From: Of Jimmy Wales on Friday, December 12, 2003 10:43 AM
Ruimu wrote:
In theory, each wp entry should be the perfect translation of the
same
entry
in any language, don't you think ? (IMO encyclopedic goal is to try
to
reach
universalism.)
I see what you're getting at, but I'm not so sure that it's right.
Consider an article on the [[Statue of Liberty]], which was a gift from France to the United States. Both articles will state that fact, and give some details, but the French language article might quite naturally and properly say more about some of the particularly French aspects of the story.
Readers in different languages will have somewhat different backgrounds and interests. Different backgrounds mean that we must take into account different assumptions on what the reader will already be familiar with. Different interests mean that we must take into account different emphasis on what the reader will expect to learn from an article.
I'm not convinced that we should have as a goal that the articles reflect the biases of the readership. I would expect both entries on the Statue of Liberty to tell the complete story. I have trouble seeing this as anything other than a defense of provincialism.
Then, basic rules should be the same, and the Chinese NPOV is to be the same as French one or Rwandese one.
But yes, NPOV is the same, and in the _essentials_, there should be very little difference between articles in different languages.
If NPOV is the same, then we shouldn't have as a goal articles which reflect different biases.