2018-02-27 13:42 GMT+02:00 Vi to <vituzzu.wiki(a)gmail.com>om>:
I see Amir's points, which are pretty reasonable,
but I fear this would
suit languages with a significant presence on the web.
Among them I agree with points 1, 3 and 4 while I'm not sure about #2
"creating
basic encyclopedic terminology and style in that language", if we want to
preserve a language we shouldn't create a thing.
By the way I was wondering my concerns about cultural colonization may be
addressed -for wikis which has some contents (let's say at least 1000
articles)- by starting expanding existing articles instead of translating
new ones. This would solve the problem of choosing what to translate though
would leave problems about the perspective contents are created.
Vito
It's a very common mistake to think that the purpose of Wikipedias in
"small" languages is language preservation or revitalization.
Sometimes it is, but there is something much bigger: There are many
languages that
1. are alive in speech (and possibly in writing)
2. are not in danger of extinction
3. have a large number of monolingual speakers (let's say 100,000+)
If there is no substantial Wikipedia in such a language, these people can't
read Wikipedia in *any language* because they are monolingual. Most likely
they cannot read any any encyclopedia in any language. They need a
Wikipedia not in order to preserve the language, but to have access to
*any* encyclopedic knowledge.
I speak a revitalized language, and I'm very well aware of its history.
Language preservation and revitalization are lovely things. But it's not
the main point of what Wikimedia does.
--
Amir Elisha Aharoni · אָמִיר אֱלִישָׁע אַהֲרוֹנִי
http://aharoni.wordpress.com
“We're living in pieces,
I want to live in peace.” – T. Moore