Hello all -
I’m new here, but really interested in the topic. My name is Eddie Avila and I’m the Director of Rising Voices, an initiative of Global Voices http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/. We work to support new, diverse, and underrepresented voices as they use participatory digital media to tell their own stories on their own terms.
A special interest of ours centers on how the Internet is helping communities create new digital content in their native languages. Whether through blogs, digital video, social media, or audio podcasts, we are seeing inspiring work by people committed towards preserving and revitalizing their native languages.
Starting with an activity last year in Mexico http://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/11/09/a-network-of-indigenous-language-digital-activists-in-mexico/ we brought together indigenous language “digital activists” to share their experiences and teach and learn from one another.
Here, we partnered with our friends from Wikimedia Mexico to help organize the sessions around creating new or translating existing content into Wikipedia in native languages. We felt that Wikimedia shares our mission of supporting communities to be able to share their knowledge online in their own languages.
Now, we are continuing this process with a workshop in Bogotá http://globalvoicesonline.org/2015/05/18/a-gathering-to-connect-indigenous-language-digital-activists-in-colombia/ in a couple of weeks. Again, we are partnering with both Wikimedia Colombia and Wikimedia Venezuela to showcase the possibilities of creating versions of Wikipedia in native languages and building a more mutually supportive network.
We are eager to explore how Rising Voices can help support the ongoing work of communities around the world, but especially throughout Latin America, that are interested in contributing or creating their own versions of this important resource. Our partnerships with your communities have been incredibly rewarding.
Looking forward to seeing how we can continue to work together.
Thanks,
Eddie Avila @barrioflores @risingvoices
Hey, Eddie! It's great to hear this! My team will compile the list of the major languages of Colombia (especially in Bogota region) with recommendations and send it here. I think we could do that tomorrow, but up to the end of the week for sure.
On Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 11:04 PM, eddie avila eduardo13@gmail.com wrote:
Hello all -
I’m new here, but really interested in the topic. My name is Eddie Avila and I’m the Director of Rising Voices, an initiative of Global Voices http://www.globalvoicesonline.org. We work to support new, diverse, and underrepresented voices as they use participatory digital media to tell their own stories on their own terms.
A special interest of ours centers on how the Internet is helping communities create new digital content in their native languages. Whether through blogs, digital video, social media, or audio podcasts, we are seeing inspiring work by people committed towards preserving and revitalizing their native languages.
Starting with an activity last year in Mexico http://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/11/09/a-network-of-indigenous-language-digital-activists-in-mexico/ we brought together indigenous language “digital activists” to share their experiences and teach and learn from one another.
Here, we partnered with our friends from Wikimedia Mexico to help organize the sessions around creating new or translating existing content into Wikipedia in native languages. We felt that Wikimedia shares our mission of supporting communities to be able to share their knowledge online in their own languages.
Now, we are continuing this process with a workshop in Bogotá http://globalvoicesonline.org/2015/05/18/a-gathering-to-connect-indigenous-language-digital-activists-in-colombia/ in a couple of weeks. Again, we are partnering with both Wikimedia Colombia and Wikimedia Venezuela to showcase the possibilities of creating versions of Wikipedia in native languages and building a more mutually supportive network.
We are eager to explore how Rising Voices can help support the ongoing work of communities around the world, but especially throughout Latin America, that are interested in contributing or creating their own versions of this important resource. Our partnerships with your communities have been incredibly rewarding.
Looking forward to seeing how we can continue to work together.
Thanks,
Eddie Avila @barrioflores @risingvoices
Languages mailing list Languages@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/languages
Unfortunately, the analysis was pretty quick. The number of the languages of Colombia with more than 10,000 speakers is limited to few of them and the only language with good potential is Wayuu [1][2]. It's spoken in northern Colombia, which is pretty far from Bogota. However, I suppose that you'd be able to find some Wayuu speakers in Bogota, as well as Wikimedia Colombia could help you.
The only other maybe reachable (and definitely closer to than Wayuu) is Catío [3][4]. This one is on the Pacific coast, ~300 kilometers from Bogota as the craw flies.
All other languages are either spoken in jungle, or the number of speakers is very low, or it's about languages which primary caring country is one of the Colombia neighboring ones (it could be that the number of speakers in Colombia is significant, but there are no schools etc. in Colombia, literacy rate is significantly lower -- which means below 1% -- and standard has been already developed in Brazil, Peru, Venezuela or Panama).
