Popularization of Lemmy among non-english speaking users

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I hate it a bit, its so confusing and has way too many buttons everywhere, the search hidden away etc.

https://blog.erlend.sh/lemmy-frontend-alternatives-are-popping-off

I think lots of them are better for general use, while the official one is most often the best supported. I disagree that many frontends are so great

I think that the standard look of web UI, for people accustomed to the look of modern social networks, may not be attractive.

Photon: https://github.com/Xyphyn/photon
Old reddit style: https://old.lemmy.world
Voyager: https://vger.app

Alexandrite is my favorite. Can also self host it.

• https://alexandrite.app
• https://github.com/sheodox/alexandrite

I don’t think I’ve seen open racism or discrimination here on Lemmy, yet. (Except for those people that have strong opinions on communism/China perhaps.) Have you or other people?

I've seen a few. Way less than in Reddit, it's mostly low-key, and instance admins get rid of them fast. However I often see people here saying that we should allow them in, and I think that it's a mistake, specially if trying to promote Lemmy among non-English speakers. Because a lot of them will be somehow the target of this sort of discrimination, and they won't stay here if they feel hostility against them.

Since you wrote that in bold letters: Do you have some personal insight on linguistic minorities? Or was it more a general statement…

The problem with that conflation between country and language is that it alienates linguistic minorities badly.

I'm not a minority speaker myself, mind you. But I got close ties with Talian (a cluster of Venetian varieties) due to familiar background, and I've interacted offline with the folks from the examples below.

Sometimes it's external prejudice; a Kaingang speaker "speaks injun" so she's assumed to be primitive and dumb in comparison with Portuguese speakers.

Sometimes it's internalised prejudice; like Talian speakers claiming that they speak "broken Italian mixed with broken Brazilian" instead of a variety from Veneto.

Sometimes it's questioning allegiance to the country; like "fuck off back to your Nazi country" if you speak Hunsrik (a German variety).

Sometimes it's erasure, like people claiming "minority speakers? Everyone speaks Portuguese here. I never saw one." (Pragmatically saying "I'll pretend that they don't exist because I don't think that they should exist on first place.")

Often it's also practical matters - like online services not allowing you to access the service in your native language, even when available (often there isn't), because you're assumed to speak something else based on your country. Or expecting you to consume content from somewhere else than your homeland, because of your language.

And, from online discussions plus reading, I conclude that it's the exact same deal elsewhere. It is not just "shit Brazil does" or even "shit New World does", it's everywhere - from Galicians to Okinawans, Saami to Xhosa, Pennsylvania "Dutch" and Maori speakers. Often with that feeling that you shouldn't open your mouth, that you belong to no place, that you coexist with people who hate you, that even if your language is part of your identity your identity is wrong anyway. It's gut-wrenching how much linguistic minorities get the short end of the stick because they're expected to speak the country language instead.

[Sorry for the long text.]

Back to Lemmy. Those people want to consume social media as much as everyone else. Specially in their native languages, as it gives them the sense of belonging to a community - "this was made for us, by one of us!". Memes, shitposting, a thought-provoking text, a meaningful discussion. And yet traditional social media consistently neglects them, I think that the Fediverse should welcome them with open arms - not just because it's convenient for them, but also for the ones already here.

However when "we" [the Fediverse] create instances that tie languages with countries, we're effectively telling them "nope, you are not welcome here", exactly like the traditional media does. "We" can and should do better.

Et jlai.lu pour les français !

French speakers also have a quite active instance with jlai.lu (je l’ai lu) which translate to I have read it … Reddit …

Spanish communities seems to grow as well.

Yeah, I'm talking more about smaller countries. We have plenty of Europeans and North Americans, but for example people from South America, I don't see a lot, same goes for the East side

sopuli.xyz is largely Finnish. Sopuli means a lemming.