[Cross-posting this to Translators-l, WikiEN-l and Foundation-l, because there is a considerable amount of overlap, as you'll see. Volunteers from several Wikipedias may be needed, and the Foundation could eventually be involved if the project becomes an annual one. I apologize in advance to those subscribed all three lists.]
Hello everyone,
(Note: For those who don't know me, I am [[User:Arria Belli]]. Former admin and arbitrator over at fr:wp, and member of the LangCom. I met some of you at Wikimania 2008 Alexandria, where I did a presentation called "Translation in Wikimedia Projects" ex-aequo with [[User:Britty]].)
I've just started a master's degree at the ESIT (Ecole supérieure d'interprètes et de traducteurs) in Paris, in English/French/Spanish translation. It's quite a good school; a large percentage of the interpreters and translators working in international organizations are graduates of the ESIT.
My French-to-English translation professor has asked me to set up a project for all the students in her class, translating Wikipedia articles. We're a small group: there are only about 5 or 6 of us. What we'd be doing is taking articles from fr: and translating them to en:. Students are free to choose the articles they'll translate.
Since I'm mostly active over at fr:wp, I will need some help from people on en:. Most notably, I think it would be wise to set up a small group of en:wp volunteers who could guide the students on a one-on-one basis in case they have trouble understanding wiki markup, references, etc. I would be coordinating the project, but I don't think I could field all the students' questions at once! Any volunteers?
I want to make this as positive an experience as possible for everyone involved: the students, the professor and the institution. If the project is successful enough, it might happen again next year or even next semester, and become a regular thing.
As a very important aside: My professor told me that professors in other language combinations might also be interested in Wikipedia projects of their own. Therefore, there could be an English-to-Russian project, or a French-to-Spanish one, or French-to-Korean, etc. I'll let you know as soon as I'm told whether this could happen. Even if no other language combinations are interested, they might be next year if this one is a success.
Thank you, and happy editing.
Maria Fanucchi [[User:Arria Belli]]