So, besides possibility to find Wayuu speakers (although the majority of population live in Venezuela, more than 100,000 of them live in Colombia), I would suggest you to find any group of speakers of any language (except Spanish, of course :) ) and try to work with them. Obviously, if you find a group of five literate enthusiasts who speak a language with ~1000 speakers, it could be the game changer for their language. Having a group of ~10 speakers of various languages but willing to cooperate together could be also a good idea.
Useful information is also that literacy rate among those people in their native language is at the best 1-2%. Usually, they are better in Spanish, and it could be 5-25%. By the standards of the Old World, this is extremely low literacy rate anyway.
Positive side is that it's likely that they have writing system developed and it's 100% Latin. Thus, if they are literate, they wouldn't have any significant issues in writing their language by computers.
On the cultural side, keep in mind that it's very likely that they could have significant issues with Colombian government, as well as they could have issues with the Catholic Church (though much less). Thus, it's likely that they would have aversion toward anything which comes from the government, including the writing system (though, unlike neighboring countries, Colombia didn't do much here). So, it's fairly possible that those who are literate are willing to use their own writing system, very likely not documented at all, but likely based on Latin script. In other words, an anthropologist would be a good companion in your tour, no matter of the Wikimedian part of the work.
As we don't have (yet) a body which deals with the situations like this one is, feel free to contact me for any kind of linguistic and Wikimedian logistic support. As a member of Language committee, I will for sure explain what they should do to create Wikipedia in their languages, as well as help as much as I am able to do that.
I will check the languages again tomorrow to see if I missed something.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayuu_language [2] http://www.ethnologue.com/17/language/guc/ [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catio_language [4] http://www.ethnologue.com/17/language/cto/
On Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 11:13 PM, Milos Rancic millosh@gmail.com wrote:
Hey, Eddie! It's great to hear this! My team will compile the list of the major languages of Colombia (especially in Bogota region) with recommendations and send it here. I think we could do that tomorrow, but up to the end of the week for sure.
On Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 11:04 PM, eddie avila eduardo13@gmail.com wrote:
Hello all -
I’m new here, but really interested in the topic. My name is Eddie Avila and I’m the Director of Rising Voices, an initiative of Global Voices http://www.globalvoicesonline.org. We work to support new, diverse, and underrepresented voices as they use participatory digital media to tell their own stories on their own terms.
A special interest of ours centers on how the Internet is helping communities create new digital content in their native languages. Whether through blogs, digital video, social media, or audio podcasts, we are seeing inspiring work by people committed towards preserving and revitalizing their native languages.
Starting with an activity last year in Mexico http://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/11/09/a-network-of-indigenous-language-digital-activists-in-mexico/ we brought together indigenous language “digital activists” to share their experiences and teach and learn from one another.
Here, we partnered with our friends from Wikimedia Mexico to help organize the sessions around creating new or translating existing content into Wikipedia in native languages. We felt that Wikimedia shares our mission of supporting communities to be able to share their knowledge online in their own languages.
Now, we are continuing this process with a workshop in Bogotá http://globalvoicesonline.org/2015/05/18/a-gathering-to-connect-indigenous-language-digital-activists-in-colombia/ in a couple of weeks. Again, we are partnering with both Wikimedia Colombia and Wikimedia Venezuela to showcase the possibilities of creating versions of Wikipedia in native languages and building a more mutually supportive network.
We are eager to explore how Rising Voices can help support the ongoing work of communities around the world, but especially throughout Latin America, that are interested in contributing or creating their own versions of this important resource. Our partnerships with your communities have been incredibly rewarding.
Looking forward to seeing how we can continue to work together.
Thanks,
Eddie Avila @barrioflores @risingvoices
Languages mailing list Languages@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/languages
We are working with volunteers from a translation company to produce some medical content in Guarani, Haitan Creole, K'ichi, and Quechua.
