Hi,
In previous elections i felt unnecessary to translate
statements from candidates that stood no chance
whatsoever to get elected. Of course it is my personal
judgment of who stands a chance to get elected.
Besides if a candidate with a fair chance of getting
elected were to write a long statement (and the Erik
was elected with some looooong statement ;)) i might
try to translate everything since it's pretty
important for the community to know where the
candidate stands on several key issues.
Fruggo also has a point here : short statements may be
confusing and lack of clarity on some topic. So
setting a limit might tend to see vague statements and
blurry outlines of the candidate's program. We should
nevertheless set an indication on the length
(non-binding indication).
I would encourage Britty writing on the election page
and on the behalf of the TransCom, something like
"Remember translators do it for fun and to help the
electoral process. They feel no obligation to
translate your statement, for instance if it's too
long, gibberish, or a load of crap. Write simply, it's
the easiest way to get your point across in the
translations. Please help us helping you."
Julien.
--- Fruggo <fruggo(a)gmail.com> schrieb:
Also, a shorter statement isn't necessarily
easier
to translate. The
statements often consist of difficult topics, which
means that you need some
context in order to translate it correctly (I know I
do). It is very
difficult to translate some loose sentences.
I do agree that statements should be written in
simple words; of course a
candidate can write a difficult statement (which of
course can also be
translated), but it would be nice if all official
statements would be in
simple words (a more difficult version could be
placed on the candidate's
user page, no need to forbid that).
-Fruggo
On 4/9/07, Michelle Gallaway <mgallaway(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
With respect, a lot of candidates are going to
struggle to get their statements in in under 150
words. I know that I would. If
we attempt to put a
rule down like
this, we're either going to be ignored by
many
candidates or at least stir
up resentment.
Maybe a better idea is to just refuse to translate
statements over a
certain size? That way our more lexically
inclined candidates can spout off
their essay and be restricted to English voters
only, or people can write
concise, brief statements, and be translated?
- Michelle G.
On 4/7/07, Guillaume Paumier
<guillom.pom(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> On 4/6/07, Brion Vibber <brion(a)wikimedia.org >
wrote:
> >
> >
> > The voting period was long, but there was very
little time between the
> > finalization of candidates and the
beginning
of voting. One
> > consequence
> > of this was that translators had not completed
translation of
> > candidate
> > statements at the time the voting began.
> >
> > There should be more time ahead to prepare.
>
>
> Indeed. Though translators really do their best,
it is very difficult to
> achieve translation of all candidate's
statements. Last time the statements
> were *suggested* not to exceed 1,000
characters
[1]. Some rules must be
> changed.
>
> I suggest the following extra rules :
> * For the pre-(s)election candidates, only a
*short presentation* (~50
> words) ; easy and fast to translate, even
for
many candidates. These
> statements may be translated only in « big »
languages, i.e. those of
> the most developed projects.
> * For the final candidates, *no more than 150
words*. These statements
> should be translated in as many languages as
possible.
> * All statements *must* be written in simple
words, simple sentences
> without any idioms.
> * All candidates *must* write their statement in
all languages they
> speak. They know what they want to say
better
than anyone, so it's better to
> have a rough translation by themselves that
will
be refined later than a
> well-written serious mistranslation.
>
> To the future candidates: respect the work of
translators. Last time,
> some candidates largely exceeded the
characters
limit. Their statements were
> however translated because the translators
felt
a moral obligation to
> translate them. Though, such an attitude
from
candidates shows a disrespect
> to our volunteer translators. So, if you
long to
be a community
> representative, first respect the community
by
following these simple rules.
> Thanks.
>
> [1]
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