While using a "translated" language is perhaps a bad idea,
the idea of using a "filter" such as
mirod's "french.h"
file is more in line with what I was thinking.
Perl makes it so easy to implement such a system, and still
maintain full compatibility with other code.
When it comes to maintenance, I have found that some German
and French code is hard to "decode". While all the regular
keywords are there in plain English, everything else, variables,
functions, and comments, are not.
Babelfish comes
in pretty handy when trying to discover the meaning of
some of the comments. I also notice quite a bit of Japanese
SJIS-enhanced code that I can't even edit properly without
a UNICODE-compliant editor (i.e. not 'vim'). So much for
"portable" code!
A "translated" Perl would be used as a
crutch of sorts, to ease the learning programmer into
the language.
In any event, Perl should at least allow you to use
Japanese and French style quotes so that you don't have
to escape your code!
print «I am tired of 'escaping' my "quotes"!»;
Curiously, do the "4 years" of English that the average
Japanese take leave them with an understanding that is any
more useful than, say, the 4+ years of Spanish or French
that an average student from Britain, America or Canada
would have? Probably, as many have pointed out, this
brief introduction would be enough to get a handle on the
syntax with proper supporting documentation available in
the primary language of the learner.