I frequently get email from users of software I've written asking questions or reporting problems. Occasionally, these emails are written in other languages. Now, I understand, I really do, that English is not the universal language many English-speakers think it is. I'm all for the Internet being a place where people of many languages can come together and misunderstand each other. But when you're sending an email to an American developer of a software product in which the interface, documentation, and source code comments are written in English, don't you think it should occur to you that maybe this particular person does not speak Elbonian or whatever your language is?

Case in point: an email I received today. As far as I can guess, this poor soul is having trouble with an uptime client (one that I didn't even write). I can guess this because he thoughtfully wrote the subject in English. Why write the subject in English and then switch to Kesblekistanian or whatever that is? Why? What logical sense does it make?

From   : [foo]
To     : ryan@wonko.com
Subject: Linup problem

Witam
Przedewszystkim gratulacje fajnego pomyslu na projekt !
i teraz dlaczego pisze a wiec mam problem :(
zalozylem konto dodalem hosta uzylem klucza wygenerowanego
przy dodawaniu hosta odpalam program .linup -a klucz i
lookam na stronke a tam ze moj komp sie nie zglosil jeszcze
nigdy mam tez wstawione to do crontaba wykonywane co 5 min i
dalej nic niewiesz przypadkiem czemu ? konto moje to [name]
wdzieczny za pomoc

And my translation, as far as I can guess:

Hello
Thank you for this project!
I am having a big problem. :(
Blah blah blah host blah blah blah blah blah
host blah program linup -a blah I look blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah to do crontab blah blah
5 minutes I blah blah blah blah blah? blah blah blah
[name]
blah blah blah

Sigh.