Example include this https://qu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaphilaksiya and https://gn.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faringitis_estreptoc%C3%B3cica
James
On Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 4:27 PM, Milos Rancic millosh@gmail.com wrote:
Unfortunately, the analysis was pretty quick. The number of the languages of Colombia with more than 10,000 speakers is limited to few of them and the only language with good potential is Wayuu [1][2]. It's spoken in northern Colombia, which is pretty far from Bogota. However, I suppose that you'd be able to find some Wayuu speakers in Bogota, as well as Wikimedia Colombia could help you.
The only other maybe reachable (and definitely closer to than Wayuu) is Catío [3][4]. This one is on the Pacific coast, ~300 kilometers from Bogota as the craw flies.
All other languages are either spoken in jungle, or the number of speakers is very low, or it's about languages which primary caring country is one of the Colombia neighboring ones (it could be that the number of speakers in Colombia is significant, but there are no schools etc. in Colombia, literacy rate is significantly lower -- which means below 1% -- and standard has been already developed in Brazil, Peru, Venezuela or Panama).
So, besides possibility to find Wayuu speakers (although the majority of population live in Venezuela, more than 100,000 of them live in Colombia), I would suggest you to find any group of speakers of any language (except Spanish, of course :) ) and try to work with them. Obviously, if you find a group of five literate enthusiasts who speak a language with ~1000 speakers, it could be the game changer for their language. Having a group of ~10 speakers of various languages but willing to cooperate together could be also a good idea.
Useful information is also that literacy rate among those people in their native language is at the best 1-2%. Usually, they are better in Spanish, and it could be 5-25%. By the standards of the Old World, this is extremely low literacy rate anyway.
Positive side is that it's likely that they have writing system developed and it's 100% Latin. Thus, if they are literate, they wouldn't have any significant issues in writing their language by computers.
On the cultural side, keep in mind that it's very likely that they could have significant issues with Colombian government, as well as they could have issues with the Catholic Church (though much less). Thus, it's likely that they would have aversion toward anything which comes from the government, including the writing system (though, unlike neighboring countries, Colombia didn't do much here). So, it's fairly possible that those who are literate are willing to use their own writing system, very likely not documented at all, but likely based on Latin script. In other words, an anthropologist would be a good companion in your tour, no matter of the Wikimedian part of the work.
As we don't have (yet) a body which deals with the situations like this one is, feel free to contact me for any kind of linguistic and Wikimedian logistic support. As a member of Language committee, I will for sure explain what they should do to create Wikipedia in their languages, as well as help as much as I am able to do that.
I will check the languages again tomorrow to see if I missed something.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayuu_language [2] http://www.ethnologue.com/17/language/guc/ [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catio_language [4] http://www.ethnologue.com/17/language/cto/
On Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 11:13 PM, Milos Rancic millosh@gmail.com wrote:
Hey, Eddie! It's great to hear this! My team will compile the list of the major languages of Colombia (especially in Bogota region) with recommendations and send it here. I think we could do that tomorrow, but up to the end of the week for sure.
On Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 11:04 PM, eddie avila eduardo13@gmail.com wrote:
Hello all -
I’m new here, but really interested in the topic. My name is Eddie Avila and I’m the Director of Rising Voices, an initiative of Global Voices. We work to support new, diverse, and underrepresented voices as they use participatory digital media to tell their own stories on their own terms.
A special interest of ours centers on how the Internet is helping communities create new digital content in their native languages. Whether through blogs, digital video, social media, or audio podcasts, we are seeing inspiring work by people committed towards preserving and revitalizing their native languages.
Starting with an activity last year in Mexico we brought together indigenous language “digital activists” to share their experiences and teach and learn from one another.
Here, we partnered with our friends from Wikimedia Mexico to help organize the sessions around creating new or translating existing content into Wikipedia in native languages. We felt that Wikimedia shares our mission of supporting communities to be able to share their knowledge online in their own languages.
Now, we are continuing this process with a workshop in Bogotá in a couple of weeks. Again, we are partnering with both Wikimedia Colombia and Wikimedia Venezuela to showcase the possibilities of creating versions of Wikipedia in native languages and building a more mutually supportive network.
We are eager to explore how Rising Voices can help support the ongoing work of communities around the world, but especially throughout Latin America, that are interested in contributing or creating their own versions of this important resource. Our partnerships with your communities have been incredibly rewarding.
Looking forward to seeing how we can continue to work together.
