"<p>I once had heard an interesting discussion between two programmer friends of mine, debating whether a person can be a programmer without English.</p> <p>My friend Ahmed, an Arabic native speaker, who has more than 5 years of experience in web and software development, stood firm, saying that English was never obligatory for a programmer to be one.</p> <p>Although I have not taken notes of what he said that day, I still remember most of his arguments, which made sense to me:</p> <h1><strong>You Can Be a Programmer without English</strong></h1> <p>Not knowing English may make programming difficult to a certain extent; however, a non-English speaker can learn coding. There are thousands of non-English materials on the Internet that will guide a beginner to know everything about coding.</p> <p>Several programming languages are available in languages other than English:</p> <ul> <li>Qalb: Arabic</li> <li>Python: Chinese</li> <li>Farsinet: Persian</li> </ul> <p>and the list goes on.</p> <p>There are also several non-English software development platforms like:</p> <ul> <li>Aheui: Korean</li> <li>ZhPy: Chinese</li> </ul> <p>One more point that I have to stop on, code is not poetry, and to write code, you don't need 5 dictionaries on your desk. What you'll need is having good logical skills and math skills.</p> <p>Try googling "best countries with the best web developers," well not now, of course, here's what you'll find:</p> <p><strong>According to <a href="https://www.hackerrank.com/">HackerRank</a>, the top 5 countries with the best web developers are:</strong></p> <ul> <li>China.</li> <li>Russia.</li> <li>Poland.</li> <li>Switzerland.</li> <li>Hungary.</li> </ul> <p>This being said, I was almost convinced until Ali, a mobile app developer, who learned coding on his own, answered him, tackling the dilemma from a different angle:</p> <h1><strong>You Can't Be an Excellent Programmer without English</strong></h1> <p>Before I start, this has nothing to do with "English being the mother of Science" because it's not. And it has nothing to do with one language being better than the other. At DevBrains, we do not discriminate on any basis, we're here to teach and learn.</p> <p>Let me ask you a question:</p> <p>Suppose you're a non-native English speaker (which you probably are), and you traveled to a foreign country where everyone speaks English. If you had the capability of learning the language, will you? Wouldn't that make your life there easier?</p> <p>Of course, there are many other countries where your language is spoken, but that doesn't mean you can ignore the rest of them.</p> <p>You can learn programming languages available in Arabic, Chinese, and Hindi. But what about those that are not? Although Qalb and Farsinet exist, languages like <strong>Ruby</strong>, and <strong>Lua</strong>, come from non-English speaking countries (Japan and Brazil) but still use an English syntax.</p> <p>Ali made another interesting point, referring to his experience, learning how to code on his own:</p> <p>Yes, there are books and tutorials available in several languages. However, once you reach a certain advanced level, the only valuable materials you'll find will be in English.</p> <p>Furthermore, in a world where the internet rules, where meeting other programmers from other countries is undoubted, English is standard. It is the language you'll be using in conferences and online meetings with some of your clients.</p> <h1><strong>Conclusion</strong></h1> <p>After carefully listening to their debate, I made a comment that made them both rethink their positions "Your opinions are completely complementary."</p> <p>Yes, English is no must to learn programming; however, if you are a professional programmer, you will at some point have to interact with someone who is not from the same culture as you.</p> <p>You can read and learn from materials in your language, but you'll need more advanced ones at some point.</p> <p> </p>"
