09:48AM (#26143225)

Learn German, Dummkopf!

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What are the best websites that the Anglosphere d... by lobotryas on Monday February 15, 2021 @01:17PM (#26145394)

We beat them in 1945 just so we didn’t have to do that!

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What are the best websites that the Anglosphere d... by dang on Monday February 15, 2021 @02:17PM (#26146077)

Oh god, please don't do this here.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What are the best websites that the Anglosphere d... by pestatije on Monday February 15, 2021 @09:08AM (#26142880)

So, the OP asks about non-english sites, and the _first_ reply is a "you should do that in English". WTF?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What are the best websites that the Anglosphere d... by thecleaner on Monday February 15, 2021 @12:00PM (#26144508)

It says software out of Anglosphere not software not in English.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What are the best websites that the Anglosphere d... by pestatije on Monday February 15, 2021 @06:51PM (#26149269)

Please post software out of Anglosphere --> reply --> you need to do that in English. W.T.F.???!!!

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What are the best websites that the Anglosphere d... by randomchars on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @02:10AM (#26151647)

What's so WTF about suggesting that a software protocol, that would be widely beneficial in most of the world, should have English documentation?

English is the closest thing we have to a common human language.

[ Parent | on HN ]