Thanks,
Eddie Avila @barrioflores @risingvoices
Languages mailing list Languages@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/languages
Languages mailing list Languages@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/languages
That's quite interesting approach! Maybe we should try engage more translation companies willing to volunteer...
On Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 4:46 AM, James Heilman jmh649@gmail.com wrote:
We are working with volunteers from a translation company to produce some medical content in Guarani, Haitan Creole, K'ichi, and Quechua.
Example include this https://qu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaphilaksiya and https://gn.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faringitis_estreptoc%C3%B3cica
James
On Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 4:27 PM, Milos Rancic millosh@gmail.com wrote:
Unfortunately, the analysis was pretty quick. The number of the
languages of
Colombia with more than 10,000 speakers is limited to few of them and the only language with good potential is Wayuu [1][2]. It's spoken in
northern
Colombia, which is pretty far from Bogota. However, I suppose that you'd
be
able to find some Wayuu speakers in Bogota, as well as Wikimedia Colombia could help you.
The only other maybe reachable (and definitely closer to than Wayuu) is Catío [3][4]. This one is on the Pacific coast, ~300 kilometers from
Bogota
as the craw flies.
All other languages are either spoken in jungle, or the number of
speakers
is very low, or it's about languages which primary caring country is one
of
the Colombia neighboring ones (it could be that the number of speakers in Colombia is significant, but there are no schools etc. in Colombia,
literacy
rate is significantly lower -- which means below 1% -- and standard has
been
already developed in Brazil, Peru, Venezuela or Panama).
So, besides possibility to find Wayuu speakers (although the majority of population live in Venezuela, more than 100,000 of them live in
Colombia), I
would suggest you to find any group of speakers of any language (except Spanish, of course :) ) and try to work with them. Obviously, if you
find a
group of five literate enthusiasts who speak a language with ~1000
speakers,
it could be the game changer for their language. Having a group of ~10 speakers of various languages but willing to cooperate together could be also a good idea.
Useful information is also that literacy rate among those people in their native language is at the best 1-2%. Usually, they are better in Spanish, and it could be 5-25%. By the standards of the Old World, this is
extremely
low literacy rate anyway.
Positive side is that it's likely that they have writing system developed and it's 100% Latin. Thus, if they are literate, they wouldn't have any significant issues in writing their language by computers.
On the cultural side, keep in mind that it's very likely that they could have significant issues with Colombian government, as well as they could have issues with the Catholic Church (though much less). Thus, it's
likely
that they would have aversion toward anything which comes from the government, including the writing system (though, unlike neighboring countries, Colombia didn't do much here). So, it's fairly possible that those who are literate are willing to use their own writing system, very likely not documented at all, but likely based on Latin script. In other words, an anthropologist would be a good companion in your tour, no
matter
of the Wikimedian part of the work.
As we don't have (yet) a body which deals with the situations like this
one
is, feel free to contact me for any kind of linguistic and Wikimedian logistic support. As a member of Language committee, I will for sure
explain
what they should do to create Wikipedia in their languages, as well as
help
as much as I am able to do that.
I will check the languages again tomorrow to see if I missed something.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayuu_language [2] http://www.ethnologue.com/17/language/guc/ [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catio_language [4] http://www.ethnologue.com/17/language/cto/
On Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 11:13 PM, Milos Rancic millosh@gmail.com wrote:
Hey, Eddie! It's great to hear this! My team will compile the list of
the
major languages of Colombia (especially in Bogota region) with recommendations and send it here. I think we could do that tomorrow,
but up
to the end of the week for sure.
On Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 11:04 PM, eddie avila eduardo13@gmail.com
wrote:
Hello all -
I’m new here, but really interested in the topic. My name is Eddie
Avila
and I’m the Director of Rising Voices, an initiative of Global Voices.
We
work to support new, diverse, and underrepresented voices as they use participatory digital media to tell their own stories on their own
terms.
A special interest of ours centers on how the Internet is helping communities create new digital content in their native languages.
Whether
through blogs, digital video, social media, or audio podcasts, we are
seeing
inspiring work by people committed towards preserving and revitalizing
their
native languages.
Starting with an activity last year in Mexico we brought together indigenous language “digital activists” to share their experiences and teach and learn from one another.
