I don't think the line to draw is between translation and encyclopedia writing. It is more between art and science.
Translation of a technical document, or legal, mathematical, or scientific for that matter, would rather be straightforward. People can agree on things easily. There could even be a set of glossaries or standards they can refer to.
Translation of a literary work could be more difficult to agree on. But this is not impossible, I think. For example, a short poetry could be translated in many different ways and they would be equally valid. But if people know that they have to agree on one version, they will come to agreement somehow. Since it is under a free license, people can publish different versions elsewhere. Or, for fun and out of respect to each other or diverse views, they may come to agree to make different versions, each occupying one revision in the database, and offer a link to those revisions from the current version so that readers can compare and enjoy.
When the work to be translated is large in volume, it needs a lot more coordination. It is like creating a wikibook or a set of wikipedia articles. They have to decide on certain editorial policies. There are many different policy options, and some of them would be equally valid. But again, because they know there is only one set of options to be chosen, they can come to agreement.
I have translated various documents on wiki between Japanese and English, some more like an essay others more like a set of rules. My general experience is that wiki process is helpful. Translating something alone is not as fun.
I do think, though, that in case of literally works, offering multiple translations is something valuable, something in line with the neutral point of view policy that we value so much. So it is nice to have some way to help development of multiple versions of translations. But since Mediawiki preserve all past revisions in the database, this can be done. Additional feature is definitely nice, though not necessary.
Regards,
Tomos
----- Original Message ----- From: Viktor Horvath duke586@hotmail.com To: foundation-l@wikimedia.org Sent: Tue, 21 Dec 2004 00:58:47 +0100 Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Wiki Translations of Greek/Roman/XYZ classics