meaning in context - Free as in "free speech", not as in "free beer"

Free software is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of free as in free speech, not as in free beer. — Richard Stallman

Translating free to my language (Ukrainian), generates a huge variety of different terms, including (I apologize for my lame translation back to English) independent, unleashed, loose, at no cost (of manufacture), at no price (for a buyer), at no extra fees/taxes, useless, fired (from a job), or done (completed a work).

What is actually the difference between the two meanings in the phrase above, and how should I understand the term of "free software"?

^{I'm aware you can't fire a beer from a job, :) but there are still too many overlapping meanings.}

Answer

"Free software" as used by the Free Software Foundation is a difficult term to translate into many languages, and they even admit as much. I couldn't find the exact page where they do with a quick look around their web site, but I know I've seen it there.

It can mean either software that is offered free of charge, or software which comes with certain freedoms (for the user). The difference is between free of charge and freedom.

Like the author says, think of "free beer" versus "free speech". "Free speech" is not generally taken to mean speech that is made available at no cost, and "free beer" is not generally taken to mean beer for which you receive the exact recipe, the right to change it (or not) and hand out or sell your own.

Note that different organizations have slightly different meanings for "free software" even when referring to freedom. The general gist, however, largely remains the same.

You sometimes see "free software" when used this way written with a capitalized Free (Free software) to emphasize the difference from free-as-in-at-no-monetary-cost.

To quote the FSF (my emphasis):

When we call software “free,” we mean that it respects the users' essential freedoms: the freedom to run it, to study and change it, and to redistribute copies with or without changes. This is a matter of freedom, not price, so think of “free speech,” not “free beer.”

It's also worth noting that in this specific context, even the FSF does go as far as to actually say that selling free software is OK.