Here, we partnered with our friends from Wikimedia Mexico to help organize the sessions around creating new or translating existing
content
into Wikipedia in native languages. We felt that Wikimedia shares our mission of supporting communities to be able to share their knowledge
online
in their own languages.
Now, we are continuing this process with a workshop in Bogotá in a
couple
of weeks. Again, we are partnering with both Wikimedia Colombia and Wikimedia Venezuela to showcase the possibilities of creating versions
of
Wikipedia in native languages and building a more mutually supportive network.
We are eager to explore how Rising Voices can help support the ongoing work of communities around the world, but especially throughout Latin America, that are interested in contributing or creating their own
versions
of this important resource. Our partnerships with your communities
have been
incredibly rewarding.
Looking forward to seeing how we can continue to work together.
Thanks,
Eddie Avila @barrioflores @risingvoices
Languages mailing list Languages@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/languages
Languages mailing list Languages@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/languages
-- James Heilman MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine www.opentextbookofmedicine.com
Languages mailing list Languages@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/languages
Yes a lot of companies are looking at ways to donate to worthwhile causes. A number of companies have spare capacity from time to time that they would be interested in donating. One just needs processes and support for them. We would be happy to have more join us.
Our efforts can be seen here https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cb80jUe-tObwbTo-o4hh2IpcQHSv1TAJh-8v...
J
On Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 4:05 AM, Milos Rancic millosh@gmail.com wrote:
That's quite interesting approach! Maybe we should try engage more translation companies willing to volunteer...
On Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 4:46 AM, James Heilman jmh649@gmail.com wrote:
We are working with volunteers from a translation company to produce some medical content in Guarani, Haitan Creole, K'ichi, and Quechua.
Example include this https://qu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaphilaksiya and https://gn.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faringitis_estreptoc%C3%B3cica
James
On Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 4:27 PM, Milos Rancic millosh@gmail.com wrote:
Unfortunately, the analysis was pretty quick. The number of the languages of Colombia with more than 10,000 speakers is limited to few of them and the only language with good potential is Wayuu [1][2]. It's spoken in northern Colombia, which is pretty far from Bogota. However, I suppose that you'd be able to find some Wayuu speakers in Bogota, as well as Wikimedia Colombia could help you.
The only other maybe reachable (and definitely closer to than Wayuu) is Catío [3][4]. This one is on the Pacific coast, ~300 kilometers from Bogota as the craw flies.
All other languages are either spoken in jungle, or the number of speakers is very low, or it's about languages which primary caring country is one of the Colombia neighboring ones (it could be that the number of speakers in Colombia is significant, but there are no schools etc. in Colombia, literacy rate is significantly lower -- which means below 1% -- and standard has been already developed in Brazil, Peru, Venezuela or Panama).
So, besides possibility to find Wayuu speakers (although the majority of population live in Venezuela, more than 100,000 of them live in Colombia), I would suggest you to find any group of speakers of any language (except Spanish, of course :) ) and try to work with them. Obviously, if you find a group of five literate enthusiasts who speak a language with ~1000 speakers, it could be the game changer for their language. Having a group of ~10 speakers of various languages but willing to cooperate together could be also a good idea.
Useful information is also that literacy rate among those people in their native language is at the best 1-2%. Usually, they are better in Spanish, and it could be 5-25%. By the standards of the Old World, this is extremely low literacy rate anyway.
Positive side is that it's likely that they have writing system developed and it's 100% Latin. Thus, if they are literate, they wouldn't have any significant issues in writing their language by computers.
On the cultural side, keep in mind that it's very likely that they could have significant issues with Colombian government, as well as they could have issues with the Catholic Church (though much less). Thus, it's likely that they would have aversion toward anything which comes from the government, including the writing system (though, unlike neighboring countries, Colombia didn't do much here). So, it's fairly possible that those who are literate are willing to use their own writing system, very likely not documented at all, but likely based on Latin script. In other words, an anthropologist would be a good companion in your tour, no matter of the Wikimedian part of the work.
As we don't have (yet) a body which deals with the situations like this one is, feel free to contact me for any kind of linguistic and Wikimedian logistic support. As a member of Language committee, I will for sure explain what they should do to create Wikipedia in their languages, as well as help as much as I am able to do that.
