It's interesting there's this fear of not appearing to be a "weeb" or whatever, which was not the case with all the Cyrillic/English dye sub or pad printed sets--that was totally okay, because there are very few Russophiles, right? /sarcasm
But to give a different perspective, there are multiple reasons why one might like secondary legends. I'll give my own opinions:
- I think it's very interesting to use vintage keycaps with secondary legends where I imagine their prior use in some industry or line of work that's very different from mine. It's a bit like pieces of history (whether original keysets or reproductions, like Retro with PETSCII side print) to ponder.
- As a non-native English speaker, I've learned to love the concept of linguistics, and it's interesting to see other language letters on a keyboard--as long as there are still English legends and layout if I ever need to reference them for whatever reason (I almost always touch type, but sometimes need to look down to re-orient if I take my hands off the keyboard often, or if having to type with one finger). That means primary Latin alphabet legends with secondary being another language or symbols. I'd never get a set with only Cyrillic legends, for example, even though I read and speak Russian fine--I touch type only in Latin alphabet with typical US ANSI layout, anything else would be a learning process I find unnecessary, though could be done
if needed. That's why I was disappointed that GMK Yuri went with an addon that used exclusively Cyrillic legends and not English and Cyrillic -- especially because Russian keyboards normally have both, not only Cyrillic.
- Aesthetics. Why do we choose a red keyboard over a green one? Why different case shapes, or different keycap colors? Why do some people use blank keycaps and others load up their keyboards with not-practical-to-type-on artisans? Why not also additional legends if they balance out the look in some pleasing manner?
With all that said, I don't actually own any keysets
currently that have secondary "unnecessary" legends, but it's more because I chose to not buy them or gave them up for either aesthetics reasons or because they were dye sub PBT, which I generally don't prefer to thick ABS. I still want "just the right set" of English/Cyrillic caps someday, and will probably enter for Serika, because I think it looks solid as a set with a complete aesthetic. Will also get a set of Retro with PETSCII side print. I found my WEY keycaps be very interesting: