Hoi,
There are many arguments on many levels why Wikipedias in all languages is something that you want to reply to on many levels. Wikipedia contains educational content; it is used by students in schools. Students will do better in their academic career when they first learn to read and write in their mother tongue. Working on a quality wikipedia in your language you are part of the people that care and help preserve both the language and the culture of the language. Many things are hard to express in another language, by having information expressed in many languages, the same topic can be read approached in different ways, this helps in the understanding of the topic. Having people work on a Wikipedia in a language does not detract from the effort put into a Wikipedia in another language; it is complementary. The farmers or a daily workers of India may finds their information in their native language, but the farmers and daily workers of Great Britain and the US do the same. When you write in your language the fruit of your labour is shared by all the people that share your language. Having a Wikipedia in a language allows people who learn a language to find topical information in the language; this information is rich in the terminology of that subject.

Hmmm, they are a bunch of one liners. All arguments why there is wealth in the diversity of Wikipedias in many languages. They are united in bringing information to the people that are looking for information. In the end it is not only the reader that has the big benefits; the writer learns a lot when he practices his writing and puts knowledge into words.

Thanks,
     GerardM

On Feb 10, 2008 7:35 AM, Pradeep Makineni <makineni.pradeep@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi All,

This was one question raised, at one of the groups I am member of...  I felt it would be good if I share it with you people.

Here are some of the snippets from the mail sent to the group.
Snippet 1:
I better go for the English websites to get that info, as it might even help me in having discussions and exchange of ideas with a group who knows the same language. (English is known by many and hence the group size will be large and will have the cream too).

Snippet 2:
I am not criticizing the work you are doing. Infact you are doing a great job. But, the real use of your efforts will be, when a farmer or a daily worker wants to get information on web and browse this website for that.


I have answered this question, and I think I am successful in converting that person into believing local language wikipedias are good and they are really useful :).  But I personally felt that my answer was a bit vague, so I am not going to tell what I answered to him.  What would you tell, if are going to answer these questions or concerns?  Note that most (or all) of wikipedians who contribute to Indian language wikipedias are fluent in English also.  And I believe, most of the folks who read (if any) these wikipedias are also fluent in English.


--
Pradeep Makineni


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