I will check the languages again tomorrow to see if I missed something.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayuu_language [2] http://www.ethnologue.com/17/language/guc/ [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catio_language [4] http://www.ethnologue.com/17/language/cto/
On Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 11:13 PM, Milos Rancic millosh@gmail.com wrote:
Hey, Eddie! It's great to hear this! My team will compile the list of the major languages of Colombia (especially in Bogota region) with recommendations and send it here. I think we could do that tomorrow, but up to the end of the week for sure.
On Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 11:04 PM, eddie avila eduardo13@gmail.com wrote:
Hello all -
I’m new here, but really interested in the topic. My name is Eddie Avila and I’m the Director of Rising Voices, an initiative of Global Voices. We work to support new, diverse, and underrepresented voices as they use participatory digital media to tell their own stories on their own terms.
A special interest of ours centers on how the Internet is helping communities create new digital content in their native languages. Whether through blogs, digital video, social media, or audio podcasts, we are seeing inspiring work by people committed towards preserving and revitalizing their native languages.
Starting with an activity last year in Mexico we brought together indigenous language “digital activists” to share their experiences and teach and learn from one another.
Here, we partnered with our friends from Wikimedia Mexico to help organize the sessions around creating new or translating existing content into Wikipedia in native languages. We felt that Wikimedia shares our mission of supporting communities to be able to share their knowledge online in their own languages.
Now, we are continuing this process with a workshop in Bogotá in a couple of weeks. Again, we are partnering with both Wikimedia Colombia and Wikimedia Venezuela to showcase the possibilities of creating versions of Wikipedia in native languages and building a more mutually supportive network.
We are eager to explore how Rising Voices can help support the ongoing work of communities around the world, but especially throughout Latin America, that are interested in contributing or creating their own versions of this important resource. Our partnerships with your communities have been incredibly rewarding.
Looking forward to seeing how we can continue to work together.
Thanks,
Eddie Avila @barrioflores @risingvoices
Languages mailing list Languages@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/languages
Languages mailing list Languages@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/languages
-- James Heilman MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine www.opentextbookofmedicine.com
Languages mailing list Languages@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/languages
Languages mailing list Languages@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/languages
Hello to all,
It is good to see activity on this list ! I appreciate initiatives like this one that may help to redact wikipedia editions in indigenous languages.
With some editors from the quechua wikipedia, I had began a project for a wikipedia in kichwa (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kichwa_language), which is the northern variant of the quechua language, spoken by indigenous populations in northern Peru, Ecuador, and southern Colombia. This language is characterized by many ISO 639-3 language tags (see the wikipedia page), which have a large degree of interunderstandability (forgive my English which is not so good). The Ecuadorian government has proposed a unified orthography for this language, which is taught in the concerned regions of the country.
The incubator is here : https://incubator.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wp/qug/Main_Page
The colombian version of this language is Inga kichwa. Maybe you would be interested in checking with some native speakers in Colombia if they are interested in collaborating to this project. there are already about a thousand articles I think. I spent many hours developing this project, I also told my kichwa-speaking family members about it, analyzed their reactions, and based on this I developed some reflexions that I would like to share here.
- In the case of the kichwa, the interest came more from foreigners knowing the language (not perfectly of course) than from native speakers : Me (French) and two German editors of the quechua wikipedia - The interest of wikipedia in kichwa can NOT be to bring knowledge to people who cannot have access to knowledge in, e.g., spanish. The mololinguous speakers of kichwa are in their vast majority (totality ?) iliterate. The literacy rate in their own language might be of the order of 1% as mentioned in another message. So, the people who can read can read spanish, and therefore can have access to the Spanish wikipedia which is of course much more complete (and will be in any foreseeable future).
