University of Surrey alumni

SydneyNew South Wales Australia L.Wood@society.surrey.ac.uk

mailing list IETF discussion drafts The IETF requires English for technical discussion in working groups, in working group documents and in anything considered for publication. Use of English simplifies overhead and makes for clear discussion of a single document in a single language, but disadvantages those who lack fluency and comfort in English. This document proposes setting up talk mailing lists for languages other than English, where technical matters can be discussed in comfort, and perhaps even be written up in internet-draft form in a language other than English. Once technical ideas are in place, a draft can move forward to a working group in English. Exposing non-English speakers to the IETF will, in the interests of diversity, allow them to gain familiarity with IETF processes while discussing with other fluent speakers of their language. This benefits the IETF by attracting a broader constituency while meeting its diversity goals.

We propose that the IETF set up a number of non-working-group mailing lists for discussion in different languages. These can be run as talk-[ISO639 language code]@ietf.org, e.g. talk-ja@ietf.org for Japanese, talk-zh@ietf.org for Chinese, etc . Experienced IETFers fluent in each language can volunteer and be assigned to guide each discussion, explaining IETF matters, and dealing with technical issues. They can guide ideas to draft form in the appropriate language, and eventually to the IETF's working language of English. A list in the language can be set it up if one or two IETFer guides are available and willing to follow discussion.

For simplicity and clarity, ISO-639-1:2002 two-letter coding takes precedence. More complex codings are unlikely to be required at this early stage. While working group discussion is in English and working group drafts are in English, and normally in ASCII, there is nothing requiring individual internet-drafts to be in English or in ASCII. Other forms of individual draft, e.g. portable document format (pdf), are suitable for non-Roman transcriptions. talk-en@ietf.org is arguably redundant, as the main IETF mailing list, ietf@ietf.org, has general English discussion. However, a place where English-speaking newcomers to the IETF feel more welcome before diving into technical workgroup discussion may be appropriate. Discussion in Asian language around e.g. local DNS use may be a useful starting point for this proposal.

Opening more mailing lists in more languages raises questions about keeping discussion appropriate to the IETF, rather than veering offtopic to e.g. local political issues, and questions of IETF limits of scope and liability must be answered. The mailing list rules of the IETF apply here. Translating those rules into the local language and periodically informing new subscribers of them and keeping discussion on-topic will be necessary.

There are no IANA considerations.

We thank the IETF mailing list for much discussion of diversity.