On Wed, Mar 14, 2012 at 8:42 PM, Tanvir Rahman <wikitanvir@gmail.com> wrote:

Can people now submit grant proposals in their own language?

I think they could, but the people who will eventually decide about the grant may not know the language. Although I see GAC members cover some languages. In my personal opinion, to help everyone in this matter maybe it is better to keep things in English. But the information pages on grants and its process should be translated to other languages so people from different languages can understand the procedure very well.

The answer is yes, people can submit grant proposals in their own language, because we don't want a language barrier to prevent us from supporting a community that could do valuable work. For practical reasons, the grant evaluation and discussion _would_ need to be in English, however, so if the applicants are not able to communicate effectively in English, the WMF will support the discussion with a two-way translator -- a contractor if a volunteer is not readily available.

As Tanvir says, if at all possible to use English (don't worry about minor mistakes!), it would be easier for all involved, as it is the closest thing to a global lingua franca, but again, it is _not_ a requirement.

Asaf

Asaf Bartov
Wikimedia Foundation