Wikimedia encourages to have the basic articles translated into these languages (History, Physics, Chemistry, etc.). I think this is a mistake because : - Kichwa (for example) lacks a word for physics, for chemistry, for particle, atom, communism, romanticism, satellite, etc. etc., or they are written using words invented by a literate minority ("academia de la lengua kichwa" in the case of Ecuador). For example, words have been invented for the days of the week, to tell internet, computer, etc., but the native speaker do not understand. They say "Internet", "Compu" etc. - To take an example, one can write an article about quantum physics in kichwa, but only the person writing it will be able to understand it. On top of that, it will be typically be "original research" because nobody so far has written about quantum physics in kichwa (or wayuu) so that wikipedia would actually **prescribe** the way to write about it (the words) which is not its role. People (like the "academia de la lengua kichwa") do invent some words (atom, particle etc.), but they do not invent all the necessary words : the wikipedia editor would be in the position of having to invent himself the words that are not yet invented (wavefunction, derivative, interference, etc. etc.). It would be, I think, useless, because it is too far from the culture that is associated to the language, and to the universe of things that can be expressed in this language. - In any case, if we are realistic, these articles (internet, quantum physics, helicopter etc.) will be a pale version of the ones existing for example in spanish. So people who can have access to Internet and read will in any case prefer the articles in spanish.
Based on books, on conversations with native speakers etc., one would be able to build an encyclopedy of the local knowledge formulated on the words that are used locally with (but not restricted to) articles on the animal and plant species, traditional celebrations, on poetry. An article about "sky" would be more useful than one about astronomy because it would be easily formulated in kichwa (or, I guess, wayuu) etc. If this is done, that may awaken the interest of the bilinguous people who have an internet connection. Because it would be a way to build a "repository" of the language and the knowledge that goes along with this language.
Maybe I would be clearer if I say that I think all the articles on this wikipedia shall pass a "rubber duck" test : if I read them to a native speaker (in my case, that would be my stepfather), will he undersand ? The result of the rubber duck test would be "yes" for an article about "andean edible plants", about the sky, or about the cow, "no" for the article on quantum physics or on the helicopter. Because I lack the words for this article, he lacks the words as well, for the simple reason that no appropriate words exist.
To sum up what I'm trying to say : - I think wikipedia in indigenous languages are NOT useful as a substitute of major wikipedia edition for monolingual people, because these people are massively illiterate (and have no access to internet) - It is NOT useful either as a substitute of major wikipedia editions for bilingual people who have internet, because they will obtain a better information in spanish - It can be very useful in my opinion if it is used to collect the knowledge that is traditionally formulated in the indigenous language so that wikipedia does not invent this knowledge. In my opinion, these language editions should not be seen as encyclopedies, because they will never be able to compete with other language editions on this ground. They should be thought of as **repositories** of the language and knowledge.
NOT substitutes of wikipedia editions in major languages, but collaborative repositories for the language and culture.
I hope these few reflexions can be useful, and I also hope that at some point there is an interest to recuperate what has been done for the kichwa wikipedia incubator, working with peoples in Ecuador or Colombia.
Many greetings,
Sylvain
Le 03/06/2015 12:05, Milos Rancic a écrit :
That's quite interesting approach! Maybe we should try engage more translation companies willing to volunteer...
On Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 4:46 AM, James Heilman <jmh649@gmail.com mailto:jmh649@gmail.com> wrote:
We are working with volunteers from a translation company to produce some medical content in Guarani, Haitan Creole, K'ichi, and Quechua. Example include this https://qu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaphilaksiya and https://gn.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faringitis_estreptoc%C3%B3cica James On Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 4:27 PM, Milos Rancic <millosh@gmail.com <mailto:millosh@gmail.com>> wrote: > Unfortunately, the analysis was pretty quick. The number of the languages of > Colombia with more than 10,000 speakers is limited to few of them and the > only language with good potential is Wayuu [1][2]. It's spoken in northern > Colombia, which is pretty far from Bogota. However, I suppose that you'd be > able to find some Wayuu speakers in Bogota, as well as Wikimedia Colombia > could help you. > > The only other maybe reachable (and definitely closer to than Wayuu) is > Catío [3][4]. This one is on the Pacific coast, ~300 kilometers from Bogota > as the craw flies. > > All other languages are either spoken in jungle, or the number of speakers > is very low, or it's about languages which primary caring country is one of > the Colombia neighboring ones (it could be that the number of speakers in > Colombia is significant, but there are no schools etc. in Colombia, literacy > rate is significantly lower -- which means below 1% -- and standard has been > already developed in