This problem isn't unique to programming. Russian mathematicians do amazing work, none of which I can access because I can't read Russian.<p>Even if the text is in English and you have a degree in mathematics I suspect that any text in logic these days is unreadable, despite being "in english". I've seen whole papers that are 90% judgement forms. It has taken me years to be able to read these papers.<p>There are more english-speaking people in China than there are english-speaking people in the US. I worked with several Chinese people who knew more about English syntax that I do.<p>It is a mistake to believe that programs written "in english" are readable. I have many programs I cannot understand (some of which I've written). I read and write mathematical software and have to study a lot of background before I can understand how a 20 line program works.