I agree with this, too. How fluent one is in English makes a big difference in the way one can contribute.
Indeed. The ICANN bylaws specifically say that board members and Nomcom members must be "able to work and communicate in written and spoken English." Given the realities of working with ICANN, perhaps the ALAC would work better if it encouraged the RALOs and Nomcom to select members who can work in both English and their home country languages. On the other hand, language issues don't entirely explain the participation problems, since there are several members who speak fluent English but haven't been very active. My experience in the ALAC was that the biggest problem was the stream of stuff coming at us from the rest of ICANN with unpredictable and often short schedules, and the fact that members of most (all?) of the other committees do their ICANN work as part of their day jobs, but we're all volunteers doing this in our spare time. R's, John