Brazil, Peru, Venezuela or Panama). > > So, besides possibility to find Wayuu speakers (although the majority of > population live in Venezuela, more than 100,000 of them live in Colombia), I > would suggest you to find any group of speakers of any language (except > Spanish, of course :) ) and try to work with them. Obviously, if you find a > group of five literate enthusiasts who speak a language with ~1000 speakers, > it could be the game changer for their language. Having a group of ~10 > speakers of various languages but willing to cooperate together could be > also a good idea. > > Useful information is also that literacy rate among those people in their > native language is at the best 1-2%. Usually, they are better in Spanish, > and it could be 5-25%. By the standards of the Old World, this is extremely > low literacy rate anyway. > > Positive side is that it's likely that they have writing system developed > and it's 100% Latin. Thus, if they are literate, they wouldn't have any > significant issues in writing their language by computers. > > On the cultural side, keep in mind that it's very likely that they could > have significant issues with Colombian government, as well as they could > have issues with the Catholic Church (though much less). Thus, it's likely > that they would have aversion toward anything which comes from the > government, including the writing system (though, unlike neighboring > countries, Colombia didn't do much here). So, it's fairly possible that > those who are literate are willing to use their own writing system, very > likely not documented at all, but likely based on Latin script. In other > words, an anthropologist would be a good companion in your tour, no matter > of the Wikimedian part of the work. > > As we don't have (yet) a body which deals with the situations like this one > is, feel free to contact me for any kind of linguistic and Wikimedian > logistic support. As a member of Language committee, I will for sure explain > what they should do to create Wikipedia in their languages, as well as help > as much as I am able to do that. > > I will check the languages again tomorrow to see if I missed something. > > [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayuu_language > [2] http://www.ethnologue.com/17/language/guc/ > [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catio_language > [4] http://www.ethnologue.com/17/language/cto/ > > > > On Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 11:13 PM, Milos Rancic <millosh@gmail.com <mailto:millosh@gmail.com>> wrote: >> >> Hey, Eddie! It's great to hear this! My team will compile the list of the >> major languages of Colombia (especially in Bogota region) with >> recommendations and send it here. I think we could do that tomorrow, but up >> to the end of the week for sure. >> >> >> On Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 11:04 PM, eddie avila <eduardo13@gmail.com <mailto:eduardo13@gmail.com>> wrote: >>> >>> Hello all - >>> >>> I’m new here, but really interested in the topic. My name is Eddie Avila >>> and I’m the Director of Rising Voices, an initiative of Global Voices. We >>> work to support new, diverse, and underrepresented voices as they use >>> participatory digital media to tell their own stories on their own terms. >>> >>> A special interest of ours centers on how the Internet is helping >>> communities create new digital content in their native languages. Whether >>> through blogs, digital video, social media, or audio podcasts, we are seeing >>> inspiring work by people committed towards preserving and revitalizing their >>> native languages. >>> >>> Starting with an activity last year in Mexico we brought together >>> indigenous language “digital activists” to share their experiences and >>> teach and learn from one another. >>> >>> Here, we partnered with our friends from Wikimedia Mexico to help >>> organize the sessions around creating new or translating existing content >>> into Wikipedia in native languages. We felt that Wikimedia shares our >>> mission of supporting communities to be able to share their knowledge online >>> in their own languages. >>> >>> Now, we are continuing this process with a workshop in Bogotá in a couple >>> of weeks. Again, we are partnering with both Wikimedia Colombia and >>> Wikimedia Venezuela to showcase the possibilities of creating versions of >>> Wikipedia in native languages and building a more mutually supportive >>> network. >>> >>> We are eager to explore how Rising Voices can help support the ongoing >>> work of communities around the world, but especially throughout Latin >>> America, that are interested in contributing or creating their own versions >>> of this important resource. Our partnerships with your communities have been >>> incredibly rewarding. >>> >>> Looking forward to seeing how we can continue to work together. >>> >>> Thanks, >>> >>> Eddie Avila >>> @barrioflores @risingvoices >>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Languages mailing list >>> Languages@lists.wikimedia.org <mailto:Languages@lists.wikimedia.org> >>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/languages >>> >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Languages mailing list > Languages@lists.wikimedia.org <mailto:Languages@lists.wikimedia.org> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/languages > -- James Heilman MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine www.opentextbookofmedicine.com <http://www.opentextbookofmedicine.com> _______________________________________________ Languages mailing list Languages@lists.wikimedia.org <mailto:Languages@lists.wikimedia.org> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/languages
Languages mailing list Languages@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/languages