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+ 13

Is it important for a programmer to know English?

I am 15 years old. Since 1 grave I have ignored English lessons. Should I do it now?

17th Jun 2021, 9:16 PM
МамаЗузу
29 Answers
+ 12
nowadays its less or more important: it could be helpful to have at least some notions, but the most part of documentations are translated in less or more many languages (that was a lot less few decades ago ^^)... so, I would say you are not required to explicity learn english: I have pretty ignored also my english lessons at school, and I progressively have acquired more and more vocabulary in my field of interest by having no other choice to decrypt english books (computers / synthetic images) ;) today, discussong here in english by sometimes relying on google translate, I continue to somehow perfect my english writting skill (however, my english talking/earing is quite very bad :P) so it's up to you to decide to learn specically english, or acquire progressivemy some knowledge... also, if you plan to travel later, and/or to work world wide, learning english would be advisable ;)
17th Jun 2021, 9:28 PM
visph
visph - avatar
+ 11
In my opinion, learning English is at the essence. Many programming books and resources are written in English. Apart from that, synthaxes in programming languages are English-based. Without basic knowledge of English, maybe someone will find more difficult path to excel in programming. the most important thing is do not give up. believe in yourself and you can do it👍👍
19th Jun 2021, 8:18 AM
Muhd Khairul Amirin
Muhd Khairul Amirin - avatar
+ 8
ㅤㅤㅤ (noname mod) there are a lot of tutorials available in many languages ;) МамаЗузу I would add that english used in programming languages are not always real words ('input' for example is kind of contraction of 'put in', and on my school days one time I wasn't able to remember how to say 'ask'... so I used 'input', wich had no meaning for my teacher :D) even if that could help to habe basic english for some keywords, you could easilly acquire them by use and eventually translate them ;)
17th Jun 2021, 9:35 PM
visph
visph - avatar
+ 8
I deselected English at school as soon as it was possible, so 2 years before my graduation. Now it's only some weeks until my graduation and yeah, I'm not as good at speaking as I was before. But my reading got better as I just read about the stuff I'm interested in (programming, science). I think that you will learn the English you need to code well while you learn to code (learning by doing). But what is true is that English is often an advantage if you apply as a software engineer. At least in Germany, most companies expect a high level of German AND English if you want to work with them as a software engineer. And if two guys with almost similar coding experience apply, you have better chances to get accepted if you can prove that you are good at English (so e.g. if you got a C1 certificate or at least good marks at school in English (and Maths)).
18th Jun 2021, 12:51 PM
Sndr Brst🇩🇪
Sndr Brst🇩🇪 - avatar
+ 5
knowing English in computer science is essential. not a refined English, but technical and essential. why: . all documentation is certainly available in English to reach a large audience. . projects developed in some countries start with the language of origin and immediately provide English for a wider audience. . the availability of documentation in one's own language is not taken for granted unless one is Chinese, American, German, French and quite frequently Russian or Indian. . change travels fast in this industry and often it simply takes too long from when a technology appears to when it is translated. . sometimes the translations are approximate and you still find yourself reading the English one, which is clearer
17th Jun 2021, 10:14 PM
Ciro Pellegrino
Ciro Pellegrino - avatar
+ 4
Runtime Terror not at all: english is a easy enough language to learn to be only acquired by programmers by use... obviously, I repeat: knowing english would help programmers, but it's not a must-to-have skill ;)
17th Jun 2021, 9:58 PM
visph
visph - avatar
+ 4
Ciro Pellegrino all you said is right, except that "knowing english [...] is essential": it would help, and you good list all advantages, but it's false to say it is "essential" ;)
17th Jun 2021, 10:17 PM
visph
visph - avatar
+ 4
I think, it is not mandatory, but recommended. Different programming languages use English words more or less (or not at all, though such languages are often not considered practical). Those that use the words more cleverly are often considered easier, and they indeed are for those who know English (as some stuff is easy to remember or is not needed to be memorized as one can use intuition to guess what to write because it is similar to casual speech) and as difficult as others for non-English speakers (because you roughly memorize keywords). Though, you can learn some English by programming in "easier" languages. It is not if you learn programming or are planning to program for yourself. If you want to communicate with others on the Internet, worldwide company or some national company, then it is somewhat important because it is currently like a worldwide language, so that more people will understand you and vice versa, and because it is the main language of the most of worldwide platforms.
19th Jun 2021, 2:07 PM
#0009e7 [get]
#0009e7 [get] - avatar
+ 4
You need to first focus on English because you will better understand the concepts , if you don't English it will be hard for you to understand the concepts. Most programming languages are high level that means that you can read them in English. Give an example of Python, Python is understandable because of the English you read.
19th Jun 2021, 5:02 PM
MATOVU CALEB
MATOVU CALEB - avatar
+ 3
Language is not the barrier for programming. Programming use words not english grammer. you should have the knowledge of what that word do in programming. You may face little difficulty in content development for webpages and client communication. Your you have local client and they file you their web content i don't think any importance of english. Now a days programming tutorials are available in all languages almost on utube. English has large community in programming so it is famous for communication and support/help.
18th Jun 2021, 5:49 AM
Divya Mohan
Divya Mohan - avatar
+ 2
From all that has been said, I draw conclusions: 1) English is important, but not as much as I thought earlier. 2) I will no longer ignore it, but you should not concentrate on it either. P.S. https://www.sololearn.com/Discuss/2815060/?ref=app Thanks you 😘
18th Jun 2021, 5:29 AM
МамаЗузу
+ 2
I've learned English 'cause I wanted make a song in English( context I'm musician) and I wanted read some book that they're in English and an American friend told me'"those books are really good" and then I wanted to improve my English, now I'm learning how to program, you don't need know English, it's not obligatory to us that we're learning, just you'll find the English word on functions, parameters etc, so don't worry about that.
18th Jun 2021, 4:03 PM
Andrés Puello
Andrés Puello - avatar
+ 2
The short answer is yes. Having the language skill gives you access to its community resources and references which makes your learning path alot easier and faster. Programming is based on English vocabulary. Understanding English makes you focus on programming learning
19th Jun 2021, 8:53 PM
Ahmad
Ahmad - avatar
+ 1
Так как ваш ник на русском, предположу, что это ваш родной язык 😀 Я, начав изучать Swift к примеру, столкнулся с тем, что очень мало толковых учебников на русском, официальная документация на английском. Так что без знания языка хотя бы на среднем уровне будет очень сложно разбираться.
18th Jun 2021, 6:34 AM
Alexus Cool
Alexus Cool - avatar
+ 1
Ваше предположение верно. Спасибо за ответ
18th Jun 2021, 7:57 AM
МамаЗузу
+ 1
Thanks you)
18th Jun 2021, 12:52 PM
МамаЗузу
+ 1
short answer: yes
18th Jun 2021, 8:29 PM
DIYE
DIYE - avatar
+ 1
Yes.its important to learn english for every proffessional job in todays world.
19th Jun 2021, 7:48 AM
VARSHA S
+ 1
No english is not necessary to Be a programmer
19th Jun 2021, 1:39 PM
Gaurav Dixit🇮🇳
Gaurav Dixit🇮🇳 - avatar
+ 1
It is not so important because program mean creative mathematical skills
19th Jun 2021, 1:49 PM
Ayush Mishra
Ayush Mishra - avatar