It is gratifying to know that someone is so sure that different dialects of Portuguese are mutually intelligible. I speak more than one language and have never able to understand all native speakers of any language both in speech and writing. How dumb of me.
Blind non-interventionist policies have spelled disaster for countless minorities, but some people will get a better feeling for it when Spanish becomes the language of the majority of US citizens, as they already are when that is happening in their town, county or state.
I understand that the topic started with a suggestion to create "a new version of Wikipedia in Portuguese from Portugal", but I can't fail to notice that, for the wider Wikimedia community, avoiding to address any of problems of the Portuguese Wikipedia, might be very convenient to keep it where it is, mired in problems. We all have problems of our own, right? Why bother?
Sincerely,
Virgilio A. P. Machado
At 20:49 22-03-2010, you wrote:
On 22 March 2010 20:24, Marcus Buck me@marcusbuck.org wrote:
I hope you speak Portuguese. Cause decisions like this should be made by people who know the language variants and their differences and not by outsiders. Leave the decision to the speakers of Portuguese. Anyway it seems that the majority of speakers does not want to split. Outsiders can assist by giving advice. E.g. how to minimize the problems that arise from the differences. But outsiders shouldn't impose decisions on the community.
I don't speak Portuguese, but that doesn't stop me knowing that different dialects of it are mutually intelligible. What happens with the existing project is a matter for that project's community, but the creation of a new project is a matter for the wider Wikimedia community.
foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Prof. Virgilio A. P. Machado vam@fct.unl.pt Engenharia Industrial http://web.archive.org/web/20070824105539/www.ipei.pt/GDEI/ DEMI/FCT/UNL Fax: 351-21-294-8546 or 21-294-8531 Universidade de Portugal or 351-21-295-4461 2829-516 Caparica Tel.: 351-21-294-8542 or 21-294-8567 PORTUGAL or 351-21-294-8300 or 21 294-8500 Ext.112-32 96-577-3726 Faculdade de Ciencias e Tecnologia/UNL (FCT/UNL)
(Dr. Machado is Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering at the School of Sciences and Engineering/UNL of the University of Portugal)
wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org